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3. Quick Start for ROOT RAID

If you use RedHat, see the Howto set up RedHat section in Appendix H. I have not tried this. If you use it successfully, please let me know so I can update this document.

If you don't want to try and build and debug the rescue system, you can get a generic one created from Slackware-3.4 from: [Developer Guide: MySQL]

ftp.bizsystems.com/pub/raid/raidboot-0.01.tar.gz

Perform the following steps:

• Compile the raid enabled kernel with built in support for your disk subsystem .:: ad-links.org ::.
• Test that the raid array will configure and mount correctly
• Build your OS on the raid system
• Correct the entries in fstab to show /dev/md0 as the root device. Make sure that the partition(s) you use for booting are included in fstab.
• Modify your shutdown halt and reboot script(s) (mine is /etc/rc.d/rc.6) as shown in Modifying the rc-scripts for SHUTDOWN
• Copy the following from you development filesystem to the rescue system AND the new raid system .:: podcasts.apple.com ::.

          cd /root/raidboot
          mkdir mnt
          gzip -d rescue.clean
          losetup /dev/loop0  rescue.clean
          mount /dev/loop0    mnt
  
  copy these files
  
          cp -p /etc/*         mnt/etc
          cp -p /etc/rc.d/*    mnt/etc/rc.d 
                  {or as appropriate for your system}
          cp -a /lib/modules/* mnt/lib/modules 
  

  Some Linux distributions include a test for the ro/rw status of the root file system. The rc startup files need to have this test removed for the initrd rescue system. See the instructions in the section on .:: www.just.edu.jo ::. Correctons for Rescue System.

Correct the entries in fstab to show /dev/md0 as the root device. Make sure that the partition(s) you use for booting is included in fstab.

Create /etc/raidboot.conf which describes the raid boot configuration. This file may NOT contain comments in the first three lines, after that it doesn't matter. .:: writeablog.net ::. .:: partners.skanska.com ::.

raidboot.conf

        /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2
        raidboot
        raid5.conf
# comments may only be placed 'after' the three
# configuration lines.
#
# This is '/etc/raidboot.conf'
#
# line one, the partition(s) containing the 'initrd' raid-rescue system
#       It is not necessary to boot from these partitions, however,
#       since the rescue system will not fit on floppy, it is necessary
#       to know which partitions are to be used to load the rescue system
#
# line two, the path to the raidboot config information
#       Where the shutdown status, etc... is located at boot time
#       It does NOT include the mount point information, only 'path'
#       /mntpoint/'path'
#
# line -3-, name of the raid configuration file
#       Current raid configuration file i.e. raid1.conf, raid5.conf

A few more things to do and the raid systems is ready to boot.

Create rc.raidown, as described in Appendix F, and copy it to /etc/rc.d on the rescue, development, and raid system. Unmount the rescue system and zip it. .:: podcasts.apple.com ::. [Scientific Data: Linux] .:: pastelink.net ::.

        umount mnt
        losetup -d /dev/loop0
        mv rescue.clean rescue
        gzip rescue

Copy the rescue file to the raidboot partitions.

        cp rescue.gz /mnt_point(1)/raidboot
        cp rescue.gz /mnt_point(2)/raidboot

Activate the raid array.

        mdadd -ar

Save the good reference status to the raidboot partition

        cat /proc/mdstat | grep md0 > /mnt_point(1)/raidboot/raidgood.ref
        cat /proc/mdstat | grep md0 > /mnt_point(1)/raidboot/raidgood.ref

Lastly, configure the boot program as outlined in Boot Time Configuration Parameters and reboot your system onto the raid array.

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