SATA RAID-1 redundant boot?
Patrick Boutilier
boutilpj at ednet.ns.ca
Fri Aug 27 20:00:04 UTC 2004
Stewart Nelson wrote:
> I have an FC2 system with six SATA drives, configured as
> three software RAID-1 pairs. Unfortunately, the /boot partition
> (and MBR, etc.) is non-RAID, so the system cannot boot if the
> drive containing /boot has failed. How can I configure redundant
> boot?
>
> One pair of drives is connected to an Intel ICH5 controller on the
> motherboard. This can be configured as 'hardware' RAID in the BIOS,
> but there is no corresponding driver in FC2. There is a proprietary
> (binary) driver available, but I found several postings advising
> against using it.
>
> A second pair of drives is connected to an on-board Promise 378
> controller. The BIOS does not seem to allow booting from it.
>
> The third pair is connected to a PCI card with a Silicon Image 3112
> controller. Same situation as with the ICH5.
>
> As a result, I was forced to use software RAID for all drives.
>
> 1. Could you please recommend a reliable and reasonably priced SATA
> controller with hardware RAID-1 capability, BIOS boot code and a
> compatible Linux driver? or,
3ware cards (http://www.3ware.com) are pretty good. Not sure how you
define "reasonably priced" though so they may be too expensive for your
liking.
>
> 2. Has anyone had a good experience using any of the above controllers
> with proprietary drivers in RAID-1 mode, and achieved redundant boot?
> or,
>
> 3. Is there a way to set up two separate boot partitions, MBRs, etc.,
> so that either can boot the system?
>
> TIA,
>
> Stewart
>
>
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