[linux-lvm] hardware raid5 and lvm "recipe"

[Sam Vilain]

Amir Mistric wrote:
> We are contemplating to start using RHEL v4 in our enterprise.
> Most of our servers have a hardware RAID.
> The server we are using for a RHEL 4 trial install has 4x36GB SCSI 
> drives configured using RAID 5.
> Of course, we also want to use LVM.
> Can someone please suggest what would be the best “layout”/”recipe” 
> considering the configuration I described?
> Using “automatically” partitioning during install RHEL suggests:
> /boot and swap outside LVM and the rest of space in LVM mounted under / 
> file system.
> Is this sufficient layout for maximum flexibility? Should I create other 
> logical volumes and file systems?

Seems like a good enough policy.  An alternative is to have a larger
root, so that you can do LVM diagnostics without using a boot CD.  But
using a standard vendor configuration means that you're going to surprise
fewer admins that come along.

> Any tips are appreciated

Here's a tip... simulate a failure and make sure that you can detect it.
If you've got pluggable disks, then quiesce the system and unplug one.
Never unplug an active disk, of course.
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Sam Vilain, sam /\T vilain |><>T net, PGP key ID: 0x05B52F13
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