Re: Install and RAID

[Brian May <bam@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Fabian" == Fabian Knittel <fknittel@gmx.de> writes:

    >> But please make it optional -- once you wrote the code that
    >> configures the raid partions, it's not hard to ask the user
    >> whether to use it (and consequently use /dev/mdX to install the
    >> system on) or not use it (and continue with /dev/hdXX or
    >> /dev/sdXX).

    Fabian> Would it be possible to initialise new partitions with
    Fabian> RAID support (i.e. reserve the extra space needed for RAID
    Fabian> information at the end of the partition), but stick to
    Fabian> direct /dev/hdXX access by default?

    Fabian> Wouldn't that allow people to activate RAID some time
    Fabian> after installation, even if they originally didn't plan
    Fabian> to, while not suffering from the discussed
    Fabian> /dev/mdX-needs-kernel-support issues?

Is it legal to reference /dev/hdXX when RAID has been enabled?

I don't know I really like this...

As an extreme example, consider the serious problems that could occur
if the kernel is busy syncing /dev/md2 (/dev/hda1 and /dev/hdc1),
while using /dev/hda1 (non-RAID) as the root file system.

Then again, I guess installation could set the partition type
to non-RAID, so RAID support will never get enabled unless
the administrator enables it.

I don't see any problems installing a RAID partition by default if
RAID is not enabled by default.

Comments?
-- 
Brian May <bam@debian.org>