Getting Debian Sarge to full software RAID-1; 4 GB virtual memory...
I have a dual-processor P3 system with two equal-size SCSI drives attached
to an Adaptec AHA2940U2W controller. I recently installed Debian Sarge (28
Feb 2005 snapshot) and tried to configure a complete RAID-1 system at the
time of installation. It didn't boot from RAID-1 though, probably because
the kernel (2.6.8-2-686-smp) had RAID support set up as a module ("m")
rather than included ("y"). So right now my root+boot is not on a RAID-1
device, but the other partitions (swap and rest on a physical volume under
LVM) are on RAID-1. However, I have an equal-size partition reserved for
root+boot on /dev/sdb that is ready to be RAIDed.
I don't have a lot of extra investment in customization, though, and with
that in mind, I'd like advice on which way to proceed to get to get my
root+boot on RAID-1. Since I'll have to create a custom kernel anyway, is
there any way I can specify/include that kernel during a re-installation
(would be practical if the kernel fits on a floppy)? Or would I be better
off keeping the installation I have and fixing it with the mdadm tools?
Basically it's a question of which way is lower hassle. Note that I'm a
newbie to Linux installation and administration, but have been a *nix user
for many years.
One other question: I have 2 GB of DRAM and I specfied a 2 GB swap size.
I'm hoping to get 4 GB of virtual memory. But I used a tool by DJ Delorie
(used previously in Cygwin) that says I only have 2 GB of virtual memory.
I'd appreciate some suggestions on how to fix this, too, or other (more
reliable?) ways to check the amount of virtual memory Debian thinks it has
available.
Many thanks in advance.
_______________________________________________________________________
Frank P. Hart NC State University
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering P.O. Box 7914
EGRC Room 438 Telephone: (919) 513-7261 Raleigh, NC 27695-7914
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