RE: What is ATARAID and how does it work?

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Thanks for the info:

A follow up to my question about a drive failing in an array.  When
using ATARAID in a RAID1 array, what is suppose to happen when 1 drives
dies?  You said that it is suppose to continue to run on the one
remaining drive, but I am curious as I have tried to replicate that
scenario.  When I replicate a failed drive in RAID 1 array, I get errors
on the screen but the machine stays running. The only thing is, is that
you can't shut the machine down properly. If you try to run shutdown -h
now, it gives you an Input/Output error.  Has anyone experienced an
actual drive failure in a RAID 1 array?  I have also tried to reboot
using just one drive in a failed array, and the kernel panics.  I have
no problem with having to rebuild failed arrays manually, but I want to
make sure that if one drive does fail that I will be able to shutdown
properly, so that I can replace and rebuild successfully.  Does anyone
know how to replicate such a scenario so that I am sure that everything
is set up and working probably?

Thanks.
Gary Shadley


-----Original Message-----
From: ataraid-list-admin@xxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ataraid-list-admin@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Thorsten Jungblut
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 5:01 PM
To: ataraid-list@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: What is ATARAID and how does it work?


On Thu, 21 Nov 2002, Gary Shadley wrote:

> Then I would assume that ataraid is working correctly with my Promise 
> Fastrak 100 lite controller.

Looks like that, yes.

> What happens suppose to happen if one of
> your disks fails in your mirrored array?  Does ataraid automatically 
> rebuild the failed drive?

This depends on what you mean by "fail".
If one drive fails, a raid1 will continue working as another drive is
present. If it is a raid0 it will immedialy stop working..

If raid1 and you connect a new drive, you will have to manually rebuild
the array.

> Does ataraid make sure that the drives are in
> sync?

No it does not.
You can use just one drive, change it contents and then use the array
again and it will not detect differences. This was discussed on this
list earlier.

> Any help clarifying how ataraid actually works and what it suppose to 
> do would be a great help

The only thing ataraid actually does is "making things usable". This
means, you can use a raid array with linux, but not more. You will have
to manage the array manually, e.g. with the controllers setup.

ataraid is a software raid. The controller is a usual ide controller,
just with a bios, that manages the disks as a raid array, and so does
the linux driver.

If you want to use a raid1 array, you should think of linux's software
raid (md) instead of ataraid. Linux's software raid is able to detect
failures and out-of-syncs.

If you want to use raid0, it doesnt matter, as if one drive failes, the
raid0 array will be lost, no matter if it is a software raid or ataraid
or even a hardware raid.

Viele Grüsse,
Thorsten

-- 
Thorsten Jungblut
Universität Koblenz, Fachbereich Informatik  http://www.netcorner.org/



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