i think i've got my mdadm.conf set properly for an external bitmap -- but it doesn't seem to work. i can assemble from the command-line fine though: # grep md4 /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf ARRAY /dev/md4 bitmap=/bitmap.md4 UUID=dbc3be0b:b5853930:a02e038c:13ba8cdc # mdadm -A /dev/md4 mdadm: Could not open bitmap file # mdadm -A --uuid=dbc3be0b:b5853930:a02e038c:13ba8cdc --bitmap=/bitmap.md4 /dev/md4 mdadm: /dev/md4 has been started with 5 drives and 1 spare. # mdadm --version mdadm - v2.5.5 - 23 October 2006 (this is on debian unstale) btw -- mdadm seems to create the bitmap file with world readable perms. i doubt it matters, but 600 would seem like a better mode. hey i have another related question... external bitmaps seem to pose a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. all of my filesystems are md devices. with an external bitmap i need at least one of the arrays to start, then have filesystems mounted, then have more arrays start... it just happens to work OK if i let debian unstale initramfs try to start all my arrays, it'll fail for the ones needing bitmap. then later /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid should start the array. (well it would if the bitmap= in mdadm.conf worked :) is it possible to put bitmaps on devices instead of files? mdadm seems to want a --force for that (because the device node exists already) and i haven't tried forcing it. although i suppose a 200KB partition would be kind of tiny.... but i could place the bitmap right beside the external transaction log for the filesystem on the raid5. -dean - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
