[CentOS] SATA RAID on CentOS!

israel.garcia at cimex.com.cu wrote:
> I want to install CentOS 4.0 on  my new server (two SATA hdds, Intel 865
> mainboard), now, I want to configure a RAID 1 using this hardware..., my
> question is:
> 
> 1. Setting up a RAID 1 on SATA hdds is different from a normal hdds
> (PATA)?
> 2. Is there some SATA RAID Linux Howto available?

I believe Intel 865 uses ICH5?  If so, it is a sofware RAID emulation in 
BIOS.  You do not have RAID in hardware.  It's just a marketing trick 
that has nothing to do with reality.  Special device drivers would be 
needed to use it (and you'd end up with sofware RAID using them anyhow). 
  Just disable RAID support in BIOS, and configure standard Linux 
software RAID (/dev/md* devices) as you would do with any other 
normal/standard IDE/SCSI/SATA setup.

If you really insist to pretend that you have RAID in hardware (and 
since you don't have it, you can only pretend), there's some support in 
device mapper for it.  Not still ready for prime time, but works in some 
cases.  Basically, there's an utility that reads out this fake RAID 
information from BIOS, and configures device mapper to handle it 
properly (which is exactly the same thing "RAID" device driver for 
Windows you got with the motherboard is doing).

For more info, check:

http://linux.yyz.us/sata/faq-sata-raid.html

-- 
Aleksandar Milivojevic <amilivojevic at pbl.ca>    Pollard Banknote Limited
Systems Administrator                           1499 Buffalo Place
Tel: (204) 474-2323 ext 276                     Winnipeg, MB  R3T 1L7