[CentOS] CentOS 5.2 with IBM SERVERAID 6i

[Fabian Arrotin]

miguelmedalha at sapo.pt wrote:
> I need to install CentOS 5.2 on a IBM Server xSeries 226, which comes 
> with a IBM SERVERAID 6i RAID card. I think it is not a true hardware 
> RAID card. I has, nevertheless, an interesting feature: 128MB of cache 
> with battery backup.

It's a real raid adapter and the linux kernel is able to handle it with 
the standard ips module

> 
> I launched the CentOS boot DVD and CentOS correctly identified the card 
> and the RAID 5 array as configured by the controller's BIOS.
> 
> My question now is: what would be the better way to implement RAID 5 on 
> this server? Should I use the detected array and respective driver or 
> should I delete the array and go for Linus Software RAID?

It's always up to you to decide but i'd prefer using the hw raid 
controller in that case of course ...
> 
> If both solutions are in fact Software RAID, is there any particular 
> reason to prefer one of the methods?

If you use the hw raid, you can easily manager your raid array with 
either ipssend cli or ServeRAID manager gui (both are downloadable from 
IBM support website)

> 
> I know that Linux RAID will create a universal, more compatible array, 
> readable on any Linux machine. But is there some other reason that makes 
> it preferrable to use the SERVERAID driver provided by CentOS? Is it 
> optimized in any way that recommends its use?
> 
> Will the controller still make use of its cache and battery backup if 
> configured as a plain SCSI controller with Linux Software RAID?
> 
> I hope that some more experienced list member can ellucidate me on this.
> 

Hope it's done now ;-)
PS : i've installed dozens of CentOS/RHEL on IBM machines without any 
problems

-- 
-
Fabian Arrotin <fabian.arrotin at arrfab.net>
"Internet network currently down, TCP/IP packets delivered now by 
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