Create RAID in LMCE Manually

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Usage Information

Introduction

If for one reason or another Pluto's web-admin RAID setup doesn't detect your drives, you can manually install them via the command prompt. Before installing manually, ensure that each disk you are trying to RAID is empty of all partitions and try the web-admin again. If you are sure that the disks are empty of all data and partitions, and the drop down menu in web-admin RAID setup still does not show your disks, then proceed to the following directions. 

NOTE: The computer used for this demonstration is using 3 SATA drives, 2 of which we are going to setup into RAID 0.

Step 1: Know your hardware

If you haven't done so already, ensure that your disks are connected and that you know the logical name for each disk you want to RAID. Use the fdisk -l command to do so. The devices in the demo computer were listed as /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, and /dev/sdc. The latter two being the ones we want to setup for in RAID 0, so if there is anything on the drives already we need to use fdisk to remove it.

Step 2: Preparing the drives

  • First thing first, I want to delete any partitions on the drives. We will again be using fdisk for this.
dcerouter~# fdisk /dev/sdb
  • Substitute /sbd with whatever drive you with to prepare first.
NOTE: If you are not familiar with fdisk, use the help function to display all options available.
  • We want to see if there are any existing partitions.
Command (m for help): p
  • My drive has one ntfs partition, yours may differ.
  • Now I delete.
Command (m for help): d
  • Now write using w. 
NOTE: Do this for all drives you wish to setup.

Step 3: Creating the RAID

  • Use mdadm to manually setup the RAID. There are a few variables that will differ for each user's system, and they are bolded and explained following:
dcerouter~# mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/1sdb /dev/sdc1
    • md0, RAID logical name, which may differ if you already have one RAID setup.
    • level=0, what type of RAID.
    • devices=2, how many drives in the RAID (minimum of 2)
    • /dev/1sdb and /dev/sdc1, the newly setup partitions on each drive.
  • Once that is finished, I format the newly created RAID array.
dcerouter~# mkfs.ext3 /dev/md0
  • Again, /dev/md0 is subject to change depending on what you set the RAID up for. This process could take a while. Go get a sandwich.
  • Now we need to create a partition on the newly formatted drive. Use fdisk.
  • Create a new partition using n
  • Select primary, p, then 1 for one partition. When it asks for start and end blocks, press enter for default.
  • Check the partition again using p.
  • Write: w.
  • Reboot to the Orbiter.

Step 4: Done

The orbiter should automatically detect the drive when you reboot. Check the web-admin RAID setup to ensure the drive is there.

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