From owner-freebsd-stable  Wed Nov  8 15:15:44 2000
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From: mw@kpnqwest.ch
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Subject: Re: ATA RAID - sysinstall solution
In-Reply-To: <NEBBLGGDNJOMBLNHDFHFOEPNCJAA.debnar@o-c.sk> from "[Ivan Debn_r]"
 at "Nov 8, 2000 04:47:58 pm"
To: "[Ivan Debn_r]" <debnar@o-c.sk>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 00:15:06 +0100 (CET)
Cc: janb@cs.utep.edu, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG,
	freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG, sos@freebsd.dk
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> OK, i tested this. Sysinstall works fine now, and the system installs OK
> from the SNAP 5 ftp server. ON reboot, however, the computer thing refuses
> to boot of the RAID device. After the BIOS message "verifying
> DMI......"(or similar) the system hangs.

Because of the offset 10, sysinstall wrote the fdisk table to the wrong 
location on the disk... 

The following little patch fixes this. This should work for both 4 and 5 trees:
- look for 
	.. += rdp->offset
  in ata-raid.c
- make this line conditional
  if (buf1->drive)
	.. += rdp->offset

Of course, as Soren pointed out, you're risking screwing your first 
partition if you're NOT using an fdisk compatible layout. However, without
this patch the RAID is not bootable, so for me the case is clear:-) I've
used this with a RAID0 here successfully (incl. booting off it).

About the other suggestion, initially installing on the single drive, and
then mirroring it (turning it into a RAID1): should work, but be careful not
to use the original disk up to the last cylinder. The RAID will be (just)
slightly smaller than the individual disk, and if you filled your single 
disk to the end, FreeBSD will reject the last partition as being out of
disk limits. You'll have to adjust the disklabel after the change.
Of course, this will also only work with the above patch, or the disklabel
won't be found.

Good luck,
Markus

BTW: and many thanks to Soren for his work!
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P.O. Box 1600, Hohlstrasse 550, CH-8048 Zuerich
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Markus Wild, Manager Network Operations, e-mail: markus.wild@kpnqwest.ch


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