[arch-general] RAID Configuration & Swap Space

[David C. Rankin]

On 03/10/2010 08:37 AM, Carlos Mennens wrote:
> I wanted to know if I configure my three identical disks as followed:
> 
> - sda1 = /boot @ 4GB
> - sda2 = RAID @ 300GB
> 
> - sdb1 = Swap @ 4GB
> - sdb2 = RAID @ 300GB
> 
> - sdc1 = Swap @ 4GB
> - sdc2 = RAID @ 300GB
> 
> Now when I am done configuring RAID, will Arch Linux show I have 8GB
> of Swap space total under a tool like 'htop' or something like this?
> Will the above configuration work? Or Should I change it?
> 

It will probably work, but I would change it. When I mirror a drive, I want
"mirrored" drives (swap & boot included). For me, the purpose behind mirrored
raid is to handle a drive failure. When one occurs, all I want to be required to
do is reinstall grub on the remaining good drive, change fstab and reboot on a
single drive until I get a replacement drive and then rebuild the array.

Yes, I know if you just want disk redundancy for data storage, then you need not
mirror the whole disk. But when swap is no more than 4 gig and /boot is no more
than 150M, with at 750G drive the amount of data loss incurred due to mirroring
a complete drive is less than 1% and for the convenience of instant recovery, it
is worth it.

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
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