How to setup Debian linux on a Dell server with RAID 1

[Hans]

I would like to setup Debian Linux on a new server.
My new server is a Dell PowerEdge SC1425, dual Xeon 2.8 GHz. and 2 SATA 250 GB discs
I would like to setup RAID 1 as well.

Can anyone advise me which Debian Linux kernel I can use for this server with dual processors and two SATA drives?
Can anyone explain to me how to setup RAID 1?

Any help could be helpful!

[patjec]

Originally Posted by Hans

I would like to setup Debian Linux on a new server.
My new server is a Dell PowerEdge SC1425, dual Xeon 2.8 GHz. and 2 SATA 250 GB discs
I would like to setup RAID 1 as well.

Can anyone advise me which Debian Linux kernel I can use for this server with dual processors and two SATA drives?
Can anyone explain to me how to setup RAID 1?

Any help could be helpful!

I wrote a howto here that works with my hardware and debian / ubuntu:

http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_software_raid

As you can see in the comments it's not working for everyone. I hope this works for you.

[Hans]

Originally Posted by patjec

I wrote a howto here that works with my hardware and debian / ubuntu:

http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_software_raid

As you can see in the comments it's not working for everyone. I hope this works for you.

Thank you for your reply.
In your situation you have created the partitions:
/boot 50 MB
/swap 1GB
/ 10 GB
/var the rest of the hard disk

My question is what kind of partitions are this?
Primary, Logical or extended?

Please let me know.

[patjec]

Originally Posted by Hans

Thank you for your reply.
In your situation you have created the partitions:
/boot 50 MB
/swap 1GB
/ 10 GB
/var the rest of the hard disk

My question is what kind of partitions are this?
Primary, Logical or extended?

Please let me know.

All Primary.

[Jcorrea920]

Patrick,
How would I install on a system that already has a similar system from the Perfect Ubuntu Setup except that I have X-windows installed and VMWare running Windows 2003 Enterprise Server. I really need to configure RAID without starting from scratch. Can it be done?

Also I saw a site that posted a How to on RAID would this work as an alternative?

http://www.humandoing.net/blog/33/raid-on-linux-ubuntu-510

I went to all the trouble of installing all the software and SP1 on the VM so you see how I don't want to start all over. But if It is the only way, Dammit I'll do it for the team.

Jorge

[falko]

I think you can change the partition type with fdisk without losing your data, but of course there's no guarantee.
Afterwards you can set up RAID1 as described here: http://debiandox.barties.de/howtos/1...8/schritt1.htm (unfortunately it's in German, but the commands are the same... )

[Jcorrea920]

I think you can change the partition type with fdisk without losing your data, but of course there's no guarantee.
Afterwards you can set up RAID1 as described here: http://debiandox.barties.de/howtos/1...8/schritt1.htm (unfortunately it's in German, but the commands are the same... )

Okay I don't speak German, and I feel like it would take to long for me to become fluent in German. Not that I am not interested, I would love to speak German, but life is only so short and I can squeeze in the time to get off my butt and learn. Does it come in Spanish?

But because I don't want to start from scratch I will give it a shot. Although, I am not familiar with fdisk how exactly would I go about changing the partition type? Is it like changing the file system all together? My second drive sdb has not even been formatted that is how new the system is, will fdisk format the second disk?

And as for the German How to, I will just cut and paste the code in sequential order and hopefully I won't ruin my current system. I feel like a blind man wrestling with King Kong, but will try to win by showing him some leg. Being a man, it could be the end of me.

Jorge

[falko]

Originally Posted by Jcorrea920

But because I don't want to start from scratch I will give it a shot. Although, I am not familiar with fdisk how exactly would I go about changing the partition type? Is it like changing the file system all together? My second drive sdb has not even been formatted that is how new the system is, will fdisk format the second disk?

Use cfdisk instead of fdisk. Its interface is more intuitive. Just run

cfdisk

, and you'll see.

Originally Posted by Jcorrea920

And as for the German How to, I will just cut and paste the code in sequential order and hopefully I won't ruin my current system. I feel like a blind man wrestling with King Kong, but will try to win by showing him some leg. Being a man, it could be the end of me.

Try to understand what he's doing. You won't need most of the stuff (e.g. installing a new Debian from a rescue system with debootstrap, installing a new kernel, etc.).