Re: [PLUG] RAID cards

["Will Dyson" <will.dyson@gmail.com>]

On 10/2/06, Austin Murphy <austin.murphy@gmail.com> wrote:
> 1. #2 is also called "fakeraid" by the linux kernel devs.  Instead of
> using hardware logic or the linux multidisk code, it (poorly)
> implements it's own code in a binary blob.  It's kind of like a
> winmodem.

Yeah. The one advantage of this scheme is that, when the card BIOS can
understand how the array is put together, it can allow you to boot
from the array.

A while back, I remember seeing a proposal for a standardized on-disk
format for hardware and software raid. I had thought that the major
vendors were on-board with the idea, but I haven't heard anything
since (from card vendors or the Linux MD/DM maintainers).

It is a shame it has gone no-where, as if both the card and Linux
supported the standard on-disk array format, it would solve some of
the main irritations of using Linux software raid. Namely, being able
to boot from a raid volume, and being able to use the card BIOS to
configure the array (while still using the superior Linux software
raid drivers).

--
Will Dyson
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