Greetings.

I happened to read the following article as I was in the process of 
configuring a new file server:

     https://www.hepix.org/documents/HEPiX_GDB_STF_v1.0.0.0-1.pdf

Among other things, the article suggests that using SATA II drives in a 
RAID 6 configuration is probably a reasonable approach for a file server.

I'd like to configure a RAID 6 array in SOFTWARE on this system, which 
will be running SL 4.2.  (This will be a fast, dual-processor system, 
with plenty of cycles to dedicate to the checksumming process, and the 
software approach uses tools that are widely used and open-source, 
versus whatever voodoo the vendors include in their RAID cards.)

I contacted a systems vendor about this.  The sales guy told me that he 
doesn't think software RAID 6 is possible in Redhat (or similar).

I've found some information on the web that suggests that software RAID 
6 was experimental in Dec. 2003.  That COULD have gotten worked out in 
the interim, but the documentation for RHEL 4 shows only RAID 0, 1, and 
5 as options for software RAID.

It would appear that I'll have to go with hardware RAID.  If you have 
any better information about software RAID 6 in SL, please let me know.

Thanks.

					- Mike
-- 
Michael Hannon            mailto:[log in to unmask]
Dept. of Physics          530.752.4966
University of California  530.752.4717 FAX
Davis, CA 95616-8677