AIX 5.2 Raid problem

[newbieaix]

Hi eveyone,

I recently started working for a company and I am expected to learn AIX as soon as possible. I have to configure a pseries f80, which already has a AIX 5L v5.2 on it. The problem is, there are 6 9.1gb scsi disks on the machine, and only one of them is configured (which has the os). I want to make a raid-5 with the 6 disk drives and make a fresh installation.

I have tried every possible way to make a raid-5 with the 6 disks, but I can only make a 5disk raid. It doesn`t include the "already configured" disk inside the raid array (I am willing to delete whatever is inside the configured drive). Can anyone explain me in detail what are the steps to do a 6 disk raid5 and then install a fresh os.

All responses are appreciated in advance.

aixnewbie

 

[MoshiachNow]

Let me understand - your system disk is the one that you want to have included in the RAID5?
You can not achieve this - the system will not not let you dstroy the disk you have booted from.
You Must have a bootable system disk in your system.
In this config you are limited to a 5 disk RAID.

"Long live king Moshiach !"

http://www.7for70.com/

 

[newbieaix]

Thank you for your reply levw.

I am willing to change the config and delete whatever is in the disk. is there still no way to do this?

aixnewbie

 

[MoshiachNow]

What will be your system disk from which the system will now boot ?

I assume you do not intend to convert the whole machine into a RAID ?

"Long live king Moshiach !"

http://www.7for70.com/

 

[newbieaix]

yes, yes, I WANT to conver the whole machine to RAID

 

[MoshiachNow]

I do not think you can.

"Long live king Moshiach !"

http://www.7for70.com/

 

[bi]

My question is why you would want your whole system to be RAID5?? Especially for a system this age, with jbods instead of a high-end disk subsystem.

For example, if you have a database you are going to put on this system, the whole thing will be on one logical drive. That's not a good layout for a database and performance will suffer.

And in the meantime, your OS isn't mirrored. If you make a RAID5 array out of the remaining 5 disks, the only way to protect your OS is to mirror it to a RAID5 array and that you don't want.

As newbie to AIX, I would suggest you take a look at

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com,

search for "certification AND AIX", download the certification guide for 5.2 sys admin and look at it to learn more about logical volume management. There also is a RedBook that deals entirely with LVM principles and practices. Search for "LVM AND AIX".