How to install and configure a basic RAID architecture ?

[johnpau80]

Hi ALL,


I'm completely new to this Hardware stuff and interested
in installing and configuring a basic RAID for one of our
non-mission critical server.

I have a generic server which is 3-4 years old and
has an Intell SE7500CW2 mother board in it.

I have 2 hard drives each of 60GB (Western digital).

Now I want to mirror these 2 drives and configure some
basic RAID ( raid 1 i guess) so that in the event of
a crash of 1 drive the other drive takes over.




1) What do I need to configure the above thing ?

2) Read somewhere that there are 2 types of RAID
hardware based and software based ?


I have a windows 2000 server installed in it with 2 GB RAM
with double xeon processors.


Any help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--Thanks

 

[bse1969]

First you need to understand what it is meant by Hardware or Software RAID. Hardware RAID is when you have a seperate controller in the system which controls the RAID. Software is after you have your OS installed to create a RAID set with in the OS itself. Doing Software RAID adds overhead to your system whereas Hardware RAID moves that task to a seperate piece of hardware. You first need to identify if you have a RAID controller in the server. It will either be on the motherboard or a seperate card. To setup Hardware RAID you will either hit a ctrl-<this varies> to configure the RAID or you will need to boot up to software. It depends on what you have. Once you get it configured you might need the driver for the particular OS you are installing. It all depends on the controller and OS.

Software is configured once you have an OS on the system. The configuration all depends on what OS you have so I can not go into detail. I am sure a google search will prove most useful for that.

Hope that helps.

 

[johnpau80]

I have a intel SE7500CW2 motherboard and checked one of its PDF file online and its was saying about this on the mother board

===================================================
Promise Technology* PDC20267 dual channel ATA-100 RAID controller.

====================================


1. Does that mean that my mother board has RAID controller
in it ?


2. How will I know what RAID controller I have ?
Can I open up the server and look at the mother board
and physically see it ?

How does it look ?


3. So if the mother board is having a RAID controller so
to configure the RAID thru hardware , the config tool
is sitting in BIOS ?

 

[bse1969]

1. Yes you have an onboard RAID controller.
2. The PDF tells you what you have. Check the intel support site for drivers.
3. Yes when the server is booting you should see the Promise initialize. At that point is should tell you how to get to the utility. It will be either press a key or sequence.

 

[johnpau80]

Since I haven't done this before, just curious as how this
RAID config will be:

1) Does it show the existing drives in my server and
ask which RAID i wanted to configure ?

Will it will be simple or does it need any reading before ?

 

[bse1969]

Should be pretty simple. I can't tell you exactly how to go through and set it up but when you get into the utility you are going to create an array. It all depends but from that point it should ask you raid 0 or raid 1. Once that is done you may have to create a logical drive but it may do that for you. The utilities vary but here is the site for using the utility:

http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/cs-010729.htm

 

[johnpau80]

1) Do I need to format the DRIVES befor I setup RAID ?


Right now I have 2 drives ( 60GB) each and one drive has
Operating system and some file and other drive has some files.

I can format the 2 drives and use for this RAID.


So do I need to format the 2 drives and install the OS first ?

 

[johnpau80]

What Jumper settings should I be setting up for these
2 drives to make RAID 1 ?

 

[bse1969]

No the drives will get redone when you create the array. It should do a sync which will do a format. Once you have setup the array you can run the OS install and format the drive through that. Keep in mind you might have to hit f6 to install the driver if windows does not detect it.

 

[johnpau80]

1. When I hit Ctrl + F and it throws an error in the
Promise technology screen.

"No Disk Found "

2. When should I hit F6 ?

3. What jumper settings should both the drives be having ?
I had removed the jumpers from both the drives.

 

[bse1969]

1. Not sure I would suspect the jumpers are not set correctly.
2. When the Windows setup tells you to. I would let the install run first to see if windows loads the driver. If you get to the part where you choose a partition to install to and it is empty then you will need to restart and hit f6 when it tells you to. You will need to have the driver on a floppy at that point.
3. I am not sure about the setting for IDE drives. Maybe a google search will help.