[ale] mdadm vs raidtools

[Danny Cox]

Greg,

On Sun, 2003-07-27 at 14:27, Greg wrote:
> Does anyone have any opinions on which is better ?  I thought that mdadm was
> a newer and better program than mdadm, but I just read on the O'Reilly site
> that raidtools is/are still being developed, as well as having a stable
> history.  I am currently using raidtools on an AMD 700 MHZ with 3 200 GB
> disks in a RAID 5 array that will be used to store mainly home made movies
> and mp3s.

	mdadm is newer software, and is just into it's 2.X versions.  The 1.X
version was introduced, and Neil changed listened to the complaints and
enhancement requests from the folks using it, and incorporated them into
2.X.

	Heck, RAID [0145] and multi-path drivers are still being developed,
along with the rest of the kernel.  However, I've not seen a version
change in the raidtools in a long while.  Version 0.90 is what I've had
all along.

	Your requirements are rather modest.  Please don't take that the wrong
way, I'm just saying that you're not running a disk farm for an RDBMS
powering the back-end of a Fortune 50 company.  So, either raidtools or
mdadm will suit your needs.  Not having become used to either, I'd
strongly suggest looking into mdadm, as it does seem to be the
up-and-coming contender.

> Is one more reliable than the other ?  Would one work better with ext3 ?

	Since they're working at a lower level (block special devices) than
filesystems, then no, neither one is better with/for ext3.  As for
reliability, I'd say at first blush, "no", 'cause they both basically
interface for the kernel level RAID software.  If they both "get it
right", then both are equally reliable.

> Danny - your opinions are especially appreciated.

	Sorry, I've not used madm yet.  When I was learning all this stuff, it
didn't exist.  OTOH, Neil Brown, the RAID maintaner has written mdadm,
and he seems to think it's the way to go.  Who am I to argue? ;-)

	HTH!

-- 
kernel, n.: A part of an operating system that preserves the
medieval traditions of sorcery and black art.

Danny

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