[ale] mdadm vs raidtools

[Drag0n]

In actuality, they are not mutualy exlusive, it is easy to run both at
the same time. As for preferences as to which is better, neither, they
both have their uses. Slackware only installs the raid tools, so you
have to start with those. But i have encountered a situation where 2
drives superblocks were out of sync in a 6 drive array, i was only able
to get them to sync back up with mdadm, so i keep both on the system. of
course Your milage may vary.


Drag0n
dragon at atlantacon.org

On Sun, 2003-07-27 at 17:16, Danny Cox wrote:
> 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!
-- 
Drag0n <dragon at atlantacon.org>
@LANta.con

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