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I want to install Ubuntu 14.10 Server 32 bit on a system, with specifications: Intel motherboard(DG965WH),Two SATA hard-drives and I want to install Linux Server for the fist time ever.without dual booting with Windows and will not have a GUI except for my other Windows 7 desktop machine.

As a "newbie" I'm wondering how difficult this is going to be? Will the installation disk guide me through installing the RAID or do I have to first install Ubuntu Server, then create the RAID or do I first create the RAID and then install the Ubuntu server.

Because I have an Intel mother board,I found this white paper document for Intel Rapid Storage Technology :

Thanks

Bill

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  • 1
    The server installer does allow you to use both RAID and LVM at the partitioning stage. I don't know about Intel's stuff.
    – muru
    Mar 4, 2015 at 16:35
  • So maybe I don't need the Intel Matrix Storage Manager for linux? That would be great!
    – user40199
    Mar 4, 2015 at 17:05
  • You can set up a RAID volume with mdadm (softRAID) even on a system that doesn't include a RAID controller so IMHO you don't need it.
    – Elder Geek
    Mar 10, 2015 at 13:39

1 Answer 1

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You need to set up your hard disks as RAID disks BEFORE you install any OS. Be Warned this is not an exercise for the fain of heart.

Here are the instructions I use (unfortunately I cannot remember the original source):

Software RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks "RAID" is a method of using multiple disks to provide different balances of increasing data reliability and/or increasing input/output performance, depending on the RAID level being used. RAID is implemented in either software (where the operating system knows about both drives and actively maintains both of them) or hardware (where a special controller makes the OS think there's only one drive and maintains the drives 'invisibly').

The RAID software included with current versions of Linux (and Ubuntu) is based on the 'mdadm' driver and works very well, better even than many so-called 'hardware' RAID controllers. This section will guide you through installing Ubuntu Server Edition using two RAID1 partitions on two physical hard drives, one for / and another for swap.

Partitioning

Follow the installation steps until you get to the Partition disks step, then:

Select Manual as the partition method.

Select the first hard drive, and agree to "Create a new empty partition table on this device?".

Repeat this step for each drive you wish to be part of the RAID array.

Select the "FREE SPACE" on the first drive then select "Create a new partition".

Next, select the Size of the partition. This partition will be the swap partition, and a general rule for swap size is twice that of RAM. Enter the partition size, then choose Primary, then Beginning.

A swap partition size of twice the available RAM capacity may not always be desirable, especially on systems with large amounts of RAM. Calculating the swap partition size for servers is highly dependent on how the system is going to be used.

Select the "Use as:" line at the top. By default this is "Ext4 journaling file system", change that to "physical volume for RAID" then "Done setting up partition".

For the / partition once again select "Free Space" on the first drive then "Create a new partition".

Use the rest of the free space on the drive and choose Continue, then Primary.

As with the swap partition, select the "Use as:" line at the top, changing it to "physical volume for RAID". Also select the "Bootable flag:" line to change the value to "on". Then choose "Done setting up partition".

Repeat steps three through eight for the other disk and partitions.

RAID Configuration

With the partitions setup the arrays are ready to be configured:

Back in the main "Partition Disks" page, select "Configure Software RAID" at the top.

Select "yes" to write the changes to disk.

Choose "Create MD device".

For this example, select "RAID1", but if you are using a different setup choose the appropriate type (RAID0 RAID1 RAID5).

In order to use RAID5 you need at least three drives. Using RAID0 or RAID1 only two drives are required.

Enter the number of active devices "2", or the amount of hard drives you have, for the array. Then select "Continue".

Next, enter the number of spare devices "0" by default, then choose "Continue".

Choose which partitions to use. Generally they will be sda1, sdb1, sdc1, etc. The numbers will usually match and the different letters correspond to different hard drives.

For the swap partition choose sda1 and sdb1. Select "Continue" to go to the next step.

Repeat steps three through seven for the / partition choosing sda2 and sdb2.

Once done select "Finish".

Formatting

There should now be a list of hard drives and RAID devices. The next step is to format and set the mount point for the RAID devices. Treat the RAID device as a local hard drive, format and mount accordingly.

Select "#1" under the "RAID1 device #0" partition.

Choose "Use as:". Then select "swap area", then "Done setting up partition".

Next, select "#1" under the "RAID1 device #1" partition.

Choose "Use as:". Then select "Ext4 journaling file system".

Then select the "Mount point" and choose "/ - the root file system". Change any of the other options as appropriate, then select "Done setting up partition".

Finally, select "Finish partitioning and write changes to disk".

If you choose to place the root partition on a RAID array, the installer will then ask if you would like to boot in a degraded state. See Degraded RAID for further details.

The installation process will then continue normally.

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  • "You need to set up your hard disks as RAID disks BEFORE you install any OS" <-This is not necessarily true. I've added a RAID data storage volume with mdadm (a.k.a. soft raid) long after an initial installation. Try it!
    – Elder Geek
    Mar 10, 2015 at 13:37
  • Don't think I am that brave - but thanks - I've learnt something new today.
    – Dave A
    Mar 11, 2015 at 20:01
  • It's easy to be brave when you have backups.
    – Elder Geek
    Mar 11, 2015 at 21:04

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