Now that my shiny new 9500S is installed and not fighting for IRQs, I've created and initialized a ~2.5TB array using the bios utility. So the next step is mounting the new array. I naively tried following the regular handbook instructions for adding a new drive and failed miserably. And after googling a bit I now know why, and realized that I knew why before, but I was being stupid. I've seen a few mentions of using gpt(8) and some vague references to using dedicated mode. But I haven't seen anything that says "this is the Right Way to do it". So...what's the proper way to make a large file system?
Quoting Brandon Fosdick <bfoz@bfoz.net>:> Now that my shiny new 9500S is installed and not fighting for IRQs, > I've created and initialized a ~2.5TB array using the bios utility. > So the next step is mounting the new array. I naively tried following > the regular handbook instructions for adding a new drive and failed > miserably. And after googling a bit I now know why, and realized that > I knew why before, but I was being stupid. I've seen a few mentions > of using gpt(8) and some vague references to using dedicated mode. > But I haven't seen anything that says "this is the Right Way to do > it". So...what's the proper way to make a large file system?You can avoid the problem by splitting the array up in partitions smaller than 2TB each. (I know this does not answer your question, but it simplifies things, and it works for me(TM)... :-) Erik ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
Where exactly did you run into trouble? I'm guessing you made the array, you have a device for it in /dev but ran into problems (expected) using fdisk or bsdlabel. -Jon On Sun, 14 Aug 2005, Brandon Fosdick wrote:> Now that my shiny new 9500S is installed and not fighting for IRQs, I've created and initialized a ~2.5TB array using the bios utility. So the next step is mounting the new array. > > I naively tried following the regular handbook instructions for adding a new drive and failed miserably. And after googling a bit I now know why, and realized that I knew why before, but I was being stupid. > > I've seen a few mentions of using gpt(8) and some vague references to using dedicated mode. But I haven't seen anything that says "this is the Right Way to do it". So...what's the proper way to make a large file system? > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-stable@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >
On Sun, Aug 14, 2005 at 02:04:43PM -0700, Brandon Fosdick wrote:> Now that my shiny new 9500S is installed and not fighting for IRQs, I've > created and initialized a ~2.5TB array using the bios utility. So the next > step is mounting the new array. > I naively tried following the regular handbook instructions for adding a > new drive and failed miserably. And after googling a bit I now know why, > and realized that I knew why before, but I was being stupid. > I've seen a few mentions of using gpt(8) and some vague references to using > dedicated mode. But I haven't seen anything that says "this is the Right > Way to do it". So...what's the proper way to make a large file system?Hi Brandon, I recently dealt with the same controller, with a 3TB array. My solution is tons easier than dealing with gpt or breaking it up. So long as you don't need to boot from the raid, and you just want it as one big disk, forget partitioning it. newfs the device directly, and mount it directly. drue@leopard:~$ df -h ... /dev/da0 2.6T 182G 2.3T 7% /d I just did a newfs on /dev/da0 and mounted it. Works /great/. No fuss. Dan
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005, Brandon Fosdick wrote:> Now that my shiny new 9500S is installed and not fighting for IRQs, I've > created and initialized a ~2.5TB array using the bios utility. So the > next step is mounting the new array. > > I naively tried following the regular handbook instructions for adding a > new drive and failed miserably. And after googling a bit I now know why, > and realized that I knew why before, but I was being stupid. > > I've seen a few mentions of using gpt(8) and some vague references to > using dedicated mode. But I haven't seen anything that says "this is the > Right Way to do it". So...what's the proper way to make a large file > system?Whatever you end up doing (we used auto-carving here, had to unfortunately) be sure to test the partitions fully before proceeding.>2TB support in FreeBSD is not yet perfect, so it'd be worth your timeto find out what works and what doesn't work. The most recent general data available appears to be at: http://www.freebsd.org/projects/bigdisk/ Things to check, in particular, are background fscks, which are automatically enabled, regular fscks with a full/nearly full partition, and backups if you use some sort of 'raw disk' method like with 'dump'. If you can boot off another device other than the RAID, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle, for sure.
dpk wrote:> Whatever you end up doing (we used auto-carving here, had to > unfortunately) be sure to test the partitions fully before proceeding.Any suggestions? Are there specialized raid test suites or should I just write a script that writes/deletes a lot of files?