getting a linux boot loader (preferably grub) installed on an intel imsm raid

["K. Posern" <quickhelp@gmail.com>]

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Hi all,

/// The problem ///

There are binary packages out there that do the trick based on 
device-mapper (dmraid) (e.g. Ubuntu). But I would like to do it

	a) manually (because thats why I use Linux, because you can do things 
manually and you can learn a lot (even if you don't succeed in the end)

	b) based on mdadm-imsm. Just there seems really /no/ documentation out 
there on how to do it (or I successfully managed to google around it 
since days now ;).

I will be very glad for any bit of information that might help me to 
eliminate some of the below parameters.
And Again: I would be more than glad to contribute (back to the 
community) by assembling a wiki page about all this, once I figured out 
all the bits and pieces.

//// The situation ///

I am still trying to figure out how to install grub / grub2 on my intel 
imsm raid. And it's a striping RAID-0. Because the documentation out 
there is overall for RAID-1 (or 5) and the few bits I found for RAID-0, 
just do not work for me.

/// The questions ///

Maybe someone could shed some light on these open questions:

	a) Do I need to install it to the Volumne (/dev/md126) or to the 
Container (/dev/md127)? - My guess: The volume because it represents the 
RAID, hence should be what gets assembled for the int13 BIOS handler by 
the Option-ROM of the intel-sw-raid-controller.

	b) What device do I need to put in the /grub/boot/device.map file as (hd0):
	(/dev/md126, /dev/md127 or ...)?
	My guess: The same like a).

	c) Do you suggest grub1 (grub legacy) or grub2?

	    *** For grub2: The default way to install it: grub-install does not 
(seem to) work as grub2 then tries to find the /boot device itself and 
grub built from bzr does not (yet) support mdadm arrays with metadata 
v1.2 that are partitioned :(
	As I am quiet new to grub2 it would be very helpful to get an idea of 
what of the (many) tools to use and if possible with what parameters.
	Plus I wonder if with grub2 there will be problems because grub2 will 
try to assemble the RAID itsself.

	    *** For grub: I did quiet some installations but all my trials did 
always end in an Error 22 on "setup (hd0)" in the grub shell. <<< If 
grub would be your recommendation I can post the details!


Thanks a lot for any hint in advance!


K. Posern

P.S.: I would be still interested to hear how the two solutions that 
support an intel BIOS-supported (mdadm-imsm >=v3 and dmraid >=v1) raid 
compare to each other in terms of: speed (throughput), load/overhead 
(cpu/ram), stability, features.


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