DL 160 G6-410 CONTROLLER WITH 256 MB CACHE RAID 5on Ubuntu

[RAJAKUMAR]

have DL 160 G6 WITH THREE 146 GB SAS HOT PLUG HDD's. I am trying RAID 5 for installing Ubuntu 9.04 and MYSQL for a DB Server.

Here is quick config.
DL 160 G6 HOTPLUG + 3 SAS 146 GB HDD's+ 8 GB RAM + 410 controller. As per the specification, it should support RAID 5.

So far, here is what I did.
I installed the memory + HDD's + 256 CACHE

I did updated the firmware to the hp boot key and seems to be went well.

Here are the issues that I am facing.

1. The 256 cache is detected but says the since the battery is not available , the cache is disabled

2. I went to the ROM setup utility for setting up arrays. I can see two HDD's but I cant see the third one. The two HDD's-the first and the second LED's are green and the third one has blue so the third HDD's is detected but not shwing up in the configuration utility.

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS.

1.How do I set up RAID 5?

2. Do I need to install Ubuntu 9.04 and then install HP UBUNTU SUPPORT PACK and then install RAID 5 through array config utility and then Install MYSQL to avail RAID 5?

3.In the HP-Ubuntu support doc, they are talking about option for i386 port for memory above 4gb. Here is the line.(let me know I can send you the pdf)
"If you are running the i386 port, and your system has greater than 4GB of memory, you will need
to install one of the following optimized kernels to enable access to the additional memory:"
"686-bigmem
The 686-bigmem kernel permits 32-bit systems to access more than 4GB of memory."


How do I install 686-bigman to utilize the 8gb memory I have?

4. When do I use the ROM based array configuration for arrays and when do I need to use HP ACU(AFTER OS INSTALL) for configuring RAID 5?

I know there are lot of Linux guru's out here. Help me out.
Any help appriciated.
Thank you for all the replies.

-Raja.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Raja,

1) If you want the cache available, replace the battery before doing anything else.

2) Use the smart array configuration utility built into the server boot (see this at the console, hit the right function key) and set up your raid 5 disk array in advance before doing an OS install. Doing raid 5 with only three disks is not a very good idea, but you can do it.

3) You are better off using a 64 bit (amd64) Ubuntu distribution if you are running a single system with more than 4 GB of ram. There is great 32 bit support in buntu.

4) If HP provides ACU for your Ubuntu distribution, you can use it. This install is done after the OS install. If not, you are limited to using the nvram based utilities, that I describe above.

SEP

[RAJAKUMAR]

Thanks Steve.
This is Brand new server so I dont think the battery malfunctions.
Why do you say RAID 5 WITH THREE DISKS not advisable?

[Pradeep_26]

RAID is not ideal way becasue it can withstand only one HDD failuer at a time

410 with 256MB cache supports RAID6 which can withstand 2 HDD failer at any given point of time.