Subject: Problem using more than 8 partitions on RAID device
To: None <netbsd-users@netbsd.org>
From: Rob Ginn <rob@sun701.nawcad.navy.mil>
List: netbsd-users
Date: 05/30/2002 19:30:35
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Hi,
I'm having trouble using more that 8 partitions on
my RAID device. I'm running NetBSD 1.5.2 on an i386
platform.
I noticed the problem when I tried to do a newfs
on rraid0i and was told it was in use. When I
looked in /dev I found out that the minor numbers
for rraid0 repeat at 8 devices. I checked the
MAKEDEV code and that's how its configured to
generate them.
I'm not sure this is specifically a raidframe problem
as MAKEDEV does the same thing for other devices. I
thought perhaps there was a limit on RAID device partitions
but disklabel had no issue with creating the partitions.
I also checked sysctl which shows that kern.maxpartitions
is set to 16.
BTW, to save time, I really want more than 8 partitions
because: I want to export them separately, I want each
partition to fit on a single DLT tape, and I want to
limit the amount of space allowed to the functions I've
assigned to specific partitions.
I realize I could use two raid devices (8 partitions
apiece) but I just spent a bit of time writing a set
of scripts to do stuff like monitor the system for a
failure and auto-switch to a hot spare as well as
simplifying bad drive replacement and I'd rather not
re-do them to deal with two raid devices on the same
set of hard drives.
So, is this a real limitation or am I missing
something obvious?
Thanks,
Rob Ginn
rob@olg.com
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Hi,<br>
I'm having trouble using more that 8 partitions on<br>
my RAID device.<font size=3> I'm running NetBSD 1.5.2 on an
i386<br>
platform.<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>I noticed the problem when I tried to do a newfs<br>
on rraid0i and was told it was in use. When I<br>
looked in /dev I found out that the minor numbers<br>
for rraid0 repeat at 8 devices. I checked the<br>
MAKEDEV code and that's how its configured to<br>
generate them.<br>
<br>
I'm not sure this is specifically a raidframe problem<br>
as MAKEDEV does the same thing for other devices. I<br>
thought perhaps there was a limit on RAID device partitions<br>
but disklabel had no issue with creating the partitions.<br>
I also checked sysctl which shows that kern.maxpartitions<br>
is set to 16.<br>
<br>
BTW, to save time, I really want more than 8 partitions<br>
because: I want to export them separately, I want each<br>
partition to fit on a single DLT tape, and I want to<br>
limit the amount of space allowed to the functions I've<br>
assigned to specific partitions.<br>
<br>
I realize I could use two raid devices (8 partitions<br>
apiece) but I just spent a bit of time writing a set<br>
of scripts to do stuff like monitor the system for a<br>
failure and auto-switch to a hot spare as well as<br>
simplifying bad drive replacement and I'd rather not<br>
re-do them to deal with two raid devices on the same<br>
set of hard drives.<br>
<br>
So, is this a real limitation or am I missing<br>
something obvious?<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Rob Ginn<br>
rob@olg.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</html>
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