Raid In Xdsl? Options

[Zebedee Rocks]

Hey, I was wondering if it was possible to set up a software raid in xdsl 6? The kernel in xdsl 6 is 2.4.31.xbox so is it possible to just configure a file to set up a raid on two hard drives? I've been checking out the thread of getting samba to work in xdsl and it sparked my interest for a server.

[bc54]

why? from my understanding of raid, it is meant to use only master drives, so one drive per ide channel, not a master/slave combo. if you did use a master/slave combo performance will take a significant hit.

however, you could set up your xbox with two hard drives, say 2 500gb drives to give you a 1tb total. you would just install linux on the first one and set up samba as shown in the other thread. then format the other hard drive to ext3 with the "fdisk" command, google can help. then edit your "/etc/fstab" to mount the drive on boot, however in some distros you will actually also need to add "mount /mnt/hdb1" (or whatever drive it is) to a startup script like "/opt/bootlocal.sh". then you would have a dual hard drive 1tb nas.

[Zebedee Rocks]

The reason I wanted to do a Raid is so I could have a single volume to use with samba. I know performance would take a hit but it is only for a media server. Would your method work then to see the whole box as a single volume of storage or as two separate volumes of storage? I may try this on some spare stock drives I have lying around.

[bc54]

well, i guess it could look like a single volume, somewhat...

first, im going to assume this is a native setup, so there is plenty of room on your main hard drive. so, you have "/dev/hda" mounted to "/". this is your primary hard drive that has linux installed on it. then you have your secondary hard drive, that is going to be used for storage. this one is "/dev/hdb" and it is mounted on "/mnt/hdb1" (1 means first partition).

then, you configure samba to share "/media", or whatever. then make a symbolic link to "/mnt/hdb1" inside the '/media" directory ("ln -s /mnt/hdb /media/hdd2"). that way, when you look at the share from another computer, you will see the contents of your primary hard drive's "/media" directory and also see the contents of your other hard drive in the "/media/hdd2" directory.

of course this isnt really like raid, each folder would be independent of o f eachother, but you could see them both in one share. if you really need raid, it probably could be done, however i have never setup a raid array, so i would not know where to begin. im sure some googling and trial and error and you could do it.

ps: just a quick afterthought on my idea. say your primary hdd is a bit smaller than your other one, so in "/media" you have a directory "music". then you have your large hdd symlink, but it is named "videos". so your smaller hard drive will store music files, which use less space, while your larger hard drive will store the space eating videos. of course this same idea could be reversed (larger hard drive has linux filesystem and music, with smaller hard drive symlinked to "/media/music".) hope i could help.

This post has been edited by bc54: Jul 22 2009, 06:08 AM

[Zebedee Rocks]

Thanks very much for all of your help. This setup looks definitely more doable than setting up a software raid in linux. However, I may get off the whole subject of using the xbox as a NAS and just set up a new linux PC with raid. Then again the xbox is cheaper....We shall see.

[run088]

Food for thought

Use xbmc and the upnp protcol. Get a sata drive up to 2tb. On pc get nero home then you can stream or burn from your pc. All other devices should see the upnp server as well including xbox360. This is the best setup I can find. Also it is sweet because it has its own library like view so only the host machine needs the library updated. Only limitation is that it only likes movies in one file so if you have 2 part files you have to run them threw a program like virtual dub and combine them into 1 file. Using this setup you can easily tweak your network settings and firewall your xbox from the internet by changing the gateway but keeping the subnet.

Drawbacks on a setup in linux. If you use custom partitions and try to keep everything fatx. Partitions over 137 on f will be unreadable. And there is a cutoff on g to but I dont remember what it is. If you use linux and you have big partitions then they need to be formatted in a linux partitioning system.

[bc54]

yeah, upnp is definately an easy way to go, but then you can only share music, videos, and pictures.

also, i share my F drive with linux, and its a 250gb drive, so it has to be over 137, and it works fine. i dont think i have ever had problems with it.

[run088]

What build you run?

I tried with a 1.5tb drive and I think with a 500gig. With xdsl it seemed to have an issue with custom partitions. I played with it for days and tried even to transfer files using linux and it would start refusing to transfer anymore when it surpassed the 137 barrier. It jacked up on g to but I dont remember at what point. I gave up after weeks of banging my head against the wall on several different xboxes.

I have messed around with xubuntu and xebian and gentoo but never got that far will them it seems to hard to get alot of good apps with the 2.4 kernel without breaking something. I have always wanted to get a 2.6 build running but have never been successful. At least with xdsl if it breaks it installs in less than half the time the other builds take. I would like to hear more about your setup. Do you think there is a limit on partition cluster size or is something related to xdsl or what do you think my issue is? I conferred with Stevewal the writer of the newest releases of xdsl he had no clue what the issue was and had no way to test it. He had pointed me in the direction of Keo-Keo. I sent him a pm but he never responded.

This post has been edited by run088: Jul 23 2009, 11:59 AM

[ldotsfan]

I have messed around with xubuntu and xebian and gentoo but never got that far will them it seems to hard to get alot of good apps with the 2.4 kernel without breaking something. I have always wanted to get a 2.6 build running but have never been successful. At least with xdsl if it breaks it installs in less than half the time the other builds take. I would like to hear more about your setup. Do you think there is a limit on partition cluster size or is something related to xdsl or what do you think my issue is? I conferred with Stevewal the writer of the newest releases of xdsl he had no clue what the issue was and had no way to test it. He had pointed me in the direction of Keo-Keo. I sent him a pm but he never responded.

run088 you have progressed far beyond the first PM when you asked me about xbox linux

I've forgotten about this:
1. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=650924
2. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=648321

But I had issues with 2 which I tested in the earlier version of xboxhdm2.

[run088]

So you got a patch for it cool. Can I just apply the patch or will I need to rebuild the kernel? Or do you already have a build available that is already patched?

[bc54]

hey run, i think i can see my full F drive beause its not 32kb clustered. i only have a 250gb drive, with a .06 setup, so i didnt have to reformat with xbpartitioner.

just some other info, i am using xdsl 0.7 and ind-bios.5003.06.

@ldotsfan - does that new linux-2.4.32-xbox-r1/fs/partitions/xbox.c really work? i have been wanting something like that forever. how do you use it? just like "patch -p1 < linux-2.4.32-xbox-r1/fs/partitions/xbox.c"? more info on this would be greatly appreciated.

[ldotsfan]

@ldotsfan - does that new linux-2.4.32-xbox-r1/fs/partitions/xbox.c really work? i have been wanting something like that forever. how do you use it? just like "patch -p1 < linux-2.4.32-xbox-r1/fs/partitions/xbox.c"? more info on this would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't actually tried it (the post has a link) but the guy who wrote the code seemed to know what he was doing. The patch is against xbox linux 2.4.32 which you probably need to fetch from the xbox linux CVS.

Perhaps you can try and report back on the results?

This post has been edited by ldotsfan: Jul 24 2009, 02:50 AM

[ldotsfan]

or will I need to rebuild the kernel?

Yes, kernel rebuild needed.

[run088]

I got a couple mods in front of this but I will get to it soon and I will let you know how it goes.

[bc54]

yeah, i want to try this too, but i wont risk all my data on my xbox, so when get another large hdd i will definately try this out.

thanks for the link ldotsfan.