tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54590953950243331772024-03-07T21:13:11.873-08:00Doomsday DessertRamblings on technology, music, and other miscellaneous things of potential interest.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03398482861422396839noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5459095395024333177.post-3089413428223256452013-05-23T11:38:00.001-07:002013-05-23T11:56:14.638-07:00Software RAID5 Expansion on my 64-Bit Fedora 18 system (mdadm)<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">First off, I want to be clear that there are many (far better) tutorials for this type of procedure available on the web. Most notably, the following links go to the primary two sites that I utilized when attempting this RAID 5 expansion procedure.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
<a href="http://www.jross.org/recreation/computers/linux/linux-raid-5-guide/">http://www.jross.org/recreation/computers/linux/linux-raid-5-guide/</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
<a href="http://www.allmyit.com.au/mdadm-growing-raid5-array-ubuntu">http://www.allmyit.com.au/mdadm-growing-raid5-array-ubuntu</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
It is prudent to mention that all credit to any accuracy I am able to represent should be directed to one or both of these sources, and that any errors should be attributed to my amateurish attempt at reconstructing the procedure for my particular system. Also, the reader should keep in mind that I haven't yet taken any of my required Unix courses. I've been using Linux for about seven years, but my Terminal proficiency is still admittedly that of a n00b.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
This procedure is for the <u>growing</u> of a software RAID 5 array with mdadm in Fedora 18. It assumes an existing, functioning, RAID 5 array on a Fedora 18 system using the ext4 filesystem. (The procedure is similar for Debian and Ubuntu derivatives, but the location of 'mdadm.conf' is different, and they use the 'apt-get' software management package instead of Fedora's 'yum'.) This entire blog entry has the singular function as my personal reference for what works on my system, and I am NOT RESPONSIBLE for any problems (data loss, etc.) associated with any attempts at replicating this procedure, all of which are strongly discouraged.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
<u><b>Background:</b></u></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
<u>The system consists of:</u></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
Hardware:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br />
</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">CPU: <u>Intel Core2Quad Q6600</u> @ 2.4 GHz</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">RAM: <u>3x 2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 MHz</u> (I recently had a 4th stick test bad in PC-Check and Memtest, though this is unrelated)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">GPU: <u>NVidia GeForce GTX 650</u> (2GB GDDR5) on PNY XLR8 PCIe x16 card (1x 6pin PCIe power connection)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">PSU: <u>BFG 550W</u><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (modular)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Board: Intel Extreme Edition <u>DP45SG</u></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">HDDs: 4x WD Green <u>500GB 7200rpm</u> (3.5" SATA)</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">1x WD Black <u>500GB 7200rpm</u> (3.5" SATA)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">1x WD Blue <u>500GB 7200rpm</u> (2.5" SATA)</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Additional Hardware: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><u>Rosewill RC-209-EX</u> (w/ 4x internal SATA connections for (3x of the Green-series drives) and (the Blue-series drive.))</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Chipset: Silicon Image SiI3114 SATA controller chip</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; line-height: 18px;">ASUS SATA DVD-RW drive</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 17px;">Applicable Software:</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 17px;">OS: <u>Fedora 18 x86_64</u></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 17px;">Software RAID (/ FakeRAID): <u>mdadm </u>(current as of 05/22/2013)</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<b><u><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Prodecure:</span></u></b></div>
<div>
<b><u><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Physically install new drive (It is generally recommended, but not strictly required, that all drives be of the same size and speed)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Boot</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Open a Terminal window and type (each line followed by [Enter]):</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">su</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[Type Password]</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">yum install gparted</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">y</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">yum update</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[Close Terminal after update is complete]</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Open GPartEd</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Format new drive with the same filesystem as used when the array was initially created.</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">(I'm using ext4, which I understand is recommended over ext3 for arrays within the >1TB range)</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Once complete, close GPartEd and Open another Terminal Window and type (each line followed by Enter):</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">su</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[Type Password]</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">mdadm /dev/md[X] --add /dev/sd[Y]1</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Where: "[X]" is the number of the md-device. Mine is [X]=127.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And Where: "[Y]" is the letter of the new drive that was just formatted. Mine is [Y]=b.</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">So: my command is "mdadm /dev/md127 --add /dev/sdb1"</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">mdadm /dev/md[X] -- grow --raid-devices=[Z]</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Where "[Z]" is the number of drives that will be involved in the array AFTER the new one is fully added. Mine is [Z]=6.</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">So: my command is "mdadm /dev/md127 --grow --raid-devices=6"</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">This typically takes a very long time (in my case, when adding the sixth drive the grow operation took approximately 8 hours).</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The progress can be monitored with the (recommended) following command:</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">cat /proc/mdstat</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[When complete, I left the Terminal window open and opened a new tab ((File -> New Tab) (or) ([Ctrl] + [Shift] + [T])) and typed (each line followed by [Enter]):]</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">su</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[Type Password]</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">e2fsck -f /dev/md127</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">resize2fs /dv/md127</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">mdadm --detail --scan > /etc/mdadm.conf</span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Then close Terminal </span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">it asked whether I was sure, so, since both Terminal tabs had returned to the "$" line where its ready for a new command, I was confident in my decision to continue closing Terminal)</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Reboot</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Open Terminal and type (followed by [Enter]):</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">mount /dev/md[X]</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">[/end]</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03398482861422396839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5459095395024333177.post-76351079986769229812011-11-08T13:35:00.000-08:002011-11-11T16:40:47.302-08:00Google Music Beta<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JpuEctVwj4A/Tr2_1iQOkMI/AAAAAAAAAU0/FPVcayd4XR8/s1600/Google-Music-Beta.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 174px; height: 172px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JpuEctVwj4A/Tr2_1iQOkMI/AAAAAAAAAU0/FPVcayd4XR8/s320/Google-Music-Beta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673902032005533890" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I've been using the Google Music Beta for about 3 months now, and I can't say I've seen or heard of a better option to enjoy all (or at least up to 20,000) of my songs without lugging a storage device large enough to hold all the files. The elimination of the need to have my iPod or mp3-player on me in order to enjoy my music is a paradigm example of the direction in which the current cloud-based technology is advancing. Prior to trying the Music beta, I had been expecting to have to hold out for a flash-memory-based media player in the 120-160GB capacity range to drop to a more affordable price before I'd be able to have the bulk of my music library available on the go, without relying on the questionable life-span integrity of many hard-drive-based devices.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Since the web-app is obviously still in 'beta,' you have to request an invitation from Google via the </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://music.google.com/about/">website</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> and have an Android device in order to use the mobile app, but if you can get the invite and have a 'droid, you can use it free of charge.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Music is uploaded via the Music Manager application (installed on the computer with the music) which is now available for 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (.deb and .rpm), and can be accessed from the main Google Music page via the "Upload music" link once you have logged into your account. Also included (at the time of this writing) are offers to add additional music to your collection (also free of charge) from Google's database.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Since the music is stored in the cloud, you can upload additional music from other computers (with the Music Manager application linked to your account) on top of the other songs already there. Access to your collection is limited to 8 devices (other than computers), but if you attempt to connect a 9th, it gives you the option to revoke access from another device and grant it to the new one, so you aren't left hanging. You can also log in to your Google Music account and play your music via your web browser on any number of computers as well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The only potential snag with the mobile device playback, is that if your data connection is weak, it may take a bit of buffering-time to get started, although no more than your average YouTube video, from my experience. Also, since your files are streaming over your data connection (similar to streaming Pandora), it will eat up your monthly data allotment more quickly than many other types of mobile web activity, unless you have an unlimited data plan as I do.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Overall, I am very impressed with the Music Beta from Google, and eagerly anticipate the release candidate. It took less than a week for me to get my invitation when I requested one, but I'm not sure of their current degree of availability. Give it a shot if it seems like something that may interest you; even if you don't have an Android phone, the browser availability is rather convenient.</span><br /><br /><!--= 20,000 songs) is made possible by the ever-improving mobile data networks available today. My Android phone (even without the 4G radio enabled) requires just seconds to buffer the connection to any song in the cloud, even faster than my experiences with Pandora on the same device (HTC Evo 4G). As it's name would indicate, the Google Music Beta is, in fact, still in beta, but you can request an invitation -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03398482861422396839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5459095395024333177.post-3900005809797380232011-05-21T11:59:00.000-07:002011-05-21T12:34:24.326-07:00Banshee Remote<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxjWWw-4yXA/TdgPWYIGiWI/AAAAAAAAAQs/PhLlIv404z0/s1600/hi-256-0-003da7bfc8b19e613d355d0142b19fc4591c06bb.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 256px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AxjWWw-4yXA/TdgPWYIGiWI/AAAAAAAAAQs/PhLlIv404z0/s320/hi-256-0-003da7bfc8b19e613d355d0142b19fc4591c06bb.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609250212997925218" border="0" /></a><br />I finally got around to setting up the Banshee Remote Android application today, and I must say, its quite an impressive ~40KB apk. It was developed by Nikitas Stamatopoulos, and instructions for setup, as well as download links for the .apk and source code, etc. are available on his <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Enstamato/android.html">website</a>.<br /><br />Banshee Remote on the Android Market is currently version 4.0, and you'll want the newest Banshee release (v2.0).<br /><br />I have the Remote set up on my HTC Evo 4G using the WiFi connection to my 2Wire UVerse gateway allowing me control over the Banshee instance on my Ubuntu 11.04 desktop. I'm doing everything over the local network, in my case, without dealing with any external IP settings.<br /><br />Overall, I'm very satisfied with the quality and simplicity of this application, and would recommend it to any music-lover with an Android device and a Linux PC. Props to Nikitas and his associates on a job well done. It would also be awesome to see some playlist integration and/or different shuffle options in a later release.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03398482861422396839noreply@blogger.com0