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RAID 1 in Virtualbox 4.2

Y

yomerol

n00b
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
11
Hi,

I'm trying to setup a RAID 1 array on a CentOS host using Virtualbox 4.2.

What I'm trying to do here is to create the array using only the virtualization software (Vbox Interface) and not during the installation of the guest OS (all documentation/videos/blogs I've visited ).

I want it (guest OS) to be installed on top of the array created in Vbox.

Since all my research results state that the raid is done in the guest OS installation process, I'd like to know if what I'm trying to do is even valid/possible or should I RAID on the OS installation.


Many thanx in advance!!
 
I dont think that's possible, in fact what you are trying to do makes ZERO sense unless its just for experimentation.

With that being said:
The closest thing would be a Windows Storage Pool in Raid 1 using only as much space as you need, leaving the rest of the space for whatever you want to use it for, you place the VHD file in the Storage Pool.

If you want to use RAID1 for actual redundancy:
You can still do the Storage pool as mention earlier, you will need at least 2 hard disks.
You can do Mirrored Dynamic Disks with Windows Disk Management, you will need at least 2 hard disks.
You can do it via hardware or fakeraid if you have a RAID card or your motherboard supports it, you will need at least 2 hard disks.
 
Thanx a lot leeleatherwood!

This thing I wanna do is for experimentation only,

What I tried on Vbox was creating the VM (RHEL type) and create 2 virtual HDDs (.vdi format) for this virtual centos instace (and tried somehow to RAID 'em before instalation, and install the actual OS on top).

I alternatively I tried the RAID functionality (no RAID card installed) embedded with the server and experienced unsuccesful attemps at install and run CentOS 6.3 (also 6.2 and pretty much any other OS) using the RAID 1 feature included in an IBM x3250 M4r (the server I'm working on) and following the instruccions of the "Creating a software RAID array of hard disk drives" secction of the Installation and User's Guide.

On the other hand, the notes of this secction read:

"1. Software RAID is not supported in Redhat 6.1 UEFI mode.
2. You can create software RAID with Linux OS RAID. LSI software RAID is turned
off in Linux OS by default."

I'm affraid the situation here would be explained by the first note, ergo the software RAID feature of the server is not supported by CentOS but I'm not sure, 'cause I'm trying to install centos 6.3(I even tried the intallation with the EFI version of the minimal 6.3 OS) /6.2 not 6.1. I'm also not very familiar with the Redhat 6.1 UEFI mode and the manual is not very clear about it.

On the "Creating a RAID array of hard disk drives" secction I am not able to access any of the menus the guide mentions, so I was not able to perform the RAID array according to the procedure described, I tried to perform the steps described in the "Starting the LSI Configuration Utility program" section but the right driver was not displayed (only shown when I made the software raid procedure but even then no further options were displayed whe selecting the LSI driver), and the manual was not very descriptive either.

The OS were installed flawlessly (there was no redundancy, of course) once I broke the software RAID, so I think the array is the problem.

The goal here is to install the OS on top of the fully funtional RAID 1 array (not to configure the array during the installation of CentOS).

Many thanx !
 
There's no reason to do RAID-anything on the level of a virtualization product. Either do it on the host or the guest. Experimentation or not, this still makes no sense. Give up on the idea.
 
yomerol said:
Thanx a lot leeleatherwood!

This thing I wanna do is for experimentation only,

What I tried on Vbox was creating the VM (RHEL type) and create 2 virtual HDDs (.vdi format) for this virtual centos instace (and tried somehow to RAID 'em before instalation, and install the actual OS on top).

I alternatively I tried the RAID functionality (no RAID card installed) embedded with the server and experienced unsuccesful attemps at install and run CentOS 6.3 (also 6.2 and pretty much any other OS) using the RAID 1 feature included in an IBM x3250 M4r (the server I'm working on) and following the instruccions of the "Creating a software RAID array of hard disk drives" secction of the Installation and User's Guide.

On the other hand, the notes of this secction read:

"1. Software RAID is not supported in Redhat 6.1 UEFI mode.
2. You can create software RAID with Linux OS RAID. LSI software RAID is turned
off in Linux OS by default."

I'm affraid the situation here would be explained by the first note, ergo the software RAID feature of the server is not supported by CentOS but I'm not sure, 'cause I'm trying to install centos 6.3(I even tried the intallation with the EFI version of the minimal 6.3 OS) /6.2 not 6.1. I'm also not very familiar with the Redhat 6.1 UEFI mode and the manual is not very clear about it.

On the "Creating a RAID array of hard disk drives" secction I am not able to access any of the menus the guide mentions, so I was not able to perform the RAID array according to the procedure described, I tried to perform the steps described in the "Starting the LSI Configuration Utility program" section but the right driver was not displayed (only shown when I made the software raid procedure but even then no further options were displayed whe selecting the LSI driver), and the manual was not very descriptive either.

The OS were installed flawlessly (there was no redundancy, of course) once I broke the software RAID, so I think the array is the problem.

The goal here is to install the OS on top of the fully funtional RAID 1 array (not to configure the array during the installation of CentOS).

Many thanx !
Click to expand...

What is the underlying OS that VirtualBox is running on?

You have 2 options, hardware or software raid. Since its RAID1, I would suggest Software since there is no performance loss and recover-ability is better.

If its Windows, and you have 2 hard drives in the PC, just convert them to dynamic disks and mirror them. Similar for Linux.
Then store the VHD file created by VirtualBox on the drives in RAID1. No special configuration will be needed, just a single VHD file.

This brings up another question. If you are serious about data and plan on using this in any form of production environment you shouldn't use VirtualBox. Hyper-V 2012 is completely free and much more reliable, ESXi also has a free version (although very limited but still better then VirtualBox)
 
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