Software RAID (md) Software Requirements

• Operating System. The Linux Software RAID product is included in all major Linux distributions. See the SPS for Linux Release Notes for a list of supported distributions and versions.

• mdadm(8) utility. The recovery kit installation requires that the mdadm rpm package be installed. The specific versions of mdadm supported are those delivered by the Linux distributions.

• LifeKeeper Software. The same version of LifeKeeper core software and any recovery kits must be installed, including the Software RAID Recovery Kit, and any patches on each server. Please refer to the SPS for Linux Release Notes for specific LifeKeeper requirements.

• LifeKeeper for Linux Software RAID (md) Recovery Kit. The Software RAID Recovery Kit is provided on the SPS Installation Image File (sps.img). It is packaged, installed and removed via the Red Hat Package Manager, rpm. The following rpm file is supplied on the SPS Installation Image File (sps.img): steeleye-lkMD.

During package installation, checks are made to ensure that supported versions of both the LifeKeeper Core package and the mdadm package are present on the system where the Software RAID Recovery Kit is being installed. The SPS for Linux Release Notes contains information on the required versions of these packages.

Refer to the SPS for Linux Installation Guide for instructions on how to install or remove the LifeKeeper Core software and the Software RAID Recovery Kit.

The Software RAID Recovery Kit must be installed on each server in the cluster on which software RAID using md is being used to manage disk resources that are to be protected by LifeKeeper.

The Software RAID Recovery Kit must be installed prior to the hierarchy creation and extension of applications that sit on top of a RAID device.