Software Raid 10 on VirtualBox?

Question

I want to learn how to use Software Raid 10, is it possible to use VirtualBox by adding four storage images?

This is my plan:

4x 100mb partitions (1 on each drive) configured as a raid 1 for /boot in ext3.
Then with the remaining space on each drive, setup a software raid partition and configure it to to LVM and raid 10.
In the LVM, set up a 4gb swap partition and the remaining space as the root partition ( / ) as ext3.

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 01 '12 at 15:02

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Yes, this will work. Of course, don't expect to get any performance gain as the underlying disks are on the same device, but it's a great way to learn how to set it up in a safe environment.

answered Apr 01 '12 at 15:02

Kyle Smith

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It took me a while to come up with an answer better than "Yes." – Kyle Smith Apr 01 '12 at 15:03
Haha thanks. Will LVM reduce the performance of O/I? – I'll-Be-Back Apr 01 '12 at 18:19
@Black addressed this point perfectly. – Kyle Smith Apr 02 '12 at 13:26

Black · Answer 2 · 2012-04-02T11:20:41.143

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As Kyle said, this will work. The setup and administration tasks will be identical to a physical system. As additional benefit, You can simulate the removal and replacement of a disk without fiddling with five disks.

However:

There won't be any redundancy. Therefore, Your raid is as vulnerable as the host file system.
I/O performance will be very low. Every write access results in two physical writes on two different parts of the same physical disc on the host system.

edited Apr 02 '12 at 11:20

answered Apr 01 '12 at 21:06

Black

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Define 'host system' ? – I'll-Be-Back Apr 02 '12 at 22:29
'host system' means the physical system that runs VirtualBox. – Black Apr 03 '12 at 10:58

Software Raid 10 on VirtualBox?

2 Answers2