Alex Pennace
September 18, 2006

Linux md should be configured through /etc/fstab

Introduction

The filesystem on most Unix-based systems is configured through a file called /etc/fstab. Speaking for Linux, initially /etc/fstab defined two things:

• Which filesystems to mount where
• Which swap partitions to use

Over time, /etc/fstab evolved to also handle loop devices and bind mounts. It became the canonical location to express the particular filesystem and block device arrangment on the system.

Then Linux md came along. It wasn't configured through /etc/fstab. Instead it was configured through /etc/mdadm.conf. Unless it was going to be configured through /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf.

My first draft of an idea

This is somewhat half-baked.

/etc/fstab:

proc	/proc	proc	defaults
/dev/hda5	/	ext2	defaults	1	1
/dev/hda2	none	swap	sw
/root/moreswap	none	swap	sw
/dev/hda1	/boot	ext2	defaults	7	2
UUID=ee17db25-5c9a-49a0-b8f2-de93c14d27d8	/usr	ext2	1	2
LABEL=squid	/squid	ext2	defaults,nodev,nosuid	0	2
md(/dev/hdb1,/dev/hdc1)	/home	ext2	defaults,nodev,nosuid	1	2