This chapter covers the use of disks under the GEOM framework in FreeBSD. This includes the major RAID control utilities which use the framework for configuration. This chapter will not go into in depth discussion on how GEOM handles or controls I/O, the underlying subsystem, or code. This information is provided through the geom(4) manual page and its various SEE ALSO references. This chapter is also not a definitive guide to RAID configurations. Only GEOM-supported RAID classifications will be discussed.
After reading this chapter, you will know:
What type of RAID support is available through GEOM.
How to use the base utilities to configure, maintain, and manipulate the various RAID levels.
How to mirror, stripe, encrypt, and remotely connect disk devices through GEOM.
How to troubleshoot disks attached to the GEOM framework.
Before reading this chapter, you should:
Understand how FreeBSD treats disk devices (Chapter 19).
Know how to configure and install a new FreeBSD kernel (Chapter 9).