linux kernel configuration for software raid

Check for support

If your system has RAID support, you should have a file called /proc/mdstat. If you do not have that file, maybe your kernel does not have RAID support.

Also, gentoo & archlinux users can run...

# zcat /proc/config.gz |grep CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD=y

And

# zcat /proc/config.gz |grep MD_RAID 
CONFIG_MD_RAID0=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID1=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID10=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID456=y

menuconfig / kconfig info

We assume you know how to configure your kernel. This section details the menuconfig options. For more info on configuring linux kernels, go here... Kernels/Compilation/Traditional

Multiple devices driver support (required)

Symbol: BLK_DEV_MD [=y]  
Type  : tristate  
Prompt: RAID support  
  Location:  
    -> Device Drivers  
(1)   -> Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) (MD [=y])  
  Defined at drivers/md/Kconfig:14  
  Depends on: MD [=y]  
  Selected by: DM_RAID [=m] && MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_DM [=m]

Help text:

Support multiple physical spindles through a single logical device. Required for RAID and logical volume management.

Symbol: MD_RAID1 [=y]  
Type  : tristate  
Prompt: RAID-1 (mirroring) mode  
  Location:  
    -> Device Drivers  
      -> Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) (MD [=y])  
(2)     -> RAID support (BLK_DEV_MD [=y])  
  Defined at drivers/md/Kconfig:80  
  Depends on: MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_MD [=y]  
  Selected by: DM_RAID [=m] && MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_DM [=m]  
 
 
Symbol: MD_RAID0 [=y]  
Type  : tristate  
Prompt: RAID-0 (striping) mode  
  Location:  
    -> Device Drivers  
      -> Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) (MD [=y])  
(3)     -> RAID support (BLK_DEV_MD [=y])  
  Defined at drivers/md/Kconfig:60  
  Depends on: MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_MD [=y]  
 

Symbol: MD_RAID456 [=y]  
Type  : tristate  
Prompt: RAID-4/RAID-5/RAID-6 mode  
   Location:  
     -> Device Drivers  
       -> Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) (MD [=y])  
         -> RAID support (BLK_DEV_MD [=y])  
   Defined at drivers/md/Kconfig:121  
   Depends on: MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_MD [=y]  
   Selects: RAID6_PQ [=y] && ASYNC_MEMCPY [=y] && ASYNC_XOR [=y] && ASYNC_PQ [=y] && ASYNC_RAID6_RECOV [=y]  
   Selected by: DM_RAID [=m] && MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_DM [=m]

Symbol: MD_RAID10 [=y]  
Type  : tristate  
Prompt: RAID-10 (mirrored striping) mode  
  Location:  
    -> Device Drivers  
      -> Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) (MD [=y])  
(4)     -> RAID support (BLK_DEV_MD [=y])  
  Defined at drivers/md/Kconfig:102  
  Depends on: MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_MD [=y]  
  Selected by: DM_RAID [=m] && MD [=y] && BLK_DEV_DM [=m]

Links

this guide is recommended by the linux kernel help... [Software RAID HOWTO]