Last night, I created my first RAID array from the commandline. It was quite simple, I discovered.

1. Create your partitions using fstab. Remember, primary partitions must be created before extended partitions.
2. Look in /proc/partions and note the new partition IDs.
3. Edit /etc/raidtab and create a new RAID array. If unsure of the syntax, look up the Linux Software RAID HOWTO for more details.
4. Type mkraid /dev/md?, where ? is the id of the RAID device you just entered in /etc/raidtab.
5. Format the new RAID device with your favorite filesystem, assign it a mount point, and start using it!

I was impressed with how easy it was; the choices that the Anaconda installer present for creating a RAID array made it seem like the underlying process must be difficult, when in fact it may have been almost the same complexity if not easier.