How to create Raw Device in RHEL4 and RHEL5

On RHEL4, raw devices were setup easily using the simple and coherent file /etc/sysconfig/rawdevices, which included an internal example.

On RHEL5 this is not the case, and customizing in a rather less documented method the udev subsystem is required.

1. Add to /etc/udev/rules.d/60-raw.rules:

ACTION==”add”, KERNEL==”sdb1″, RUN+=”/bin/raw /dev/raw/raw1 %N”

2. To set permission (optional, but required for Oracle RAC!), create a new /etc/udev/rules.d/99-raw-perms.rules containing lines such as:

KERNEL==”raw[1-2]“, MODE=”0640″, GROUP=”oinstall”, OWNER=”oracle”