How To Set Up Software RAID1 On A Running System (Incl. GRUB2 Configuration) (Debian Squeeze) - Page 2

4 Creating Our RAID Arrays

Now let's create our RAID arrays /dev/md0, /dev/md1, and /dev/md2. /dev/sdb1 will be added to /dev/md0, /dev/sdb2 to /dev/md1, and /dev/sdb3 to /dev/md2. /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, and /dev/sda3 can't be added right now (because the system is currently running on them), therefore we use the placeholder missing in the following three commands:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/sdb1

  mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/sdb2

  mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/sdb3

You might see the following message for each command - just press y to continue:

root@server1:~# mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-disks=2 missing /dev/sdb3
mdadm: Note: this array has metadata at the start and
    may not be suitable as a boot device.  If you plan to
    store '/boot' on this device please ensure that
    your boot-loader understands md/v1.x metadata, or use
    --metadata=0.90
Continue creating array? <-- y
mdadm: Defaulting to version 1.2 metadata
mdadm: array /dev/md2 started.
root@server1:~#

The command

cat /proc/mdstat

should now show that you have three degraded RAID arrays ([_U] or [U_] means that an array is degraded while [UU] means that the array is ok):

root@server1:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
md2 : active raid1 sdb3[1]
      4241396 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1]
      499700 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [_U]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1]
      498676 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [_U]

unused devices: <none>
root@server1:~#

Next we create filesystems on our RAID arrays (ext4 on /dev/md0 and /dev/md2 and swap on /dev/md1):

mkfs.ext4 /dev/md0
mkswap /dev/md1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/md2

Next we must adjust /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf (which doesn't contain any information about our new RAID arrays yet) to the new situation:

cp /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf_orig
mdadm --examine --scan >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

Display the contents of the file:

cat /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

At the bottom of the file you should now see details about our three (degraded) RAID arrays:

# mdadm.conf
#
# Please refer to mdadm.conf(5) for information about this file.
#

# by default, scan all partitions (/proc/partitions) for MD superblocks.
# alternatively, specify devices to scan, using wildcards if desired.
DEVICE partitions

# auto-create devices with Debian standard permissions
CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes

# automatically tag new arrays as belonging to the local system
HOMEHOST <system>

# instruct the monitoring daemon where to send mail alerts
MAILADDR root

# definitions of existing MD arrays

# This file was auto-generated on Tue, 24 May 2011 14:09:09 +0200
# by mkconf 3.1.4-1+8efb9d1
ARRAY /dev/md/0 metadata=1.2 UUID=b40c3165:17089af7:5d5ee79b:8783491b name=server1.example.com:0
ARRAY /dev/md/1 metadata=1.2 UUID=62e4a606:878092a0:212209c5:c91b8fef name=server1.example.com:1
ARRAY /dev/md/2 metadata=1.2 UUID=94e51099:d8475c57:4ff1c60f:9488a09a name=server1.example.com:2

5 Adjusting The System To RAID1

Now let's mount /dev/md0 and /dev/md2 (we don't need to mount the swap array /dev/md1):

mkdir /mnt/md0
mkdir /mnt/md2

mount /dev/md0 /mnt/md0
mount /dev/md2 /mnt/md2

You should now find both arrays in the output of

mount

root@server1:~# mount
/dev/sda3 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext4 (rw)
/dev/md0 on /mnt/md0 type ext4 (rw)
/dev/md2 on /mnt/md2 type ext4 (rw)
root@server1:~#

Next we modify /etc/fstab. Comment out the current /, /boot, and swap partitions and add new lines for them where you replace the UUIDs with /dev/md0 (for the /boot partition), /dev/md1 (for the swap partition) and /dev/md2 (for the / partition) so that the file looks as follows:

vi /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda3 during installation
#UUID=e4e38871-0115-477d-94f9-34b079d26248 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/md2 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/sda1 during installation
#UUID=7e2fb013-073e-4312-a669-f34b35069bfb /boot           ext4    defaults        0       2
/dev/md0 /boot           ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda2 during installation
#UUID=1a5951f8-d0ab-4e0e-b42a-871f81b6fd82 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/md1 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0

Next replace /dev/sda1 with /dev/md0 and /dev/sda3 with /dev/md2 in /etc/mtab:

vi /etc/mtab

/dev/md2 / ext4 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 0
tmpfs /lib/init/rw tmpfs rw,nosuid,mode=0755 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
udev /dev tmpfs rw,mode=0755 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/md0 /boot ext4 rw 0 0
/dev/md0 /mnt/md0 ext4 rw 0 0
/dev/md2 /mnt/md2 ext4 rw 0 0

Now up to the GRUB2 boot loader. Create the file /etc/grub.d/09_swraid1_setup as follows:

cp /etc/grub.d/40_custom /etc/grub.d/09_swraid1_setup
vi /etc/grub.d/09_swraid1_setup

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        insmod raid
        insmod mdraid
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(md/0)'
        echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
        linux   /vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/md2 ro  quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}

Make sure you use the correct kernel version in the menuentry stanza (in the linux and initrd lines). You can find it out by running

uname -r

or by taking a look at the current menuentry stanzas in the ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### section in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Also make sure that you use root=/dev/md2 in the linux line.

The important part in our new menuentry stanza is the line set root='(md/0)' - it makes sure that we boot from our RAID1 array /dev/md0 (which will hold the /boot partition) instead of /dev/sda or /dev/sdb which is important if one of our hard drives fails - the system will still be able to boot.

Because we don't use UUIDs anymore for our block devices, open /etc/default/grub...

vi /etc/default/grub

... and uncomment the line GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

Run

update-grub

to write our new kernel stanza from /etc/grub.d/09_swraid1_setup to /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

Next we adjust our ramdisk to the new situation:

update-initramfs -u

Now we copy the contents of /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda3 to /dev/md0 and /dev/md2 (which are mounted on /mnt/md0 and /mnt/md2):

cp -dpRx / /mnt/md2

cd /boot
cp -dpRx . /mnt/md0

6 Preparing GRUB2 (Part 1)

Afterwards we must make sure that the GRUB2 bootloader is installed on both hard drives, /dev/sda and /dev/sdb:

grub-install /dev/sda
grub-install /dev/sdb

Now we reboot the system and hope that it boots ok from our RAID arrays:

reboot

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How To Set Up Software RAID1 On A Running System (Incl. GRUB2 Configuration) (Debian Squeeze) - Page 2

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4 Creating Our RAID Arrays

5 Adjusting The System To RAID1

6 Preparing GRUB2 (Part 1)

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