How To Set Up Software RAID1 On A Running System (Incl. GRUB2 Configuration) (Debian Squeeze) - Page 4

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  1. 9 Testing
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9 Testing

Now let's simulate a hard drive failure. It doesn't matter if you select /dev/sda or /dev/sdb here. In this example I assume that /dev/sdb has failed.

To simulate the hard drive failure, you can either shut down the system and remove /dev/sdb from the system, or you (soft-)remove it like this:

mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --fail /dev/sdb1
mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --fail /dev/sdb2
mdadm --manage /dev/md2 --fail /dev/sdb3

mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --remove /dev/sdb1
mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --remove /dev/sdb2
mdadm --manage /dev/md2 --remove /dev/sdb3

Shut down the system:

shutdown -h now

Then put in a new /dev/sdb drive (if you simulate a failure of /dev/sda, you should now put /dev/sdb in /dev/sda's place and connect the new HDD as /dev/sdb!) and boot the system. It should still start without problems.

Now run

cat /proc/mdstat

and you should see that we have a degraded array:

root@server1:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md2 : active raid1 sda3[2]
      4241396 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [U_]

md1 : active (auto-read-only) raid1 sda2[2]
      499700 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [U_]

md0 : active raid1 sda1[2]
      498676 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [U_]

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

The output of

fdisk -l

should look as follows:

root@server1:~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 652 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e0f78

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          63      498688   fd  Linux raid autodetect
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              63         125      499712   fd  Linux raid autodetect
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3             125         653     4242432   fd  Linux raid autodetect
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/sdb: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 652 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md0: 510 MB, 510644224 bytes
2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 124669 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/md0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md1: 511 MB, 511692800 bytes
2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 124925 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/md1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md2: 4343 MB, 4343189504 bytes
2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 1060349 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/md2 doesn't contain a valid partition table
root@server1:~#

Now we copy the partition table of /dev/sda to /dev/sdb:

sfdisk -d /dev/sda | sfdisk --force /dev/sdb

root@server1:~# sfdisk -d /dev/sda | sfdisk --force /dev/sdb
Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...
OK

Disk /dev/sdb: 652 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track

sfdisk: ERROR: sector 0 does not have an msdos signature
 /dev/sdb: unrecognized partition table type
Old situation:
No partitions found
New situation:
Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot    Start       End   #sectors  Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *      2048    999423     997376  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb2        999424   1998847     999424  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb3       1998848  10483711    8484864  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb4             0         -          0   0  Empty
Warning: partition 1 does not end at a cylinder boundary
Successfully wrote the new partition table

Re-reading the partition table ...

If you created or changed a DOS partition, /dev/foo7, say, then use dd(1)
to zero the first 512 bytes:  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/foo7 bs=512 count=1
(See fdisk(8).)
root@server1:~#

Afterwards we remove any remains of a previous RAID array from /dev/sdb...

mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb2
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb3

... and add /dev/sdb to the RAID array:

mdadm -a /dev/md0 /dev/sdb1
mdadm -a /dev/md1 /dev/sdb2
mdadm -a /dev/md2 /dev/sdb3

Now take a look at

cat /proc/mdstat

root@server1:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md2 : active raid1 sdb3[3] sda3[2]
      4241396 blocks super 1.2 [2/1] [U_]
      [======>..............]  recovery = 32.2% (1367168/4241396) finish=1.0min speed=44102K/sec

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[3] sda2[2]
      499700 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[3] sda1[2]
      498676 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]

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

Wait until the synchronization has finished:

root@server1:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md2 : active raid1 sdb3[3] sda3[2]
      4241396 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[3] sda2[2]
      499700 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[3] sda1[2]
      498676 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]

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

Then install the bootloader on both HDDs:

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

That's it. You've just replaced a failed hard drive in your RAID1 array.

 

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