How To Set Up Software RAID1 On A Running LVM System (Incl. GRUB2 Configuration) (Ubuntu 10.04)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme
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This guide explains how to set up software RAID1 on an already running LVM system (Ubuntu 10.04). The GRUB2 bootloader will be configured in such a way that the system will still be able to boot if one of the hard drives fails (no matter which one).

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

 

1 Preliminary Note

In this tutorial I'm using an Ubuntu 10.04 system with two hard drives, /dev/sda and /dev/sdb which are identical in size. /dev/sdb is currently unused, and /dev/sda has the following partitions (this is the default Ubuntu 10.04 LVM partitioning scheme - you should find something similar on your system unless you chose to manually partition during the installation of the system):

  • /dev/sda1: /boot partition, ext2;
  • /dev/sda2: extended, contains /dev/sda5;
  • /dev/sda5: is used for LVM (volume group server1) and contains / (volume root) and swap (volume swap_1).

In the end I want to have the following situation:

  • /dev/md0 (made up of /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb1): /boot partition, ext2;
  • /dev/md1 (made up of /dev/sda5 and /dev/sdb5): LVM (volume group server1), contains / (volume root) and swap (volume swap_1).

This is the current situation:

df -h
root@server1:~# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/server1-root
                      4.5G  809M  3.5G  19% /
none                  243M  176K  242M   1% /dev
none                  247M     0  247M   0% /dev/shm
none                  247M   36K  247M   1% /var/run
none                  247M     0  247M   0% /var/lock
none                  247M     0  247M   0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda1             228M   17M  199M   8% /boot
root@server1:~#
fdisk -l
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: 0x0006b7b7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          32      248832   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              32         653     4990977    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5              32         653     4990976   8e  Linux LVM

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
root@server1:~#
pvdisplay
root@server1:~# pvdisplay
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/sda5
  VG Name               server1
  PV Size               4.76 GiB / not usable 2.00 MiB
  Allocatable           yes
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              1218
  Free PE               3
  Allocated PE          1215
  PV UUID               bsF5F5-s2RN-ed1h-zjeb-4mAJ-aktq-kEn86r

root@server1:~#
vgdisplay
root@server1:~# vgdisplay
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               server1
  System ID
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  3
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                2
  Open LV               2
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               4.76 GiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              1218
  Alloc PE / Size       1215 / 4.75 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       3 / 12.00 MiB
  VG UUID               hMwXAh-zZsA-w39k-g6Bg-LW4W-XX8q-EbyXfA

root@server1:~#
lvdisplay
root@server1:~# lvdisplay
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/server1/root
  VG Name                server1
  LV UUID                b5A1R5-Zhml-LSNy-v7WY-NVmD-yX1w-tuQVUW
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                4.49 GiB
  Current LE             1149
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           251:0

  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/server1/swap_1
  VG Name                server1
  LV UUID                2UuF7C-zxKA-Hgz1-gZHe-rFlq-cKW7-jYVCzp
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                264.00 MiB
  Current LE             66
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           251:1

root@server1:~#

 

2 Installing mdadm

The most important tool for setting up RAID is mdadm. Let's install it like this:

aptitude install initramfs-tools mdadm

Afterwards, we load a few kernel modules (to avoid a reboot):

modprobe linear
modprobe multipath
modprobe raid0
modprobe raid1
modprobe raid5
modprobe raid6
modprobe raid10

Now run

cat /proc/mdstat

The output should look as follows:

root@server1:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
unused devices: <none>
root@server1:~#

 

3 Preparing /dev/sdb

To create a RAID1 array on our already running system, we must prepare the /dev/sdb hard drive for RAID1, then copy the contents of our /dev/sda hard drive to it, and finally add /dev/sda to the RAID1 array.

First, we copy the partition table from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb so that both disks have exactly the same layout:

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

The output should be as follows:

root@server1:~# sfdisk -d /dev/sda | sfdisk --force /dev/sdb
Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
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    499711     497664  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2        501758  10483711    9981954   5  Extended
/dev/sdb3             0         -          0   0  Empty
/dev/sdb4             0         -          0   0  Empty
/dev/sdb5        501760  10483711    9981952  8e  Linux LVM
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:~#

The command

fdisk -l

should now show that both HDDs have the same layout:

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: 0x0006b7b7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          32      248832   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              32         653     4990977    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5              32         653     4990976   8e  Linux LVM

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

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          32      248832   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2              32         653     4990977    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb5              32         653     4990976   8e  Linux LVM
root@server1:~#

Next we must change the partition type of our three partitions on /dev/sdb to Linux raid autodetect:

fdisk /dev/sdb

root@server1:~# fdisk /dev/sdb

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
         sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help):
 <-- m
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help):
 <-- t
Partition number (1-5): <-- 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): <-- L

 0  Empty           24  NEC DOS         81  Minix / old Lin bf  Solaris
 1  FAT12           39  Plan 9          82  Linux swap / So c1  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 2  XENIX root      3c  PartitionMagic  83  Linux           c4  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 3  XENIX usr       40  Venix 80286     84  OS/2 hidden C:  c6  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 4  FAT16 <32M      41  PPC PReP Boot   85  Linux extended  c7  Syrinx
 5  Extended        42  SFS             86  NTFS volume set da  Non-FS data
 6  FAT16           4d  QNX4.x          87  NTFS volume set db  CP/M / CTOS / .
 7  HPFS/NTFS       4e  QNX4.x 2nd part 88  Linux plaintext de  Dell Utility
 8  AIX             4f  QNX4.x 3rd part 8e  Linux LVM       df  BootIt
 9  AIX bootable    50  OnTrack DM      93  Amoeba          e1  DOS access
 a  OS/2 Boot Manag 51  OnTrack DM6 Aux 94  Amoeba BBT      e3  DOS R/O
 b  W95 FAT32       52  CP/M            9f  BSD/OS          e4  SpeedStor
 c  W95 FAT32 (LBA) 53  OnTrack DM6 Aux a0  IBM Thinkpad hi eb  BeOS fs
 e  W95 FAT16 (LBA) 54  OnTrackDM6      a5  FreeBSD         ee  GPT
 f  W95 Ext'd (LBA) 55  EZ-Drive        a6  OpenBSD         ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/
10  OPUS            56  Golden Bow      a7  NeXTSTEP        f0  Linux/PA-RISC b
11  Hidden FAT12    5c  Priam Edisk     a8  Darwin UFS      f1  SpeedStor
12  Compaq diagnost 61  SpeedStor       a9  NetBSD          f4  SpeedStor
14  Hidden FAT16 <3 63  GNU HURD or Sys ab  Darwin boot     f2  DOS secondary
16  Hidden FAT16    64  Novell Netware  af  HFS / HFS+      fb  VMware VMFS
17  Hidden HPFS/NTF 65  Novell Netware  b7  BSDI fs         fc  VMware VMKCORE
18  AST SmartSleep  70  DiskSecure Mult b8  BSDI swap       fd  Linux raid auto
1b  Hidden W95 FAT3 75  PC/IX           bb  Boot Wizard hid fe  LANstep
1c  Hidden W95 FAT3 80  Old Minix       be  Solaris boot    ff  BBT
1e  Hidden W95 FAT1
Hex code (type L to list codes):
 <-- fd
Changed system type of partition 1 to fd (Linux raid autodetect)

Command (m for help):
 <-- t
Partition number (1-5): <-- 5
Hex code (type L to list codes): <-- fd
Changed system type of partition 5 to fd (Linux raid autodetect)

Command (m for help):
 <-- w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
root@server1:~#

The command

fdisk -l

should now show that /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb5 are of the type Linux raid autodetect:

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: 0x0006b7b7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          32      248832   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              32         653     4990977    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5              32         653     4990976   8e  Linux LVM

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

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          32      248832   fd  Linux raid autodetect
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2              32         653     4990977    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb5              32         653     4990976   fd  Linux raid autodetect
root@server1:~#

To make sure that there are no remains from previous RAID installations on /dev/sdb, we run the following commands:

mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb5

If there are no remains from previous RAID installations, each of the above commands will throw an error like this one (which is nothing to worry about):

root@server1:~# mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1
mdadm: Unrecognised md component device - /dev/sdb1
root@server1:~#

Otherwise the commands will not display anything at all.

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