Commands
Reassemble RAID from a LiveCD or after reinstall
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With a two RAID1 disks : sda1 and sdb1 :
root@host:~# mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
Populate /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf file
root@host:~# mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm.conf
Remove device permanently
root@host:~# mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sda1
Check RAID status
root@host:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Run data scrubbing to check for and fix errors
root@host:~# echo check > /sys/class/block/md0/md/sync_action
Modify rebuild speed limits
root@host:~# echo 20000 > /proc/sys/dev/raid/{speed_limit_max,speed_limit_min}
Print details of one or more md devices
root@host:~# mdadm -D /dev/md0
Return status :
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0 no problem
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1 error
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2 complete failure
Extend a RAID5 with the addition of a disk
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With a RAID5 array composed of 3 physical disks : sda1, sdb1 and sdc1 where we would like to add sdd1.
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First thing to do is a complete backup!
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Then unmount (optional, depending of the filesystem used) partition :
root@host:~# umount /dev/md0
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We copy the partition table from an existent disk to the new one (new size disk must be equal or bigger) :
root@host:~# sfdisk -d /dev/sdb | sfdisk --force /dev/sdd
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We add our new disk inside the array :
root@host:~# mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --add /dev/sdd1
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We grow the array size (use of --backup-file is needed and will help in case of failure). Depending of the disk (size and performance) this operation could take a lot of time. We could check the progress with cat /proc/mdastat) :
root@host:~# mdadm --grow /dev/md0 --raid-devices=4 --backup-file=/root/raid5.backup.file
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Then we extend filesystem (works with ext3/4 filesystem.)
root@host:~# resize2fs /dev/mapper/md0
Extend an encrypted RAID (convert RAID1 to RAID5)
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With a RAID1 array composed of 2 physical disks : sda1 and sdb1 where we would like to add sc1 :
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First thing to do is a complete backup!
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Then we do a backup of luks header :
root@host:~# cryptsetup luksHeaderBackup /dev/md0 --header-backup-file path/to/backup.img
- or manually by getting the header size "Payload offset", then save it using the dd command :
root@host:~# cryptsetup luksDump /dev/md0 | grep "Payload offset"
root@host:~# dd if=/dev/md0 of=chemin/vers/backup.img bs=512 count=4040
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For information we can restore header using one of this two commands :
root@host:~# cryptsetup luksHeaderRestore /dev/md0 --header-backup-file chemin/vers/backup.img
root@host:~# dd if=./backup.img of=/dev/md0 bs=512 count=4040
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Stop the RAID (for safety) :
root@host:~# mdadm --stop /dev/md0
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We copy the partition table from an existent disk to the new one (new size disk must be equal or bigger) :
root@host:~# sfdisk -d /dev/sdb | sfdisk --force /dev/sdc
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We convert RAID1 to RAID5 :
root@host:~# mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=5 -n 2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
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Then we add the 3rd disk to the array :
root@host:~# mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/sdc1
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We grow the array size (use of --backup-file is needed and will help in case of failure). Depending of the disk (size and performance) this operation could take a lot of time. We could check the progress with cat /proc/mdastat) :
root@host:~# mdadm --grow /dev/md0 --raid-disks=3 --backup-file=/root/raid1-5.backup.file
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We resizes the active mapping
root@host:~# cryptsetup resize /dev/mapper/md_crypt
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We can do a filesystem check :
root@host:~# e2fsck -f /dev/mapper/md_crypt
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Then we extend filesystem (works with ext3/4 filesystem.)
root@host:~# resize2fs /dev/mapper/md_crypt
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