[nflug] Replacing Linux Disk Drives (Cloning?)

David J. Andruczyk djandruczyk at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 6 10:13:38 EST 2007


Assuming the RAID setup is RAID1  (mirror) not RAID0 (Stripe)

I'll also make the assumption that the logical RAID volume was paritioned
into 2 pieces, 1 for /boot and the rest as Linux LVM. 

You should be able to  pull one drive, i.e. "break the mirror",  install one
NEW drive (, if your two new drives are NOT identical size,  use the smaller
of the two),  let the mirroring complete 100%,  then pull the other "old" 72
GB drive and install the new one. Fire up the raid mgmt software for that
card (I donno if there is a native linux tool or not) create a second logical
volume on the remaining space on the new 144 GB drives,  in linux take that
new volume fdisk it as Linux LVM,  pvcreate it and add it to your existing
volume group and just extend your volumes.

If your system has raid mgmt software native in linux this should all be
doable wihtout even rebooting the machine ( depends on what filesystems you
have)


NOW, if you did NOT use LVM, it's a little trickier but still doable. (live
CD may be required)

If you want assistance,  feel free to ask,  I may have some evening free.
(pizza/beer/cash is also a good motivator)


--- Justin Bennett <Justin.Bennett at Dynabrade.com> wrote:

> Hardware Ultra320 Scsi Perc4.
> 
> 
> David J. Andruczyk wrote:
> > Are these drivers HARDWARE mirrored  (i.e. onboard raid card, like a
> Perc4)
> > or software mirrored like in terms of Linux MD software raid or LVM?
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Justin Bennett <Justin.Bennett at Dynabrade.com> wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> Hey Folks,
> >>
> >>     I believe this was touched upon a little in some of the cloning 
> >> talk, but I have a 2U Dell Poweredge Running Redhat 3ES,  that has a 
> >> pair of Mirrored 72GB drives (only has 2 drive bays), I need to replace 
> >> these with a larger pair of drives (146GB) due to running out of space. 
> >> I am hoping to not have to reload and reconfigure the whole box, but if 
> >> I have to I can. Have you guys had any luck cloning like this? What 
> >> products have you used. In the past I have tar'd the whole file system 
> >> (minus /proc) to tape, loaded a fresh installation, and tar'd back over 
> >> the fresh installation with decent results but haven't done this in 
> >> years. The biggest issue I have is only having 2 drive bays, and wanting
> 
> >> a mirrored configuration, Normally I could build a second logical pair, 
> >> with the two new drives and do a Disk to Disk with something like ghost,
> 
> >> I can't really do that with only 2 drive bays.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> Justin
> >>
> >>     
> >>> begin:vcard
> >>>       
> >> fn:Justin Bennett
> >> n:Bennett;Justin
> >> org:Dynabrade Inc.;IT Department
> >> adr;dom:;;8989 Sheridan Dr;Clarence;NY;14031
> >> email;internet:Justin.Bennett at Dynabrade.Com
> >> title:Network Administrator
> >> tel;work:716-631-0100
> >> x-mozilla-html:TRUE
> >> url:http://www.dynabrade.com
> >> version:2.1
> >> end:vcard
> >>
> >>     
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> >>     
> >
> >
> > -- David J. Andruczyk
> >
> >
> >  
> >
>
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-- David J. Andruczyk


 
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