Question

Remove Linux Raid without losing data

Asked by: jculkincys

Hello

I have an install of RHEL 3 (update 9) on a physical box.

The output of df, a snippet of /etc/grub.conf and /proc/mdstat are below

I want to run this machine through VmWare's converter but it currently does not support Linux software RAID. Therefore I need to remove the raid sets - however, I don't want to lose any of my data.

Let  me know if you need anymore information.

Thanks

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/Volume00/root     13G  9.3G  3.0G  76% /
/dev/md0              494M   60M  409M  13% /boot
none                  753M     0  753M   0% /dev/shm
 
 
Personalities : [raid1]
read_ahead 1024 sectors
Event: 3
md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]
      521984 blocks [2/2] [UU]
 
md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0]
      8361728 blocks [2/2] [UU]
 
md2 : active raid1 sdd1[1] sdc1[0]
      8886144 blocks [2/2] [UU]
 
unused devices: <none>
 
cat /etc/grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/Volume00/root
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (2.4.21-57.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21-57.EL ro root=/dev/Volume00/root
        initrd /initrd-2.4.21-57.EL.img

                                  
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Asked On
2009-08-04 at 08:08:55ID24624952
Tags

Linux Raid remove

Topics

Red Hat Linux

,

VMware

,

Linux Setup

,

Linux

,

Hard Drives & Storage

Participating Experts
2
Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: cjl7Posted on 2009-08-04 at 08:21:08ID: 25014708

Hmm,

I think something like this would do the trick (make sure you have a backup!!!!!)

1. remove a disk from the raid
2. create two partitions on that disk (/boot = 100MB, and the rest for LVM)
3. use rsync to copy all data from your live (running) environment
4. modify /etc/grub.conf and try to reboot

You should keep a live-cd in handy if all else fails...

Did I mention that you need to make a backup before you start?! You have been warned...

But I would probably just install a box in vmware and then migrate or move the apps I needed (you could use rsync for that as well)

Good luck!

 

by: jculkincysPosted on 2009-08-19 at 09:07:11ID: 25134278

Ok I got some more information from VmWare - it seems that the VmWare is having trouble reading the /boot information from /dev/md0

What I really need to do is just mount /boot somewhere else

I have placed a new hard drive in the server and I intend to mount /boot on it instead of  /dev/mo0

Check out Solution #2 on
http://www.waltercedric.com/component/content/article/193-technical/1593-make-a-vmware-copy-of-a-live-linux-server.html

Here is what I intend to do

   1. Back up the /boot files to /tmp
   2. unmount /boot,
   3. Create a new volume (partition) on harddrive that I just added
   4. Format it
   5. Mount it as /boot
   6. Copy all the /boot files over to there,
   7. Make backups of /etc/fstab
   8. Change fstab /boot file system - now on /dev/newhd instead of /dev/md0

I shouldn't need to edit  /boot/grub/menu.lst or /etc/grub.conf right?

Also when I am backing up and restoring /boot - do I just do a regular cp? rsync? or do I need to do a dd?

 

by: cjl7Posted on 2009-08-25 at 21:50:44ID: 25184498

rsync is fine. Anything will work, dd is your worst option since it takes all of the blocks "no matter what!"

Cheers,

Jonas

 

by: rindiPosted on 2009-08-26 at 02:36:14ID: 25185691

It looks like you are using RAID 1. RAID 1 you should be able to access directly as normal disks. Try just using the standard /dev/sda method and not mda...

 

by: jculkincysPosted on 2009-08-26 at 14:08:16ID: 25192274

rindi:

Wouldn't there be any super block information?


cjl7:

Would you be able to give me an example of the rsync command?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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