RAID and Disk Management

Raid Configuration Notes

Raid array configuration is managed in a bios-like configuration system entered during the boot process. There is a notice to press (Ctrl+R) to enter the configuration utility. On Viking Ctrl+H accomplishes the same goal.

In order to create a new array a new configuration is made. By default the installed disks show up as JBOD. They must be made available, where the JBOD disks are listed there is a "Make good" action which frees a JBOD drive to be added to a new array.

After creating the configuration a new device will show up in the OS. There does not appear to be any control over what letter device is created (eg /dev/sda vs /dev/sdb). I accomplished partitioning and mounting the array as follows:

Be careful about this!! Ensure that it is done on the correct device (/dev/sda sdb, etc)

umount /mnt/data1
parted /dev/sda
....rm 1
....mklabel gpt
....unit TB
....mkpart primary 0.00TB 64.0TB
....quit
mkfs.ext4 -L raid-array-1 /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/data1

This will create a new partition labeled as "raid-array-1"

Updated /etc/fstab as follows (per notes, need to check)

LABEL=raid-array-1 /mnt/data1 ext4 noatime,defaults 1 1

Hot Swapping Drives

Drives can be added/removed while the system is online. I have not tested this with raid array members. Inserting a SATA drive into one of the available bays causes the drive to appear as a new device. The new devices must be manually mounted. To avoid conflict with the boot drive or other drives this should be done while the system is online and any permanent mounts should use the UUID or device id as visible under /dev/disk/by-uuid/