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This article shows you how to recover Linux Software RAID in case of a single disk failure. For the subsequent examples, we will use the following assumptions:

• You are using the most recent version of Linux (CentOS 5+).
• You have two (2) HDDs (sda, sdb) connected to SAS/SATA controller, which is not Linux Hardware RAID.
• You have Linux Software RAID (MD).
• You have two (2) RAID1 arrays, namely:
  • md0 (sda1+sdb1): /boot
  • md1 (sda2+sdb2): LVM
• One of your arrays is degraded but operational (single-member failure only).
• You have full root access.

Doing a Health Check

Check the health status of your disks. You should see the following results depending on your disks’ status:

Healthy Array

cat /proc/mdstat

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/2] [UU]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0]

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/2] [UU]

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

 

Note that both of the arrays (md0, md1) are:

1. 1. Active
   2. Contain two members: sdb1[1], sda1[0]
   3. Two out of two members are up: [2/2] [UU]

 

cat /proc/partitions

major    minor     #blocks  name

   8          0               976762584 sda

   8          1              512000 sda1

   8          2               976248832 sda2

   8         16             976762584 sdb

   8         17             512000 sdb1

   8         18            976248832 sdb2

   9          1              976247676 md1

 253        0              2097152 dm-0

 253        1              2097152 dm-1

   9          0               511988 md0

 

Note that the following items should be true:

1. 1. Both physical disks are present: sda, sdb
   2. Both of the arrays are present: md0, md1
   3. Both disks are of the same size: sda = sdb = 976762584
   4. Both disks are partitioned in the same way:

• • sda1 = sdb1 = 512000
  • sda2 = sdb2 = 976248832

 

Degraded Array

Single partition failure (sda1)

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0](F)

     511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0]

     976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/2] [UU]

     bitmap: 0/8 pages [0KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

 

Note: One or more RAID arrays will show missing members: [2/1] [_U]

Whole disk failure (sda)

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0](F)

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0](F)

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [_U]

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

In case of severe failure or if a disk fails to initialize on system restart, the disk itself can go missing as shown in the examples below.

Disk missing: /proc/mdstat

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1]

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1]

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [_U]

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

 

Disk missing: /proc/partitions

major   minor    #blocks  name

   8        16             976762584 sdb

   8        17             512000 sdb1

   8        18             976248832 sdb2

   9          1             976247676 md1

 253        0              2097152 dm-0

 253        1             2097152 dm-1

   9         0              511988 md0

 

Removing a Failed Disk

Manually marking devices as ‘failed’

You should manually mark a device as faulty only if one of its arrays is in a degraded state due to a timeout or read error in one of the partitions. The physical disk itself should still be working fine.

• • Take a look at /proc/mdstat and make sure that all of the partitions on the failed disk is set as ‘faulty.’

CAUTION: Be sure you are failing only the partitions that belong to the corresponding failed disk (i.e. sda1/sda2 for sda and sdb1/sdb2 for sdb).

Set sda1 and sda1 as faulty

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --fail /dev/sda1

mdadm: set /dev/sda1 faulty in /dev/md0

 

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --fail /dev/sda2

mdadm: set /dev/sda2 faulty in /dev/md1

 

• • Confirm both partitions of the same disk are labeled as failed.

In cat /proc/mdstat

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0](F)

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0](F)

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [_U]

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

 

Removing failed devices from array

Before a disk can be replaced, the failed members should be removed from their corresponding arrays:

• • Remove failed members:

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --remove /dev/sda1

mdadm: hot removed /dev/sda1 from /dev/md0

 

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --remove /dev/sda2

mdadm: hot removed /dev/sda2 from /dev/md1

 

[root@freshinstall ~]# cat /proc/mdstat

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1]

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]

md1 : active raid1 sdb2[1]

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [_U]

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

 

• • Be sure to clear RAID superblocks if you plan to add the same partitions back to the array or if you want to reuse the partitions for something else:

 [root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sda1

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sda2

 

• • You can also choose to wipe out all the information on the disk before discarding it, assuming that the physical disk still works:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

CAUTION: This process erases all data in the device given the "of=" argument (/dev/sda in the above example).

Note: This process may take some time to complete.

 

Adding a Replacement Disk

The replacement disk must be exactly the same size or larger than the failed disk. Once the replacement disk is inserted into the system, the kernel will log something like this:

dmesg | tail

sd 0:0:0:0: [sdc] 1953525168 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)

sd 0:0:0:0: [sdc] 4096-byte physical blocks

sd 0:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off

sd 0:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00

sd 0:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA

Confirm if the system sees the new drive (sdc in this case):

cat /proc/partitions

major   minor    #blocks  name

 

   8        16             976762584 sdb

   8        17               512000 sdb1

   8        18             976248832 sdb2

   9         1               976247676 md1

 253        0               2097152 dm-0

 253        1              2097152 dm-1

   9         0                511988 md0

   8         0                976762584 sdc

Check the SMART status of the new disk:

smartctl -H /dev/sdc

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (local build)

Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

 

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

 

Partitioning

To start portioning, confirm first that the new disk has not been auto-mounted:

  mount | grep sdc

There should be no output. If anything is displayed, then the corresponding partitions must be un-mounted manually by calling:

umount <partition>

Since the initial system used two mirrored drives of exactly same size, we can use the operational drive as a template for partitioning:

sfdisk -d -uS /dev/sdb | sfdisk -L -uS /dev/sdc

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...

OK

 

Disk /dev/sdc: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track

Old situation:

Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0

 

Device Boot    Start       End   #sectors  Id  System

/dev/sdc1   *      2048   1026047    1024000  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc2       1026048 1953523711 1952497664  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc3             0         -          0   0  Empty

/dev/sdc4             0         -          0   0  Empty

New situation:

Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0

 

Device Boot    Start       End   #sectors  Id  System

/dev/sdc1   *      2048   1026047    1024000  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc2       1026048 1953523711 1952497664  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc3             0         -          0   0  Empty

/dev/sdc4             0         -          0   0  Empty

Warning: partition 1 does not end at a cylinder boundary

Warning: partition 2 does not start at a cylinder boundary

Warning: partition 2 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).)

 

After this, you should be able to see your newly partitioned disk:

cat /proc/partitions

major   minor   #blocks  name

 

   8       16               976762584 sdb

   8       17                 512000 sdb1

   8       18              976248832 sdb2

   9        1                976247676 md1

 253        0              2097152 dm-0

 253        1                2097152 dm-1

   9        0                  511988 md0

   8        0                976762584 sdc

   8        1                   512000 sdc1

   8        2                 976248832 sdc2

 

Adding new devices to the array

 [root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --add /dev/sdc1

mdadm: added /dev/sdc1

 

[root@freshinstall ~]# mdadm --manage /dev/md1 --add /dev/sdc2

mdadm: added /dev/sdc2

 

[root@freshinstall ~]# cat /proc/mdstat

Personalities : [raid1]

md0 : active raid1 sdc1[2] sdb1[1]

      511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/2] [UU]

md1 : active raid1 sdc2[2] sdb2[1]

      976247676 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [_U]

      [>....................]  recovery =  0.1% (1618176/976247676) finish=160.6min speed=101136K/sec

      bitmap: 1/8 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk

unused devices: <none>

Note: Both arrays have two active members in them and md1 is actively reconstructing.

 

Re-installing bootloader

Once the failed drive is replaced, re-install GRUB into the MBR of the new disk to make sure you can boot from it:

grub-install /dev/sdc

Installation finished. No error reported.

This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.

Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,

fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

 

# this device map was generated by anaconda

(hd0)     /dev/sdc

(hd1)     /dev/sdb