On 04/09/2017 08:43 PM, Ron Leach wrote: > List, good evening, > > I am trying to install Debian onto an LVM, and I want the LVM to use a > pair of disks in a RAID1 configuration. I'm having difficulty > instructing the partitioner to do this. > > I have a new, empty, machine with 2 x 3TB disks. This new machine is > intended to replace our existing users-files server, which has nearly > exhausted its current fit of RAID1 on 2 x 2TB disks. (The server of the > files uses samba and NFS.) Some time ago I received advice from the > raid list that in future I could consider using an LVM so that when an > existing volume is full it (if it is an LV) can be extended across > additional disks. Now that our existing system has reached its capacity > limit, I'd like to replace it - and also take that advice. > > While trying to install Debian 7.11/amd64 onto the new HW, I reach the > partitioner and can (first) set up a single md (md0) RAID1 over the 2 x > 3TB disks. Next I can set up an LVM physical volume (3TB), and I can > then set up a 3TB logical volume for '/'. (I think I'm happy with the > system, /home, and the general 'users-files' filesystem all sharing the > one logical volume - similar to how a simple basic Debian install can be > done on a whole disk.) > > But the installer complains because I don't have any swap - and (in > addition) I am unsure if I need to do something different for GRUB and > booting. I first tried using the 'guided' partitioner (I thought it > might 'know best' about needing boot and / and so on) but I didn't seem > to be able to ask it to use RAID *and* LVM. I could ask it to make a > RAID1, or an LVM. May I ask the list a couple of questions?
Hi Ron. > What partitions - I think I mean logical volumes - might I be best using > for my installation, keeping in mind that I will need to extend whatever > logical volume houses the 'users-files'? Yes, it will be better LVM to be used in your case. The hierarchy in LVM is: - physical volume - this can be a disk, RAID array or partition - volume group - this contains one or more physical volumes. In the future you can add new physical volumes to volume group. - logical volume - this contains file system and files and belongs to particular volume group. > Is using a whole-disk RAID1 a reasonable choice (the kernel raid wiki > suggests this will work) or would folks on the list recommend > configuring multiple mds? I don't know any downside of using one MD device. If I was you I would do the following: - use GPT partition table for both disks - create one partition on each drive for Grub second stage image and make it big enough. For EFI systems I read that the partition should be about ~256MB, but if they are bigger that won't hurt, mine are 1GB. - create RAID partition on each disk and build one big RAID 1 array (a MD device) - on top of this RAID 1 array create a physical volume - create a volume group and add the physical volume to it - create logical volumes for the system like you usually do. For example some people create different file systems for: /, /home, /usr, /var, etc. - create a logical volume for your file server content - install the OS. By the way I have not used LVM on Debian, but I believe that Linux LVM HOWTO can be your friend. HTH Kind regards Georgi
