As already stated LUKS and mdadm are a good combination. I too use these in all my recent systems. I Create RAID volumes, then LVM, then cryptsetup:
========= + mdamd + + | + + LVM + + | + + LUKS + + | + + ext4 + ========= I can't speak to your system being on USB, but in general you can just do something like the following: $mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda /dev/sdb $mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdc /dev/sdd $mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sde /dev/sdf If you want to use LVM then you create the PV, VG, and LV: $pvcreate /dev/md0 $pvcreate /dev/md1 $pvcreate /dev/md2 $vgcreate vg_data1 /dev/md0 $vgcreate vg_data2 /dev/md1 $vgcreate vg_data3 /dev/md2 $lvcreate vg_data1 -n lv_data1 -L <size> $lvcreate vg_data2 -n lv_data2 -L <size> $lvcreate vg_data3 -n lv_data3 -L <size> Then create your LUKS partition: $cryptsetup -v --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/mapper/lv_data1 vg_data1-lv_data1_crypt $cryptsetup -v --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/mapper/lv_data2 vg_data2-lv_data2_crypt $cryptsetup -v --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/mapper/lv_data3 vg_data3-lv_data3_crypt Then create your filesystem and mount them: $mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data1-lv_data1_crypt $mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data2-lv_data2_crypt $mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data3-lv_data3_crypt $mount -t ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data1-lv_data1_crypt /mnt/data1 $mount -t ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data2-lv_data2_crypt /mnt/data2 $mount -t ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_data3-lv_data3_crypt /mnt/data3 One of my systems looks like this. On this particular system I only encrypt home and swap: $jschaeffer@zipmaster07 ~ $ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 0 111.8G 0 disk \sda1 8:1 0 100M 0 part /boot/efi \sda2 8:2 0 250M 0 part \md0 9:0 0 250M 0 raid1 /boot \sda3 8:3 0 111.5G 0 part \md1 9:1 0 111.4G 0 raid1 \vg_sys1-lv_var1 (dm-1) 252:1 0 55G 0 lvm /var \vg_sys1-lv_tmp1 (dm-2) 252:2 0 4G 0 lvm /tmp \vg_sys1-lv_swap1 (dm-3) 252:3 0 6G 0 lvm \vg_sys1-lv_swap1_crypt (dm-5) 252:5 0 6G 0 crypt [SWAP] \vg_sys1-lv_root1 (dm-4) 252:4 0 46.4G 0 lvm / sdb 8:16 0 111.8G 0 disk \sdb1 8:17 0 100M 0 part \sdb2 8:18 0 250M 0 part \md0 9:0 0 250M 0 raid1 /boot \sdb3 8:19 0 111.5G 0 part \md1 9:1 0 111.4G 0 raid1 \vg_sys1-lv_var1 (dm-1) 252:1 0 55G 0 lvm /var \vg_sys1-lv_tmp1 (dm-2) 252:2 0 4G 0 lvm /tmp \vg_sys1-lv_swap1 (dm-3) 252:3 0 6G 0 lvm \vg_sys1-lv_swap1_crypt (dm-5) 252:5 0 6G 0 crypt [SWAP] \vg_sys1-lv_root1 (dm-4) 252:4 0 46.4G 0 lvm / sdc 8:32 0 931.5G 0 disk \sdc1 8:33 0 100M 0 part \sdc2 8:34 0 931.4G 0 part \vg_home1-lv_home1 (dm-0) 252:0 0 850G 0 lvm \vg_home1-lv_home1_crypt (dm-6) 252:6 0 850G 0 crypt /home sr0 11:0 1 3.8G 0 rom Thanks, Joshua Schaeffer On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 3:11 AM, tv.deb...@googlemail.com < tv.deb...@googlemail.com> wrote: > On 19/04/2017 05:06, commentsab...@riseup.net wrote: > >> Hello, >> >> Is there an easy way to attach several pair of RAID1 disks (with full >> disk encryption) to a Debian Jessie system? >> >> Here is a picture of what I'm trying to achieve: http://imgur.com/vF7IqX2 >> >> I am building a home backup system, I have different type of data to >> backup (work, family, random stuff - hence the three pairs in the >> picture). The system (Debian Jessie) will be on a USB key. >> >> It's a backup system on a budget that I'd like to have up and running >> within a couple of weeks, I know that ZFS (with FreeNAS for instance) >> can achieve similar goals but it's out of budget ; I also know that work >> is being done on BTRFS about encryption but it's not ready for prime >> time yet. >> >> Always state the obvious so : >> >> - the idea behind having the SYSTEM on a independent USB drive is to >> have one independent piece to handle the boot and system operations >> (that I can easily - and cheaply - mirror to have drop in replacement in >> case of failure) and "DATA" drives are just "dumb" encrypted drives that >> could be unplugged from the setup and mounted anywhere else ; >> >> - the idea behind the RAID1 is to create redundancy, hence in case one >> drive fails, be able to plug a new one in, would it be possible with >> full disk encryption? >> >> - this backup system will only be turned on when needed, I don't plan on >> using it as some sort of server or a NAS. >> >> Am I re-inventing the wheel here, is there a better, simpler solution to >> achieve both redundancy and encryption ? >> >> Thank you in advance for your help, >> >> CA >> >> > Hi, RAID1 and luks work well together, I have been using it for years. > > I use luks on top of raid1, mdadm raid1 volumes get mounted first at boot, > then cryptsetup opens the luks containers. This way re-syncing or replacing > a failed disk never caused me trouble. > > Performance-wise it's not the best solution, there is an overhead with > both raid1 (heavy writing can load up the system) and luks. With luks > encryption it depends on the cpu having acceleration for the cypher you > choose. Mine doesn't, but the overhead never disturbed normal operations so > I don't consider it a problem. > > System on usb flash disks always caused me troubles, I use it only if the > system can be loaded in ram at boot time and the drive isn't used for write > operation. A low-end small SSD would be a far better option in my opinion. > > On my system all RAID1 are started at boot, then the luks volumes are > either opened at boot time, later when a user logs in via pam-mount, or > on-demand with scripts. > My BackupPC server runs with RAID1 + luks volumes too, no problems for the > past six years. > I use ext4 as my file-system. ext4 has built-in encryption capabilities > now, but I can't comment on it since I have no first hand experience. > > Good luck. > >