mdadm array migration between hardware upgrades

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ChineseStunna

Limp Gawd
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Jan 11, 2002
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442
Hi folks,

Got a question for all the Linux storage gurus here: I currently have a home media server setup with the following hardware specs:

MSI P45 motherboard
Intel Core2Quad Q6600
8GB DDR2 RAM
2x 250GB WD HDD in RAID1 via LVM (boot/swap etc)
8x2TB Hitachi HDD in RAID5 via mdadm (media/data)

The server mainly serves files for HTPCs around the house and runs a few VMs with VMWare server. I have recently picked up the following hardware which I’m thinking about upgrading to:

Gigabyte EX-58-Extreme motherboard
Intel i7 920
12GB DDR3 RAM

My main concern is – will I be able to just swap the driving into the new system and everything can just pick up where it left off? More specifically, will mdadm be able to detect the 8x2TB drives attached to the new hardware and re-assemble the array?

My buddy that helped me set this system up isn’t sure so I figured I ask here first, the boards do have the same ICH10R southbridge providing 6 of the SATA ports and 2 more will be run off of the extra controller onboard. I don’t have a lot of Linux experience switching out core parts but in Windows I’ve had great success moving things between various Intel chipsets and architectures from P965 -> P35 -> P45 -> H55 -> X58.

Any insight or advice on how to proceed with the move or precautions would be appreciated!
 
As long as the OS sees the drives as boring individual disks, mdadm can assemble the array. Worst case might be you will need to tell it which drives to assemble into array.

Really best thing to do, just attach drives to new system, boot to new OS or boot to a LiveCD, and try to assemble the array. If you can't you can always move drives back to old setup.

I think its pretty hard to unintentionally destroy a mdadm array.
 
You will be fine, just make sure all disks originally in the mdadm software RAID array are connected to the system when the OS boots and/or when mdadm is installed.
Also, double check that whatever Linux-distro you are using supports mdadm (they all do though).

I've migrated my arrays multiple times without a hitch, so you should be golden.
 
+1 this has always worked splendidly for me, chipsets don't matter with mdadm, nor does the order in which the drives are/were connected.
 
Thanks for the response all!! I'm not actually going to be rebuilding the base Linux system, I was just going to move the 2x250s to the new system and boot from that.
 
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