[BlueOnyx:15431] Re: raid errors?

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

On 5/21/2014 12:31 PM, tom wrote:
> I noticed something does not look right on my raid configuration. I have 2
> 160gb drives installed and am getting as follows:
>
> [root at ns ~]# cat /proc/mdstat
>
> Personalities : [raid1]
> md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1]
>        511988 blocks super 1.0 [2/1] [_U]
>
> md1 : active raid1 sda2[0]
>        155774908 blocks super 1.1 [2/1] [U_]
>        bitmap: 1/2 pages [4KB], 65536KB chunk
>
> unused devices: <none>

Yikes.  That's a problem.  Both RAID devices are running as degraded, 
which typically points to a failure (or impending failure) on one of the 
disks.

However, in your case, md0 shows to be running on sdb and md1 on sda. 
It's far more common to see either sda or sdb as being removed from both 
RAID devices.

So this could be an indication of a serious problem with both drives, or 
the drive controller.   Or it could be nothing more than a random glitch 
that goes away after a reboot.

Check your smartctl reports for both physical disks.   Make sure that no 
failures are detected there.  You mentioned your disks are 160GB.  It's 
been a while since 160GB disks were retailed, so that indicates you have 
an age issue, for sure.   That doesn't necessarily mean that's your 
problem.  But it's something to be mindful of.

I'm assuming that your server is likely of similar vintage to the 
drives.  Are you seeing any I/O errors show up?  If so, then it could be 
the controller that is failing.   Some old hardware will live forever, 
but in a lot of cases you'll find that it begins to break down with age. 
  It happens to the best of us.  I'd never suggest replacing a classic 
car or a spouse due to age, but with computer equipment I try and keep a 
life-cycle in mind.

First thing to do is rule-out a drive/controller failure.   I'd track 
that down before attempting a reboot.  After all, if you have severe 
issues there is no guarantee that the server will actually boot back up 
to a useable state.   If you are seeing issues, then you may want to see 
about lining up a replacement and making a migration.  OTOH, if you go 
through your SMART reports and you don't find any sign of I/O problems 
in your logs, then you might schedule a reboot and see if that doesn't 
fix the problem.

Alternatively, you can try re-adding the disks to their respective RAID 
volumes, but in cases where the user is not expert in such matters a 
quick reboot tends to be the quicker solution.

> I cannot figure out what to do to fix it. I get access denied (you don't
> have permission) when trying to search threads.

I'm not sure where you're searching, but typically a good ol google 
search with the phrase "blueonyx" and whatever issue you're having is 
pretty useful.   If this relates back to the gmane.org site, then of 
course that's a different animal altogether.  But again, a plain search 
using the engine of your choice will usually do a pretty good job of 
finding what you're looking for... provided someone else has had the 
exact (or at least similarly key-worded) trouble before!  :)

HTH,

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
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