One of the HDDs in my server's RAID config failed, so I took it out of the array and had the data center hot-swap it. They've done that, but now the new drive is /dev/sdc rather than /dev/sda. I suspect — correct me if I'm wrong — that if I reboot the server, it will be /dev/sda again, so I'm hesitant to add it back to the array as /dev/sdc because I don't want to lay a trap for myself to fall into on the next reboot. I'd just as soon not reboot the server if I don't need to (if I do need to, well, too bad for me).
Is there a way I can change the device name from /dev/sdc to /dev/sda without rebooting?
This is on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It's an md array ("Linux Software RAID"), where currently one of the devices (there are a couple of them) looks like this ("degraded" because I've removed the old /dev/sda from it):
# mdadm --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
Version : 00.90.03
Creation Time : Sun Oct 11 21:07:54 2009
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 97536 (95.27 MiB 99.88 MB)
Used Dev Size : 97536 (95.27 MiB 99.88 MB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 1
Preferred Minor : 0
Persistence : Superblock is persistent
Update Time : Thu Jun 30 09:31:16 2011
State : clean, degraded
Active Devices : 1
Working Devices : 1
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 0
UUID : 496be7a5:ab9177ed:7792c71e:7dc17aa4
Events : 0.112
Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
0 8 17 0 active sync /dev/sdb1
1 0 0 1 removed
Thanks,
Update: Reading through the kernel md documentation, I suspect that if the name changes on reboot, it won't matter. (Good design, that.) Here's why:
Boot time autodetection of RAID arrays
When md is compiled into the kernel (not as module), partitions of type 0xfd are scanned and automatically assembled into RAID arrays. This autodetection may be suppressed with the kernel parameter "raid=noautodetect". As of kernel 2.6.9, only drives with a type 0 superblock can be autodetected and run at boot time.
The kernel parameter "raid=partitionable" (or "raid=part") means that all auto-detected arrays are assembled as partitionable.
I do have I don't have md compiled into the kernelmd compiled into the kernel, but my setup will do the same thing as the above because it's auto-loading mdadm and the mdadm.conf is set up to scan all partitions for a superblock just like the kernel would:
# by default, scan all partitions (/proc/partitions) for MD superblocks. # alternatively, specify devices to scan, using wildcards if desired. DEVICE partitions
(And yes, I've checked, I'm using a superblock — md can run without one, but I'm not doing that.) So I'm rebuilding the array now and will do the reboot to see what happens, but I'm fairly confident the array won't care.
Update: Yup, worked a treat. Because my mdadm.conf was set to scan partitions (as the kernel would, if I had md compiled in) rather than to use specific device names, there was no problem. I added /dev/sdc's partitions to the arrays, resynced, and then rebooted the server (just to know the answer — I didn't have to do it, I just wanted to be sure it would be okay at next boot). When it came back up, the arrays were perfectly happy, and the new device's name was /dev/sda.
I would delete the question because while the above solves my problem, it doesn't answer the question as asked (if it did, I'd post it as an answer and accept it). But there's an answer (which is really a comment) below, so I can't delete it. Perhaps someone will come and answer the question I actually asked (about renaming the device without rebooting), which would be interesting. :-)
