[CentOS] RAID 6 - opinions

Tue Apr 23 15:33:43 UTC 2013
Lamar Owen <lowen at pari.edu>

On 04/12/2013 01:01 AM, David Miller wrote:
> You simply match up the Linux /dev/sdX designation with the drives 
> serial number using smartctl. When I first bring the array online I 
> have a script that greps out the drives serial numbers from smartctl 
> and creates a neat text file with the mappings. When either smartd or 
> md complain about a drive I remove the drive from the RAID using mdadm 
> and then pull the drive based on the mapping file. Drive 0 in those 
> SuperMicro SAS/SATA arrays are always the lowest drive letter and goes 
> up from there. If a drive is replaced I just update the text file 
> accordingly. You can also print out the drive serial numbers and put 
> them on the front of the removable drive cages. It is not as elegant 
> as a blinking LED but it works just as well. I have been doing it like 
> this for 6 plus years now with a few dozen SuperMicro arrays. I have 
> never pulled a wrong drive. 

It's great the the Supermicro controllers can do this, but I know from 
experience that in the general case with multiple controllers and on 
CentOS 6 this will not work.  Just a quick caveat on that.....