5.4.16.9. Replacing a RAID device

RAID is not like traditional LVM mirroring. LVM mirroring required failed devices to be removed or the mirrored logical volume would hang. RAID arrays can keep on running with failed devices. In fact, for RAID types other than RAID1, removing a device would mean converting to a lower level RAID (for example, from RAID6 to RAID5, or from RAID4 or RAID5 to RAID0). Therefore, rather than removing a failed device unconditionally and potentially allocating a replacement, LVM allows you to replace a device in a RAID volume in a one-step solution by using the --replace argument of the lvconvert command.
The format for the lvconvert --replace is as follows. 
lvconvert --replace dev_to_remove vg/lv [possible_replacements]
The following example creates a RAID1 logical volume and then replaces a device in that volume. 
# lvcreate --type raid1 -m2 -L 1G -n my_lv my_vg
  Logical volume "my_lv" created
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices                                     
  my_lv            100.00 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0),my_lv_rimage_2(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sdb1(1)                                
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdb2(1)                                
  [my_lv_rimage_2]        /dev/sdc1(1)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sdb1(0)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdb2(0)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_2]         /dev/sdc1(0)                                
# lvconvert --replace /dev/sdb2 my_vg/my_lv
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices                                     
  my_lv             37.50 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0),my_lv_rimage_2(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sdb1(1)                                
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdc2(1)                                
  [my_lv_rimage_2]        /dev/sdc1(1)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sdb1(0)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdc2(0)                                
  [my_lv_rmeta_2]         /dev/sdc1(0)
The following example creates a RAID1 logical volume and then replaces a device in that volume, specifying which physical volume to use for the replacement. 
# lvcreate --type raid1 -m1 -L 100 -n my_lv my_vg
  Logical volume "my_lv" created
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices
  my_lv            100.00 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sda1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdb1(1)
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sda1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdb1(0)
# pvs
  PV          VG       Fmt  Attr PSize    PFree
  /dev/sda1   my_vg    lvm2 a--  1020.00m  916.00m
  /dev/sdb1   my_vg    lvm2 a--  1020.00m  916.00m
  /dev/sdc1   my_vg    lvm2 a--  1020.00m 1020.00m
  /dev/sdd1   my_vg    lvm2 a--  1020.00m 1020.00m
# lvconvert --replace /dev/sdb1 my_vg/my_lv /dev/sdd1
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices
  my_lv             28.00 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sda1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdd1(1)
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sda1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdd1(0)
You can replace more than one RAID device at a time by specifying multiple replace arguments, as in the following example. 
# lvcreate --type raid1 -m 2 -L 100 -n my_lv my_vg
  Logical volume "my_lv" created
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices
  my_lv            100.00 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0),my_lv_rimage_2(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sda1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdb1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_2]        /dev/sdc1(1)
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sda1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdb1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_2]         /dev/sdc1(0)
# lvconvert --replace /dev/sdb1 --replace /dev/sdc1 my_vg/my_lv
# lvs -a -o name,copy_percent,devices my_vg
  LV               Copy%  Devices
  my_lv             60.00 my_lv_rimage_0(0),my_lv_rimage_1(0),my_lv_rimage_2(0)
  [my_lv_rimage_0]        /dev/sda1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_1]        /dev/sdd1(1)
  [my_lv_rimage_2]        /dev/sde1(1)
  [my_lv_rmeta_0]         /dev/sda1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_1]         /dev/sdd1(0)
  [my_lv_rmeta_2]         /dev/sde1(0)

Note

When you specify a replacement drive using the lvconvert --replace command, the replacement drives should never be allocated from extra space on drives already used in the array. For example, lv_rimage_0 and lv_rimage_1 should not be located on the same physical volume.