Ben's notes

• Boot from ISO
• Remove previous LVM and RAID config.
  • Unmount used filesystems (and swap).
  • Deactivate volume group:

    vgchange -a n rootvg

  • Remove volume group:

    vgremove rootvg

  • Remove previous RAID array:

    mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sda
    mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb

• Configure static networking. Edit /etc/netctl/ethernet-wired,
• Start network:

  netctl start ethernet-static

• Edit mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.
• Update package manager database:

  pacman -Syy

When replacing a failed disk of a RAID, the new disk has to be exactly the same size as the failed disk or bigger — otherwise the array recreation process will not work. Even hard drives of the same manufacturer and model can have small size differences. By leaving a little space at the end of the disk unallocated one can compensate for the size differences between drives, which makes choosing a replacement drive model easier. Therefore, it is good practice to leave about 100 MB of unallocated space at the end of the disk.

On a BIOS/GPT configuration a BIOS boot partition is required. GRUB embeds its core.img into this partition.

• Install gptfdisk:

  pacman -S gptfdisk

• Create a mebibyte {+1MiB with gdisk) BIOS boot partition on both disks with no file system and type ef02.

  gdisk /dev/sda
  o     #create empty new GUID partition table.
  n     #add new partition.
  1     #partition number 1.
  2048  #default first sector.
  +1MiB #BIOS boot partition size.
  ef02  #partition type.
  w     #write changes and exit.

• Create a partition for software RAID on both disks, leave approx 100MB at end of disk:

  gdisk /dev/sda
  n     #add new partition.
  2     #partition number 2.
  4096  #default next sector.
  +59GB #Partition size.
  fd00  #partition type.
  w     #write changes and exit.

• Build two device array:

  mdadm --create --verbose --level=1 --metadata=1.2 --raid-devices=2 /dev/md0 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb21

• Monitor status:

  cat /proc/mdstat

• Copy array config to config file:

  mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm.conf

• Assemble the array:

  mdadm --assemble --scan

• Create LVM partition on RAID1 device

  gdisk /dev/md0
  o      #create empty new GUID partition table.
  n      #add new partition.
  1      #partition number 1.
  2048   #default first sector.
  <last> #LVM partition size.
  8e00   #LVM partition type.
  w      #write changes and exit.

• Install lvm2:

  pacman -S lvm2

• Create LVM physical volume:

  lvmdiskscan
  pvcreate /dev/md0p1
  pvdisplay

• Create volume group:

  vgcreate vg_raid /dev/md0p1
  vgdisplay

• Create logical volumes:

  lvcreate -L 8G vg_raid -n lv_root
  lvcreate -L 1G vg_raid -n lv_home
  lvcreate -L 4G vg_raid -n lv_var
  lvcreate -L 500M vg_raid -n lv_boot
  lvcreate -L 2G vg_raid -n lv_swap

• Enable swap:

  mkswap /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_swap
  swapon /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_swap
  free

• Format filesystems:

  mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_root
  mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_home
  mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_var
  mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_boot
  

• Mount partitions:

  mount /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_root /mnt
  mkdir -p /mnt/{home,var,boot}
  mount /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_home /mnt/home
  mount /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_var /mnt/var
  mount /dev/mapper/vg_raid-lv_boot /mnt/boot

• Install Archlinux!

  pacstrap /mnt base

• Create fstab:

  genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

• Copy RAID config:

  mdadm --detail --scan >> /mnt/etc/mdadm.conf

• Copy network config:

  cp /etc/netctl/ethernet-static /mnt/etc/netctl

• Chroot:

  arch-chroot /mnt

• Configure network:

  netctl enable ethernet-static

• Set hostname:

  echo computer_name > /etc/hostname

• Link correct time zone:

  ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone/subzone /etc/localtime

• Uncomment locales in /etc/locale.gen, then run:

  locale-gen

• Configure locale:

  echo LANG=your_locale > /etc/locale.conf

• Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:

   HOOKS="base udev autodetect block mdadm_udev lvm2 filesystems usbinput fsck"

• Create a new initial RAM disk:

  mkinitcpio -p linux

• Set root password:

  passwd root

• Install additional tools:

  pacman -S gdisk

Make sure you have chrooted into the installed system before installing grub.

• Install grub:

  pacman -S grub
  grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck --debug /dev/sda
  grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck --debug /dev/sdb
  grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

• Exit chroot, unmount filesystem:

  exit
  umount -R /mnt

• Reboot.

• Install OpenSSH:

  pacman -S openssh
  systemctl enable sshd.service
  systemctl start sshd.service
  useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash benst
  passwd <localuser>

• Disable SSH root login, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart sshd.
• Install additional packages:

  pacman -S dnsutils hdparm smartmontools htop

• Enable TRIM for SSDs
  • LVM: set issue_discards option from 0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.
  • Filesystem: Add 'discard' option in /etc/fstab.
• Check SSD firmware voor Crucial M4:

   smartctl --all /dev/sda

• Install and configure mail forwarder:

  pacman -S ssmtp
  # vi /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
  # chmod 640 /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
  # chown root:mail /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
  # gpasswd -a <mainuser> mail
  
  # # Test
  # echo test | mail -v -s "testing ssmtp setup" tousername@somedomain.com

• RAID monitoring:

  # vi /etc/mdadm.conf #add email address
  mdadm --monitor --scan -1 --test # test email
  systemctl start mdmonitor.service

• Install and configure NTP:

  pacman -S ntp
  vi /etc/ntp.conf
  systemctl enable ntpd.service
  systemctl start ntpd.service
  ntpq -p

• Configure firewall.
• Disable IPv6 if not needed.