Advanced Storage Management Guide for Ubuntu Server 22.04

Effective storage management is crucial for server performance and data integrity. This comprehensive guide covers everything from basic disk management to advanced configurations like LVM, RAID, and ZFS on Ubuntu Server 22.04.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
Root or sudo access
Available storage devices
Basic understanding of Linux file systems

Disk Management Fundamentals

View Disk Information

# List all block devices
lsblk
lsblk -f  # With filesystem info

# Detailed disk information
sudo fdisk -l
sudo parted -l

# Disk usage by partition
df -h
df -i  # Inode usage

# Check disk health
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda  # Health summary

Partition Management

Using fdisk (MBR)

sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

# Common commands:
# n - new partition
# d - delete partition
# p - print partition table
# w - write changes
# q - quit without saving

Using gdisk (GPT)

sudo gdisk /dev/sdb

# Similar commands to fdisk
# More suitable for disks larger than 2TB

Using parted

sudo parted /dev/sdb

# Interactive mode commands
(parted) mklabel gpt
(parted) mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%
(parted) print
(parted) quit

File System Creation and Management

Create File Systems

# ext4 (default for most use cases)
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L "DataDisk" /dev/sdb1  # With label

# XFS (good for large files)
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.xfs -L "MediaStorage" /dev/sdb1

# Btrfs (advanced features)
sudo mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.btrfs -L "Snapshots" /dev/sdb1

# NTFS (for Windows compatibility)
sudo mkfs.ntfs -Q /dev/sdb1

Mount File Systems

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data

# Temporary mount
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Mount with options
sudo mount -o rw,noatime,nodiratime /dev/sdb1 /mnt/data

# Unmount
sudo umount /mnt/data

Persistent Mounting (fstab)

# Get UUID
sudo blkid /dev/sdb1

# Edit fstab
sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add entry:

# <file system>                                 <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
UUID=123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000     /mnt/data       ext4    defaults        0       2
UUID=234e5678-f90c-23e4-b567-537625285111     /mnt/backup     xfs     defaults,noatime 0      2

LVM (Logical Volume Manager)

LVM Setup

Install LVM

sudo apt install lvm2 -y

Create Physical Volumes

# Initialize disks for LVM
sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

# Display physical volumes
sudo pvdisplay
sudo pvs  # Summary view

Create Volume Groups

# Create volume group
sudo vgcreate vg_data /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

# Display volume groups
sudo vgdisplay
sudo vgs  # Summary view

# Extend volume group
sudo vgextend vg_data /dev/sdd

Create Logical Volumes

# Create logical volume with specific size
sudo lvcreate -L 100G -n lv_database vg_data

# Create logical volume using percentage
sudo lvcreate -l 50%VG -n lv_backup vg_data

# Create logical volume using all remaining space
sudo lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n lv_media vg_data

# Display logical volumes
sudo lvdisplay
sudo lvs  # Summary view

LVM Management

Extend Logical Volume

# Extend by specific size
sudo lvextend -L +50G /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Extend to specific size
sudo lvextend -L 200G /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Extend using all available space
sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Resize filesystem (ext4)
sudo resize2fs /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Resize filesystem (XFS)
sudo xfs_growfs /mount/point

Reduce Logical Volume (ext4 only)

# Unmount first
sudo umount /mnt/database

# Check filesystem
sudo e2fsck -f /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Resize filesystem
sudo resize2fs /dev/vg_data/lv_database 150G

# Reduce logical volume
sudo lvreduce -L 150G /dev/vg_data/lv_database

LVM Snapshots

# Create snapshot
sudo lvcreate -L 10G -s -n snap_database /dev/vg_data/lv_database

# Mount snapshot
sudo mount /dev/vg_data/snap_database /mnt/snapshot

# Remove snapshot
sudo lvremove /dev/vg_data/snap_database

RAID Configuration

Software RAID with mdadm

Install mdadm

sudo apt install mdadm -y

Create RAID Arrays

RAID 0 (Striping)

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

RAID 1 (Mirroring)

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

RAID 5 (Striping with Parity)

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md5 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

RAID 6 (Striping with Double Parity)

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md6 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde

RAID 10 (Mirrored Stripes)

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md10 --level=10 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde

RAID Management

# Check RAID status
sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0
cat /proc/mdstat

# Add spare disk
sudo mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/sde

# Remove faulty disk
sudo mdadm --remove /dev/md1 /dev/sdb

# Replace disk
sudo mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/sdf
sudo mdadm --remove /dev/md1 /dev/sdb

# Save RAID configuration
sudo mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

RAID Monitoring Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/raid-monitor.sh

#!/bin/bash
# RAID monitoring script

LOG_FILE="/var/log/raid-monitor.log"
EMAIL="admin@example.com"

# Function to log messages
log_message() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $1" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Check RAID status
check_raid() {
    local raid_device=$1
    local status=$(mdadm --detail $raid_device | grep "State :" | awk '{print $3}')

    if [ "$status" != "clean" ] && [ "$status" != "active" ]; then
        log_message "WARNING: RAID $raid_device is in $status state"
        echo "RAID $raid_device is in $status state" | mail -s "RAID Alert on $(hostname)" $EMAIL
        return 1
    fi

    # Check for failed disks
    local failed=$(mdadm --detail $raid_device | grep "Failed Devices :" | awk '{print $4}')
    if [ "$failed" -gt 0 ]; then
        log_message "ERROR: RAID $raid_device has $failed failed devices"
        mdadm --detail $raid_device | mail -s "RAID Failure on $(hostname)" $EMAIL
        return 1
    fi

    return 0
}

# Main monitoring loop
log_message "Starting RAID monitoring"

for raid in /dev/md*; do
    if [ -b "$raid" ]; then
        check_raid $raid
    fi
done

log_message "RAID monitoring completed"

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/raid-monitor.sh
sudo crontab -e
# Add: */10 * * * * /usr/local/bin/raid-monitor.sh

ZFS File System

Install ZFS

sudo apt install zfsutils-linux -y

Create ZFS Pools

Basic Pool

# Single disk pool
sudo zpool create datapool /dev/sdb

# Mirror pool (RAID 1)
sudo zpool create datapool mirror /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

# RAIDZ1 pool (RAID 5)
sudo zpool create datapool raidz1 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

# RAIDZ2 pool (RAID 6)
sudo zpool create datapool raidz2 /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde

Advanced Pool Configuration

# Pool with cache and log devices
sudo zpool create datapool mirror /dev/sdb /dev/sdc \
    cache /dev/nvme0n1 \
    log mirror /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1

# Pool with multiple vdevs
sudo zpool create datapool \
    mirror /dev/sdb /dev/sdc \
    mirror /dev/sdd /dev/sde

ZFS Dataset Management

# Create dataset
sudo zfs create datapool/databases
sudo zfs create datapool/backups

# Set properties
sudo zfs set compression=lz4 datapool/databases
sudo zfs set atime=off datapool/databases
sudo zfs set quota=100G datapool/databases
sudo zfs set recordsize=16K datapool/databases  # For databases

# List datasets
sudo zfs list
sudo zfs list -o name,used,avail,refer,mountpoint

ZFS Snapshots

# Create snapshot
sudo zfs snapshot datapool/databases@$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# List snapshots
sudo zfs list -t snapshot

# Rollback to snapshot
sudo zfs rollback datapool/databases@20240123_120000

# Clone snapshot
sudo zfs clone datapool/databases@20240123_120000 datapool/databases_clone

# Send/Receive snapshots
sudo zfs send datapool/databases@20240123_120000 | sudo zfs recv backuppool/databases

ZFS Automated Snapshot Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/zfs-auto-snapshot.sh

#!/bin/bash
# ZFS automatic snapshot script

# Configuration
POOLS=("datapool" "backuppool")
RETENTION_DAILY=7
RETENTION_WEEKLY=4
RETENTION_MONTHLY=12

# Function to create snapshots
create_snapshot() {
    local dataset=$1
    local type=$2
    local timestamp=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
    local snapshot_name="${dataset}@auto_${type}_${timestamp}"

    sudo zfs snapshot $snapshot_name
    echo "Created snapshot: $snapshot_name"
}

# Function to cleanup old snapshots
cleanup_snapshots() {
    local dataset=$1
    local type=$2
    local retention=$3

    # Get snapshots sorted by creation time
    snapshots=$(sudo zfs list -t snapshot -o name -s creation | grep "${dataset}@auto_${type}_" | head -n -${retention})

    for snapshot in $snapshots; do
        sudo zfs destroy $snapshot
        echo "Destroyed old snapshot: $snapshot"
    done
}

# Main script
for pool in "${POOLS[@]}"; do
    # Get all datasets in pool
    datasets=$(sudo zfs list -H -o name -r $pool | grep -v "@")

    for dataset in $datasets; do
        # Daily snapshots
        create_snapshot $dataset "daily"
        cleanup_snapshots $dataset "daily" $RETENTION_DAILY

        # Weekly snapshots (on Sunday)
        if [ $(date +%u) -eq 7 ]; then
            create_snapshot $dataset "weekly"
            cleanup_snapshots $dataset "weekly" $RETENTION_WEEKLY
        fi

        # Monthly snapshots (on 1st)
        if [ $(date +%d) -eq 01 ]; then
            create_snapshot $dataset "monthly"
            cleanup_snapshots $dataset "monthly" $RETENTION_MONTHLY
        fi
    done
done

Disk Encryption

LUKS Encryption

Setup Encrypted Disk

# Install cryptsetup
sudo apt install cryptsetup -y

# Create encrypted partition
sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdb1

# Open encrypted partition
sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 encrypted_disk

# Create filesystem
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/encrypted_disk

# Mount encrypted filesystem
sudo mkdir /mnt/encrypted
sudo mount /dev/mapper/encrypted_disk /mnt/encrypted

Automated Mounting with Key File

# Generate key file
sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/root/keyfile bs=1024 count=4
sudo chmod 600 /root/keyfile

# Add key to LUKS
sudo cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sdb1 /root/keyfile

# Create crypttab entry
echo "encrypted_disk /dev/sdb1 /root/keyfile luks" | sudo tee -a /etc/crypttab

# Add to fstab
echo "/dev/mapper/encrypted_disk /mnt/encrypted ext4 defaults 0 2" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Encrypt Existing Data

# Create backup (CRITICAL!)
sudo rsync -av /data/ /backup/

# Unmount partition
sudo umount /data

# Encrypt in place (DANGEROUS - ensure backup!)
sudo cryptsetup reencrypt --encrypt --reduce-device-size 32M /dev/sdb1

Storage Performance Optimization

I/O Scheduler Configuration

# Check current scheduler
cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

# Change scheduler (temporary)
echo deadline | sudo tee /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

# Permanent configuration
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
# Add: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="elevator=deadline"
sudo update-grub

Mount Options Optimization

# Performance-oriented mount options
sudo nano /etc/fstab

# SSD optimizations
UUID=xxx /data ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,discard 0 2

# Database optimizations
UUID=xxx /var/lib/mysql xfs defaults,noatime,nobarrier 0 2

# General performance
UUID=xxx /backup ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=60 0 2

Storage Benchmarking

# Install benchmarking tools
sudo apt install fio hdparm -y

# Quick read test
sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda

# Comprehensive I/O test
sudo fio --name=random-write --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=4 \
    --rw=randwrite --bs=4k --direct=1 --size=1G --numjobs=1 \
    --runtime=60 --group_reporting --filename=/dev/sdb

# Sequential read/write test
sudo fio --name=seq-test --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=16 \
    --rw=rw --bs=1M --direct=1 --size=1G --numjobs=1 \
    --runtime=60 --group_reporting --filename=/mnt/test

Storage Monitoring

Disk Usage Monitoring Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/storage-monitor.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Storage monitoring script

# Configuration
THRESHOLD=80
EMAIL="admin@example.com"
LOG_FILE="/var/log/storage-monitor.log"

# Function to log messages
log_message() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $1" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Check disk usage
check_disk_usage() {
    df -H | grep -vE '^Filesystem|tmpfs|cdrom|udev' | awk '{ print $5 " " $1 " " $6 }' | while read output;
    do
        usage=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $1}' | cut -d'%' -f1)
        partition=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $2 }')
        mountpoint=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $3 }')

        if [ $usage -ge $THRESHOLD ]; then
            message="WARNING: Partition $partition mounted on $mountpoint is ${usage}% full"
            log_message "$message"
            echo "$message" | mail -s "Disk Space Alert on $(hostname)" $EMAIL
        fi
    done
}

# Check inode usage
check_inode_usage() {
    df -i | grep -vE '^Filesystem|tmpfs|cdrom|udev' | awk '{ print $5 " " $1 " " $6 }' | while read output;
    do
        usage=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $1}' | cut -d'%' -f1)
        if [[ "$usage" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && [ $usage -ge $THRESHOLD ]; then
            partition=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $2 }')
            mountpoint=$(echo $output | awk '{ print $3 }')
            message="WARNING: Inode usage on $partition mounted on $mountpoint is ${usage}%"
            log_message "$message"
            echo "$message" | mail -s "Inode Usage Alert on $(hostname)" $EMAIL
        fi
    done
}

# Check SMART status
check_smart_status() {
    for disk in /dev/sd[a-z]; do
        if [ -b "$disk" ]; then
            smart_status=$(sudo smartctl -H $disk | grep "SMART overall-health" | awk '{print $NF}')
            if [ "$smart_status" != "PASSED" ]; then
                message="ERROR: SMART status for $disk is $smart_status"
                log_message "$message"
                sudo smartctl -a $disk | mail -s "SMART Alert on $(hostname)" $EMAIL
            fi
        fi
    done
}

# Main monitoring
log_message "Starting storage monitoring"
check_disk_usage
check_inode_usage
check_smart_status
log_message "Storage monitoring completed"

Best Practices

Regular Backups: Always backup before major storage operations
Monitor Health: Use SMART monitoring and regular checks
Plan Capacity: Monitor trends and plan for growth
Use Appropriate RAID: Choose RAID level based on needs
Test Recovery: Regularly test backup and recovery procedures
Document Layout: Keep detailed documentation of storage configuration
Performance Testing: Benchmark before and after changes

Troubleshooting

Filesystem Corruption

# Check and repair ext4
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sudo fsck.ext4 -f /dev/sdb1

# Check and repair XFS
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
sudo xfs_repair /dev/sdb1

# Force check on next boot
sudo touch /forcefsck

Recover Lost Partition

# Scan for lost partitions
sudo testdisk /dev/sdb

# Recover partition table
sudo gpart /dev/sdb

LVM Recovery

# Backup LVM metadata
sudo vgcfgbackup

# Restore LVM metadata
sudo vgcfgrestore vg_data

# Scan for volume groups
sudo vgscan
sudo vgchange -ay

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide covered advanced storage management on Ubuntu Server 22.04, from basic disk operations to complex configurations like LVM, RAID, and ZFS. Proper storage management ensures data integrity, optimal performance, and reliable disaster recovery. Remember to always test configurations in a non-production environment and maintain regular backups.

Advanced Storage Management Guide for Ubuntu Server 22.04

Need Professional Ubuntu Server Support?

Advanced Storage Management Guide for Ubuntu Server 22.04

Prerequisites

Disk Management Fundamentals

View Disk Information

Partition Management

Using fdisk (MBR)

Using gdisk (GPT)

Using parted

File System Creation and Management

Create File Systems

Mount File Systems

Persistent Mounting (fstab)

LVM (Logical Volume Manager)

LVM Setup

Install LVM

Create Physical Volumes

Create Volume Groups

Create Logical Volumes

LVM Management

Extend Logical Volume

Reduce Logical Volume (ext4 only)

LVM Snapshots

RAID Configuration

Software RAID with mdadm

Install mdadm

Create RAID Arrays

RAID 0 (Striping)

RAID 1 (Mirroring)

RAID 5 (Striping with Parity)

RAID 6 (Striping with Double Parity)

RAID 10 (Mirrored Stripes)

RAID Management

RAID Monitoring Script

ZFS File System

Install ZFS

Create ZFS Pools

Basic Pool

Advanced Pool Configuration

ZFS Dataset Management

ZFS Snapshots

ZFS Automated Snapshot Script

Disk Encryption

LUKS Encryption

Setup Encrypted Disk

Automated Mounting with Key File

Encrypt Existing Data

Storage Performance Optimization

I/O Scheduler Configuration

Mount Options Optimization

Storage Benchmarking

Storage Monitoring

Disk Usage Monitoring Script

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Filesystem Corruption

Recover Lost Partition

LVM Recovery

Conclusion