Linux RAID Device Partitioning Question

I have a server that has 4 1.5 TB disks. Every disk has identical partitions

• /dev/sd[abcd]1 200 MB


• /dev/sd[abcd]2 2 GB


• /dev/sd[abcd]3 1.5 TB (the rest of the disk)

/dev/sd[abcd]1 are RAID 1 device with four disks and it's mounted to the /boot partition. md3

/dev/sd[ab]2 /dev/sd[cd]2 are two different RAID 1 devices and both are swap partitions. md1 md2

/dev/sd[abcd]3 are RAID 10 device and it's the root(/) partition. md0

There is no installed LVM on top of them.

Now, I need to create a new 150 MB partition from md0 device. I have no direct access to the server but I may find a KVM, but it is not preferable as I have to use a terrible KVM device :) The server is newly formatted so the last option is to reinstall the system with the intended partitions and LVM on top of them to reduce future problems, but as I said I don't prefer to use it, since it will take 6-7 hours to install a new server. (and I have two identical servers)

What are my options?

1. Reinstall the server



2. Boot from CD and install LVM.


3. ?

Thanks in advance,

Answer

"There is no installed LVM on top of them.". -- This is bad.

"it will take 6-7 hours to install a new server." -- I hope that includes racking, cabling, lunch, OS install, afternoon tea, and application configuration.

"I have two identical servers" -- then that makes it even easier.

1. Reinstall, this time with LVM.


2. Automate your OS installs (I'm going to guess you'll be needing kickstart, but if you're using a Debian-like system, you use debian-installer preseeding instead).


3. Automate the installation and configuration of your application software, so that a full rebuild takes more like 30 minutes (elapsed -- about two minutes of that is manual time).