SoftRAID + replacing first disk with boot partition

[jas8522]

The SoftRAID documentation is pretty extensive, but it's missing the scenario where you have to replace the first disk in the system and it contains the boot partition.

If the server is configured well such that the /boot partition is within a mirrored or parity RAID, then copying the partition table from any of the good disks should do the trick, like the guide currently shows you how to do.

However some Linux installers make it difficult to configure the /boot partition to be within the RAID (for whatever reason), and in those cases you may have the /boot partition existing only on the first disk in the system. This means when the first disk is removed, the server will no longer be bootable so as to be able to add the new disk back into the array while the server is booted/live.

Since OVH DC staff do not copy the partition table from the removed disk to the new disk upon replacement, it would be very handy to include in the guide a way to save the /boot partition to an image file before ejecting the bad disk from the array. Then instructions could be provided to restore that /boot partition after the disk has been replaced (while in recovery mode).

TIA for the consideration.