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I have setup a server (CentOS) on which I have connected to several LUNs from a SAN via iSCSI then multipath, resulting in multiple physical volumes I can use for LVM (dm1 ...). From the file server, I have then used these physical volumes to setup two logical volumes which I then serve to a cluster via NFS.

Now, the capacity on the SAN is already subject to regular off-site backup so I am not worried about losing data.

My question is, should any information on the NFS file server be backed up as well? For example, in the event that the file server fails, what information regarding LVM should I retain to facilitate re-initialization of the LVM filesystem? For example, the contents of /etc/lvm/? I am perusing the LVM documentation from RedHat, but it is quite general and I would appreciate insight into the specific case above.

Thanks you in advance for your help.

Vince
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    I'm not sure how backing up raw disks as opposed to a file system (the one you've set up on the lvm) is considered "no worry". Don't bother with the SAN, just back up the FS on top of the LVM. In the same spirit - the LVM metadata is of no importance, only the content of the FS. You don't need that info unless you plan to rebuild LVM corruptions. – Dani_l Sep 28 '15 at 17:38
  • I agree that data backup is most important aspect, which I can do myself as well by taking a snapshot and having the tape system grab it. However, should only the file server fail, and not the SAN, it would seems easier to re-install the file server and just connect back to the SAN and re-configure LVM to access existing data, instead of doing a full data recovery from tape. – Vince Sep 28 '15 at 19:08
  • Also, I was not clear, backup is at the level of the FS, and not block level. – Vince Sep 28 '15 at 19:11
  • Another aspect is that due to backup limitations, I cannot backup all the data on the SAN, just a subset. So, if I lose the file server, I may lose this data, unless I can recover the file system meta data. – Vince Sep 28 '15 at 19:14

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