Add LVM cache to existing LVM RAID1 mirror

The new HP Microserver gen8 is configured with Proxmox.

Proxmox is installed on a RAID1 LVM that runs on two uSD cards: on in the uSD card slot integrated into the motherboard, the other via a USB-to-uSD adapter in the internal USB A connector on the motherboard.
I totally forgot about it, until I realized why apt dist-upgrade was running at a snails pace.

For the rest there is little remarkable about the performance of the server. I do worry a bit about writing log records, and I did not configure any swap on the SD cards.

To alleviate the pressure on the memorycards, I add a single GB of LVM cache on SSD (on a total size of 18 GB for each of the mirrored partitions).

Steps to perform:

• SSD partitioning
  • fdisk /dev/sdh
  • for a new/unused medium: g voor GPT partitielabel
  • n for a new partition, t for type lvm, w to write and save the configuration.
• Earmark the partitions for LVM-usage
  • pvcreate /dev/sdh1
• Add the physical volume to the root partition’s volume group
  • vgextend usbsdraid /dev/sdh1
• Add the future caching device to the existing volume group
  • lvcreate -vn cache_mt_usbsdraid -l254 mt_usbsdraid /dev/sdh1
• Convert the volume to a cached volume, indicating the caching volume
  • lvconvert --type cache --cachepool cache_mt_usbsdraid /mt_usbsdraid mt_prox_sys
• IF THIS IS YOUR BOOT VOLUME : REGENERATE YOUR GRUB CONFIG AND IMAGE
  • I forgot about this, and had to revert the changes on the next power outage, as the system had become unbootable.

That is all. View the result by calling lvs mt_usbsdraid:

# lvs mt_usbsdraid
  LV          VG           Attr       LSize  Pool                       Origin              Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  mt_prox_sys mt_usbsdraid Cwi-aoC--- 18.00g [cache_mt_usbsdraid_cpool] [mt_prox_sys_corig] 0.04   2.10            0.00     

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