--- title: "Forklift Upgrade Arch Linux To A Dell Precision 3561" date: 2021-10-19 draft: false tags: ["linux", "arch", "luks", "mdadm", "raid", "nvme"] summaryimage: fifty-screenFetch-2021-10-19_02-11-50.png summaryimagew: 960 summaryimageh: 540 authors: ["trent"] post: 32 --- date: 2021-10-19 ## Introduction I fork-lift upgraded my luks-encrypted Arch Linux installation from a Lenovo T460 to a luks-encrypted, software raid1 mirror on a Dell Precision 3561. It was relatively easy to do. ## The New Laptop
the Dell Precision 3561 runs Arch Linux flawlessly, btw
I ordered a new Dell Precision 3561 with the minimal ram and ssd configuration, running Ubuntu 20.04. The plan was to transfer a luks-encrypted Arch Linux from my Lenovo T460 to a luks-encrypted thumbdrive. Then run Arch Linux from the thumbdrive on the new Precision 3561 for a few days while I waited for Amazon to deliver some 1tb Samsung 830 nvme ssds. And then finally to transfer the Arch installation from the thumbdrive onto an luks-encrypted software raid1 mirror on the new Precision 3561. Everything went according to plan, with not a single stumble or mishap; and so I'm documenting here how it went down. The only thing left to do now is to order 64gb of ram, so I can run Android Studio, and continue working on [my Android App](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.trentpalmer.trentreads){target=_blank} (which needs some work). And of course update Arch Linux 5 times a day. I use Arch Linux, btw! ## Creating a Rescue Disk The transfer process I came up with involved two thumb drives: one to serve as a live disk to work from, and the other to temporarily run Arch on the new laptop. So why would I not use an Arch install disk as a live disk? Because I cache Arch packages on my lan using an Nginx reverse-cacheing proxy, which makes it really fast to simply bootstrap (pacstrap) a new Arch installation onto a thumb drive, exactly as I would install Arch anywhere else. ## Transfering Arch to USB I booted my _old_ T460 from my rescue disk and also plugged the other thumb drive into a usb port. ### Formatting the Thumb Drive. I opened the target thumbdrive in `gdisk` interactive partition tool, created a new gpt partition table by pressing `o`. Then created a 1GB _efi_ partition, type ef00, and a single partition for the remainder of the 256gb thumb. * I formatted the _efi_ parition on the thumbdrive: * `mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdc1` * I luks-encrypted the other partition on the thumbdrive: * `luksFormat -y -v /dev/sdc2` * Then I opened the new luks device: * `cryptsetup open /dev/sdc2 cryptroot` * And formatted it: * `mkfs.xfs /dev/mapper/cryptroot` ### Copying the _efi_ partition files to Thumb Drive More specifically in a typical `systemd-boot` configuration the _efi_ partition contains the entire `/boot` directory. * I mounted the T460's _efi_ partition for Arch Linux: * `mount /dev/sda5 /mnt2` * I mounted the thumbdrive's _efi_ partition: * `mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt` * And then copied all the files over: * `cp -av /mnt2/* /mnt/` * I then unmounted the _efi_ partitions: * `umount /mnt2 ; umount /mnt` ### Copying the `/` partition files to the Thumb Drive * I decrypted the Arch `/` device on the T460 * `cryptsetup open /dev/sda6 cryptroot2` * And then mounted it: * `mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot2 /mnt2` * ...mounted the `/` device for the thumbdrive: * `mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt` * And copied the files: * `rsync -aAXvPH /mnt2/ /mnt/` ## Rescuing The Thumb Drive via _Chroot_ * I unmounted the T460's `/` device: * `umount /mnt2` * Mounted the thumbdrive's _efi_ partition relative to `/mnt` * `mount /dev/sdc /mnt/boot` * And entered _chroot_: * `arch-chroot /mnt` ### Updating `fstab` for the Thumb Drive * I located the UUID of the thumbdrive's _efi_ partition: * `blkid /dev/sdc1` * I located the UUID of the luks device: * `blkid /dev/mapper/cryptroot` * And updated `/etc/fstab` accordingly. ```cfg # /etc/fstab # /dev/mapper/cryptroot UUID=391f6062-d8af-4266-a48c-186270d54ef3 / xfs rw,relatime,attr2,inode64,logbufs=8,logbsize=32k,noquota 0 1 # /dev/sdc1 UUID="FACA-0B61" /boot vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 2 ... ``` ### Rebuilding the _Initramfs_ for the Thumb Drive Still inside _chroot_ I ran the following command to rebuild the _initramfs_. ```bash mkinitcpio -P ``` ### Updating the `systemd-boot` Entry for the Thumb Drive * I located the UUID of `/dev/sdc2` with the following command: * `blkid /dev/sdc2` * And updated `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf` accordingly. ```cfg # /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf title arch linux /vmlinuz-linux initrd /intel-ucode.img initrd /initramfs-linux.img options cryptdevice=UUID=f8c5062a-849d-4c56-bc98-2c93da85090f:cryptroot root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot rw quiet loglevel=3 ``` ## Running Arch from USB At this point Arch would boot and run flawlessly on the new Dell Precision 3561. I went ahead and changed the hostname, machine-id, ssh-keys, and host_ssh_keys to make it official. While test-driving the new machine, I worked on my [Ansible-KVM Router Lab](https://github.com/TrentSPalmer/router-lab){target=_blank}. As configured, the mobile workstation gets great battery life under a light work-load of web browser and ssh terminal work. Satisfied that the new system was going to work out, I ordered a pair of 1tb Samsung 830 nvme ssds, and installed them when they arrived. ## Transfering Arch to the New ssds After installing new nvme ssds, I booted the Dell Precision 3561 from my rescue disk, and also plugged in the thumbdrive on which my Arch system was installed. ### Formatting The New NVME ssds I opened each nvme ssd in `gdisk`, created a new _gpt_ partition table, an 1GB _efi_ partition (type ef00), and for the remainder of each disk created a Linux Raid Parition (type fd00). * I formatted one of the _efi_ partitions: * `mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p1` * I created a _raid_ array: * `mdadm --create --verbose --level=1 --metadata=1.2 --raid-devices=2 /dev/md0 /dev/nvme0n1p2 /dev/nvme1n1p2` * I luks-encrypted the new _raid_ array: * `luksFormat -y -v /dev/md0` * I opened the new luks device: * `cryptsetup open /dev/md0 cryptroot` * And then Formatted it: * `mkfs.xfs /dev/mapper/cryptroot` ### Copying the _efi_ partition files to NVME ssd * I mounted the thumbdrive's _efi_ partition: * `mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt2` * Then I mounted the laptop's _efi_ partition: * `mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt` * And copied to files to the new _efi_ partition: * `cp -av /mnt2/* /mnt/` * And then I unmounted both _efi_ partitions: * `umount /mnt2 ; umount /mnt` ### Copying the `/` partition files to the new NVME ssds * First I opened the `/` luks device on the thumbdrive: * `cryptsetup open /dev/sdb2 cryptroot2` * And then mounted it: * `mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot2 /mnt2` * Then I mounted the laptop's `/` luks device: * `mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt` * And `rsynced` the operating system files onto the new laptop: * `rsync -aAXvPH /mnt2/ /mnt/` ## Rescuing The New Laptop via _Chroot_ * First I unmounted the thumbdrive: * `umount /mnt2` * Then I mounted the _efi_ partition relative to `/mnt`: * `mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot` * And entered _chroot_; * `arch-chroot /mnt` ### Updating `fstab` for The New Laptop * I used to the following command to discover the UUID of the `/` device: * `blkid /dev/mapper/cryptroot` * And a similar command to find the UUID of the _efi_ partition: * `blkid /dev/nvme0n1p1` * Then I editted `/etc/fstab` to describe the above two UUIDs. ```cfg # /etc/fstab # /dev/mapper/cryptroot UUID=3486b7d1-ccc9-43dc-b8ab-abcf71aea90f / xfs rw,relatime,attr2,inode64,logbufs=8,logbsize=32k,sunit=32,swidth=256,noquota 0 1 # /dev/nvme0n1p1 UUID=9FE0-2A98 /boot vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 2 ... ``` ### Updating `mdadm.conf` and `mkinitcpio.conf` When I boot the laptop, the initramfs must assemble the raid array, which requires the following configuration details. I appended a description of the raid array to the bottom of `/etc/mdadm.conf` by running the following command. ```bash mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm.conf ``` Then I editted `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` to require the _mdadm_udev_ hook. ```cfg # /etc/mkinitcpio.conf ... # change this HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block encrypt filesystems keyboard fsck) # to this HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block mdadm_udev encrypt filesystems keyboard fsck) ... ``` And then finally rebuilt the _initramfs_: ```bash mkinitcpio -P ``` ### Updating the `systemd-boot` Entry for the New Laptop The final step was to update `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf`. As explained above, the initramfs assembles the raid device, so I just need to tell the kernel about it. I used the following command to discover the UUID of the _raid1_ device: * `blkid /dev/md0` And then updated `/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf` accordingly. ```cfg title arch linux /vmlinuz-linux initrd /intel-ucode.img initrd /initramfs-linux.img options cryptdevice=UUID=48f782a9-6c1b-4242-84f9-66b20ff27845:cryptroot root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot rw quiet loglevel=3 ```