>> Yes, having two hosts with the same name is a real possibility. In Gordon's case it was two instances of the same host. Other cases should be fairly uncommon in the one data center though.
Depending if we're talking about fqdn or just a name like "server", "mail", "backup", etc. but that is not the main problem.
>> I'm not sure how best to deal with that. If mdadm is to reliably assemble one specific array as 'md0', then there needs to be some way for it to know which is the right md0. Aside from host name... what is there?
Let's ask the question: _when_ is such to be dealt with?
I believe the "multiple md0" scenario only happens if someone wilfully puts two md0-s (or parts) into one PC (/disk subsystem). Then one _must know_ that there will be minor problems. (also I believe this can happen mostly for temporary period, such as migrate one disk's data to a new mirror, etc.).
So my (and possibly other's) concern is:
- Two different md0's partial disks should NEVER be assebled into one md0 (as it would result data loss for one of the disks) (So different UUID is more important here, I'm not talking about "mount /dev/md/xxxxx-yyyyyy-dddddd-qqqqqqq))
- The ordering: As I usually need it for temporary solution, this wouldn't matter too much for me, but even - if it is by some logic, (eg: always use the same disk for md0) - permanent automount shouldn't be a problem. If possible, I "suggest" using the first reported (mirror member) disk as md0, then next as md1, etc. The "fix-named" arrays could be shifted, or just not mounted. If I have a "working" system (md0), then I should be able to sort out the rest.
>> I suspect it won't be very long before you cannot use linux without an initrd.
That would mean, I cannot compile a "single-file" kernel with all my required modules in it. I don't see that coming. There are several servers of mine which need to have a "brick and mortar" kernel, not allowing "kernel module injection" and not relying on "module names" which can be changed, like it happened before to me, when lan-driver name was changed and server rebooted normally, but without lan driver... I think this part is getting off topic, so let's concentrate on the md* part :-)
Cheers,
Gabor
