I currently have a storage server with the following config.

Multiple raid6 volumes (mdadm) -> aggregated into a lvm volume group -> lvm volumes -> encrypted with luks1 -> (no partitioning) xfs file systems mounted and used by the os

I have the following criteria: I want to keep software raid (mdadm) with multiple raid sets, xfs, and lvm. I don’t mind using 2fa, but I don’t want to just store my secret keys on a dongle attached to my PC because that seems to defeat the point of encryption at rest.

My questions:

  1. Is there a better way to encrypt my data at rest?

  2. Is there a better layer at which to apply the encryption?

I’m mostly unhappy with luks1 over a whole lvm volume and looking for alternatives.

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Thank you everyone for these great responses! I’ll be looking into these ideas :)

  • Pumpkin EscobarEnglish
    3•10 months ago

    TPM & secure boot. Look into sbctl for secure boot if you’re not on something that uses the signed shim like ubuntu. I know some hate secure boot but storing the unlock key in tpm is at least much more secure than having the key sitting on a usb drive

    Tang - network based unlock. If you have a separate raspberry pi or something you can set it up as a tang server. You’ll want that thing encrypted too, can set that up to require manual unlock so if someone boosts your servers the tang server never comes up, storage server won’t either

    Or just manually unlock the server with a password every boot?

    That’s roughly my prioritized/preferred list