Question about upgrade of mdadm on etch and mdadm.conf

[Andy B <andy@besy.co.uk>]

Hi,

The mdadm package got upgraded today on a Debian Etch server, and the 
upgrade process asked that I read README.upgrading-2.5.3. I have to 
verify my /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf file is correct and then enable its use.

I wonder if someone could help out with a question?

The contents of my /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf are as follows:

DEVICE partitions
CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes metadata=1
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=66fff52e:...
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=535b76be:...
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=24a11b82:...
ARRAY /dev/md3 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=7309af0d:...
MAILADDR root
DEVICE partitions
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=66fff52e:...
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=535b76be:...
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=24a11b82:...
ARRAY /dev/md3 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=7309af0d:...

Each array seems to be declared twice and I'm not sure why. The UIDs are 
the same from the first and second sets of declarations.

The output of /usr/share/mdadm/mkconf is as follows:

# mdadm.conf
#
# Please refer to mdadm.conf(5) for information about this file.
#

# scan all partitions (/proc/partitions) for MD superblocks"
DEVICE partitions

# auto-create devices with Debian standard permissions
CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes

# automatically tag new arrays as belonging to the local system
HOMEHOST <system>

# instruct the monitoring daemon to send mail alerts to root
MAILADDR root

# definitions of existing MD arrays
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=66fff52e:...
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=535b76be:...
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=24a11b82:...
ARRAY /dev/md3 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=7309af0d:...

# This file was auto-generated on Wed, 04 Oct 2006 11:44:54 +0100
# by mkconf $Id: mkconf 165 2006-09-13 11:15:15Z madduck $

The UIDs match those from my config file, but each array is only 
declared once. Should I fix this in my /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf by removing 
duplicate entries and then enable the use of the file as instructed?

Also, I notice also that I have:

  CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes metadata=1

Where as the script gives:

  CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes

Should I remove metadata=1 from my config file?

Thanks for your assistance, Andrew.