The utility "fsck.gfs2" produced the following error while checking a RHEL 5, RHEL 6, or RHEL 7 GFS2 filesystem: "too many bad RGs."

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 (with the High Availability and Resilient Storage Add Ons)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 (with the High Availability and Resilient Storage Add Ons)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 (with the High Availability and Resilient Storage Add Ons)
• A Global Filesystem 2(GFS2)

Issue

• The utility fsck.gfs" produced the following error while checking a GFS2 filesystem(below is a snippet):

(rgrepair.c:73) False RG found at block 0x39c71
(rgrepair.c:73) False RG found at block 0x39c73
(rgrepair.c:73) False RG found at block 0x39c78
(rgrepair.c:148) RG found at block 0x11
(rgrepair.c:148) RG found at block 0xffbb
(rgrepair.c:156) dist 0xffaa = 0xffbb - 0x11(rgrepair.c:169) (shortest so far)
(rgrepair.c:148) RG found at block 0x1feea
(rgrepair.c:156) dist 0xff2f = 0x1feea - 0xffbb(rgrepair.c:169) (shortest so far)
(rgrepair.c:148) RG found at block 0x2fe19
(rgrepair.c:156) dist 0xff2f = 0x2fe19 - 0x1feea(rgrepair.c:172)
(rgrepair.c:148) RG found at block 0x3fd48
(rgrepair.c:156) dist 0xff2f = 0x3fd48 - 0x2fe19(rgrepair.c:172)
(rgrepair.c:221) Block 0xce578d
(rgrepair.c:243) Missing or damaged RG at block 13522829 (0xce578d)
(rgrepair.c:282) Prev ri_data set to: ff28.  * RG 208 at block 0xCE578D *** DAMAGED *** [length 0xff2f]
(rgrepair.c:221) Block 0xcf56bc
(rgrepair.c:243) Missing or damaged RG at block 13588156 (0xcf56bc)
(rgrepair.c:282) Prev ri_data set to: ff28.  * RG 209 at block 0xCF56BC *** DAMAGED *** [length 0xff2f] (rgrepair.c:221) Block 0xd055eb
Error: too many bad RGs.
Error rebuilding rg list.
(level 4 failed)
RG recovery impossible; I can't fix this file system.

or

Error: too many bad RGs.
Error rebuilding rgrp list.
(level 4 failed at block 0 (0x0): Too many rgrp misses: rgrps must be unevenly spaced)
RG recovery impossible; I can't fix this file system.

Resolution

If the error is still produced after running fsck.gfs2 with the latest version from the package gfs2-utils then contact Red Hat Support and open a ticket to see if there is anything Red Hat can do in order to fix the corrupted GFS2 filesystem.

The GFS2 filesystem is most likely corrupted beyond repair and will need to be restored from backup. Contact Red Hat support if you would like for Red Hat to review the GFS2 filesystem before doing a restore from backup.

Root Cause

The error that is produced by fsck.gfs2 can mean that your GFS2 filesystem is corrupted to the point that fsck.gfs2 can not fix it.

Error: too many bad RGs.
Error rebuilding rg list.
(level 4 failed)
RG recovery impossible; I can't fix this file system.

Diagnostic Steps

• After the withdraw occurs then capture the GFS2 meta data and then output of running fsck.gfs2 with the latest version of gfs2-utils as described in the following article: How can I recover from a GFS2 withdrawal and fix any filesystem corruption that might exist in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, or 7 Resilient Storage cluster?

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