Joseph Herlant
version 1.0.0, 2014-07-06 : Initial version

1. About algorithms

In RHEL6, the default is AES-128 encryption with 256SHA hashing. But the following ciphers are also available: AES, Twofish, Serpent, Cast5, Cast6.

This document supposes that you already install the cryptsetup-luks package on your system.

2. Creating an encrypted partition

# Then ensure your partition is unmounted (here /dev/sdb1)
mount | grep /dev/sdb1
# Then fill your partition with /dev/urandom (optional but a best practice)
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdb1
# Initialize your partition in LUKS Format and setup initial key
# NOTE: Type YES in UPPERCASE!
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdb1
# Open LUKS partition and map a name on it (in /dev/mapper/)
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 encr_sdb1
# Formation device and mount it as a classic FS
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/mapper/encr_sdb1
mkdir -p /media/encrypted_disks/test_sdb1
mount /dev/mapper/encr_sdb1 /media/encrypted_disks/test_sdb1

To configure automount:

# First, create a keystore file (only needed if you want to open the FS without
# having to type passphrase during the boot phase on boot
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/root/luks_sdb1.keyfile bs=1K count=4
# As it will be some kind of private key, be strict on security
chmod 0400 /root/luks_sdb1.keyfile
# Add the key to the keystore
cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sdb1 /root/luks_sdb1.keyfile
# Add your filesystem to crypttab and fstab (if you want automatic mount on boot)
# If you don't want to mount without asking for the passphrase, replace the last
# 2 fields by a simple "none"
echo -e "encr_sdb1 \t /dev/sdb1 \t /root/luks_sdb1.keyfile \t luks" >> /etc/crypttab
echo -e "/dev/mapper/encr_sdb1 \t /media/encrypted_disks/test_sdb1 \t ext4 \t defaults \t 1 \t 2" >> /etc/fstab
# Restore default SELinux security context and reboot
/sbin/restorecon -v -R /media/encrypted_disks/test_sdb1
shutdown -r now # Be sure you have access to the console before that!
Note
LUKS only protects against a disk robbery, so never store your keyfile on a partition located on the same disk as the encrypted partition.

Check that a device is a LUKS device:

cryptsetup isLuks /dev/sdb1 && echo "Encrypted device"