Re: Disk Drive Order Changes - Again

Butch Kemper wrote:
Back in February, I asked a question about problems I was having with the hard disks sequence flip-flopping when I would boot: disk #1 would be hda and disk #2 would be hdc; or disk #1 would be hde and disk #2 would be hda.

I receive answers about using labels with the partitions so, I labeled the partitions and updated /etc/fstab. This is how things now look:

IDE #1 Partition Label Mount Point
1 / /
2 swap1 swap file
3 /usr /usr
4
5 /usr/local /usr/local
6 /var /var

IDE #2 Partition Label Mount Point
1 /var/poptemp /var/poptemp
2 /var/mail /var/mail

The /etc/fstab:

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
LABEL=/usr /usr ext3 defaults 0 2
LABEL=/usr/local /usr/local ext3 defaults 0 2
LABEL=/var /var ext3 defaults 0 2
LABEL=/var/poptemp /var/poptemp ext3 defaults 0 2
LABEL=/var/mail /var/mail ext3 defaults 0 2
LABEL=swap1 none swap sw 0 0

Now the partitions and mount points get assigned correctly no matter which order the drives are assigned.

The remaining problem is with the GRUB and the kernel. It was suggested that a LABEL specification be placed in the /boot/grub/menu.1st entry so that:

# kopt=root=/dev/hda1 becomes
# kopt=root=LABEL=/

Using a LABEL in the Grub menu does not work because the kernel get confused:

1. If kopt=root=/dev/hda1 and the disk order changes to make
the boot disk be /dev/hde, the boot process stops and drops
into a prompt. I can unmount /boot, mount /boot on the
correct drive, give a CTL-D to the prompt, and the system
would continue to boot.

2. If kopt=root=LABEL=/, the boot process will stop and drop
into a prompt WITHOUT /boot being mounted. I can mount
/boot on the correct drive, give a CTL-D to the prompt,
and the system will continue to boot.

No where have I been able to find any documentation that shows that the Kernel boot command root= can have a LABEL specified.



# kopt=root=LABEL=wd80_0jd-60.05 ro noapic vga=791 apm=on ddcon=1 network quiet

WFM

but you are still stuck with the GRUB root command, which does not accept a label.
So I changed grub (0.97-29) to accept this:


find /ST380011A.03
root FILE=/ST380011A.03


and then where he finds file ST380011A.03 that is where the root will be.

Now I have a truly LABEL driven system and the drive devices can be wherever they are and I don't care...

Hugo


So, how do I make the kernel consistently detect and assign the disks in the correct order? Someone suggested the problem lies with UDEV and the parallel hardware detection process.



--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Recent upgrade causes drive lettering scheme to alternate from hda to hde
    ... I fixed my problem by using the disk label based identification feature. ... Since I use 'grub' the following description uses that, but I think LILO allows the same sort of use. ... Use the appropriate disk labeling tool to be sure there's a label on the disk partition. ... When I first set this up, looking in /dev/disk/by-label, with the default labeling, there was no name or link for the root device, and my boot continued to fail. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Disk Drive Order Changes - Again
    ... Using a LABEL in the Grub menu does not work because the kernel get confused: ... the boot disk be /dev/hde, the boot process stops and drops ... No where have I been able to find any documentation that shows that the Kernel boot command root= can have a LABEL specified. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Password
    ... original XP disk, does she have any other way of getting to reset her ... bootable CD that with which you will be able to reset your password. ... Hopefully your PC is set up so that it will boot to a bootable CD. ... The next prompt will be "What is the path to the registry ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Disk Drive Order Changes - Again
    ... Using a LABEL in the Grub menu does not work because the kernel get confused: ... the boot disk be /dev/hde, the boot process stops and drops ... No where have I been able to find any documentation that shows that the Kernel boot command root= can have a LABEL specified. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Installation: doesnt see setup files on hard drive?
    ... > disk the BIOS is set to boot from must have an appropriate Master Boot ... I was worried about those points you made above so I removed all drives except the one I want to instll ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)