Installer fails for software RAID

I've been unable to produce a working software RAID (md, not fakeraid)
configuration using the alternate CD installers for Feisty Herds 3, 4,
and 5.

I was hoping to get a confirm/deny or workaround from this users list
before filing a bug. I hate reading or working on problem reports
involving RAID, LVM, GRUB, and the like because so many of these boil
down to user error. But this one seems to be generated by the Ubuntu
installer using a pretty standard configuration.

The target configuration isn't particularly strange; I had this same (or
similar) configuration running on this box before. It puts root (/) on
RAID 0, though a separate non-RAID /boot is used (so no clever tricks
should be needed).

SATA drives, with both sda and sdb partitioned identically.

sd[ab]1: /boot, ext3, bootable, 1Gb
sd[ab]2: /srv/backup, ext3, 20Gb
sd[ab]3: swap, 5Gb
sd[ab]4: physical RAID, 134Gb
md0: RAID-0 from sd[ab]4, root (/), ext3

Install goes fine. On reboot, I get output from the initramfs
(shortened slightly):

* Mounting root file system
* Loading MD modules
* md: raid0 personality registered/Success: loaded module raid0.
* Begin: Assembling all MD arrays
* mdadm: No devices listed in conf file were found.
* Failure: failed to assemble all arrays
* Waiting for root file system...
[...]
* Mounting /root/dev on /dev/.static/dev failed: No such file...
* Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init

When sitting at the initramfs prompt, I can immediately "mdadm
--assemble /dev/md0" and the drives gets properly assembled to the point
I can mount it and poke around and see what appears to be a fully
functioning root partition. It seems to even have the right RAID UUID,
though problems with UUIDs would be consistent with the mdadm "no
devices listed in conf file" error while still being able to --assemble
from the initramfs just fine.

I get the same problem with both this physical machine and a virtual
machine (Parallels) install.

Can anyone create a bootable RAID configuration using the above scheme
in Feisty?

Suggestions, even RTFMs, are welcome.

-- Jared


--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

Relevant Pages

  • Re: New system disk for XP as RAID???
    ... > So I went back to my original system disk to install the RAID ... > drivers, made a new RAID configuration, and tested the drive in XP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage)
  • Re: Installation of SBS2003 on RAID
    ... channel Raid controller. ... (configuration or RAID(s)) ... to install SBS2003 for the best performance. ... The RAID was configured into 3 paritions. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: HELP!!! Suggestions?
    ... RAID internal disk. ... Install nVidia v66.93 Drivers ... this configuration is extremely fast. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter)
  • Re: SBS2003 does not see Promise Fasttrack Raid 1
    ... > Promise Fastrack Raid 1. ... > are set up in a RAID 1 configuration. ... Strangely, however, when I have the drives set up in RAID ... the SBS install will run OK and I'm able to install the Promise ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Need help installing OS6 on Dell PowerEdge 2600 with PERC4/Di RAID
    ... > like a fresh install and porting their application and data to the new system. ... PERC4/Di RAID on the motherboard, Dell DLT tape drive, Dell slimline ... PATA connector usable for two PATA drives. ... After downloading drivers from both SCO and Dell to create the ...
    (comp.unix.sco.misc)