Software RAID-1 install problem

elmu · 11-07-2005, 01:42 PM

Hello,

I just want to install a software raid-1 system on my debian sarge box.
I followed the instruction from the following site:
http://www.epimetrics.com/topics/one...e_topic_id=120

The difference that I have only a / and a /home partition.
I compiled my kernel (2.6.8) with RAID support.
After the reboot I got a Kernel panic. See my log:
KernelPanic

In the tutorial there was no initrd defined in the grub menu list. Can it be the problem?

What did I wrong?

Thanks!

My fstab:

Code:

debian:/# more /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/md0        /               ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/md1        /home           ext3    defaults,usrquota,grpquota        0
  2
/dev/hda5       none            swap    sw,pri=1              0       0
/dev/hdc5       none            swap    sw,pri=1              0       0
/dev/hdb        /media/cdrom0   iso9660 ro,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/fd0

My hda:

Code:

debian:/# sfdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 8322 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors/track
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
Warning: The partition table looks like it was made
  for C/H/S=*/255/63 (instead of 8322/16/63).
For this listing I'll assume that geometry.
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *      0+    158     159-   1277136   fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/hda2        159     521     363    2915797+   5  Extended
/dev/hda3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/hda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/hda5        159+    180      22-    176683+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda6        181+    521     341-   2739051   fd  Linux raid autodetect
debian:/#

and hdc:

Code:

debian:/# sfdisk -l /dev/hdc

Disk /dev/hdc: 8322 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors/track
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
Units = cylinders of 516096 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1   *      0+   2534-   2534    1277136   fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/hdc2       2534+   8319-   5786-   2915797+   5  Extended
/dev/hdc3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/hdc4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/hdc5       2534+   2884-    351-    176683+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdc6       2884+   8319-   5435-   2739051   fd  Linux raid autodetect
debian:/#

And at the end my grub menu list:

Code:

## ## End Default Options ##

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-bali2
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-bali2 ro root=/dev/md0 md=0,/dev/hda1,/dev/h
dc1
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-bali2
savedefault
boot

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-bali2 (recovery mode)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-bali2 ro root=/dev/md0 md=0,/dev/hdc1
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-bali2
savedefault
boot

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-686
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-686 root=/dev/hda1 ro
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-686
savedefault
boot

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-686 (recovery mode)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-686 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-686
savedefault
boot

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.27-2-386
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386
savedefault
boot

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.27-2-386 (recovery mode)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386
savedefault
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
debian:/#

dastrike · 11-08-2005, 10:12 AM

The compiled kernels provided by Debian have support for Linux software RAID, no need to start compiling the kernel oneself really, unless you know your situation is such that the configuration of the kernels is not suitable.
The need of an initrd image depends on your kernel. If you have some things compiled as modules that are needed before the filesystem is available, you need to create an initrd image containing those modules. When compiling own kernels it is very easy to forget some essential things to either compile in statically or put into the initrd.
Given the output on the console, it appears as the root filesystem is not found. Hard to say the exact reason, but I don't see any mention of anything related to the RAID array in the output. If I'd venture a guess, I'd say you are missing some important module somewhere.
One way of lessening nasty RAID bootup issues is to put /boot on a separate partition that is not part of any array. But that won't be of any help if some modules are missing one way or the other as described above as it will fail then too.

Essentially, double-check that you have done everything right.

I myself run a Linux software RAID-0 setup with Debian that I configured during the Debian's installation.
I don't know enough of manual tinkering with the Linux software RAID setups to be of any huge help, but this is how I have things set up. I'm using the 2.6.8-2-k7 kernel provided by Debian.

Relevant portions of things:
/etc/fstab:

Code:

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/md0        /               reiserfs defaults        0       1
/dev/sda1       /boot           reiserfs notail          0       2
/dev/sda2       none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sdb1       none            swap    sw              0       0

sda:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 9729 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1          0+     15      16-    128488+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2         16      61      46     369495   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3         62    9728    9667   77650177+   5  Extended
/dev/sda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sda5         62+   9728    9667-  77650146   fd  Linux raid autodetect

sdb:

Code:

Disk /dev/sdb: 9729 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1          0+     61      62-    497983+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2         62    9728    9667   77650177+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sdb4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
/dev/sdb5         62+   9728    9667-  77650146   fd  Linux raid autodetect

grub menu.lst

Code:

## ## End Default Options ##

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-k7
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-k7 root=/dev/md0 ro vga=794
initrd          /initrd.img-2.6.8-2-k7
savedefault
boot