ataraid.i and Slackware 12.2

technik733 · 05-30-2009, 07:53 AM

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but copying the device node files did not work, and that's why I was trying to use dmsetup. Slackware's installer is seeing neither the long device names, nor the ones I copy it to. That's the problem, I can't see them from the installer. That's the only thing holding me up right now.

Quote:

I think if I could just get the stupid installer to see the long device name or the /dev/sdr2 partition [device node] it would be relatively peachy. But I just don't know why it's not [seeing them].

Erik_FL · 05-30-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by technik733

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but copying the device node files did not work, and that's why I was trying to use dmsetup. Slackware's installer is seeing neither the long device names, nor the ones I copy it to. That's the problem, I can't see them from the installer. That's the only thing holding me up right now.

I'll take a look later today and see if I can suggest anything. I've never tried to do exactly what you are but I would like to do it in the future if possible. That would make updating and installing on RAID much simpler for me.

Erik_FL · 05-30-2009, 01:57 PM

I was able to determine that Slackware "setup" uses a "probe" utility to locate partitions and it does not find the partitions created by "dmraid".

There are a few possible ways around the problem. The first way is to install Slackware to some other drive first and then copy the files afterward.

cp -a /mnt/src /mnt/dst/*

You have to boot from something other than the "src" and "dst" filesystems and of course mount them first on "/mnt/src" and "/mnt/dst".

Another solution is to edit the "setup" script used by Slackware. You will have to edit it each time you boot since it's stored in a file on the boot CD. You can copy the edited script to a floppy disk and save it for the next time if you want.

cd /usr/lib/setup
vi setup

Do the editing and then use the script.

setup

The full path (including the name) of the script is "/usr/lib/setup/setup". The "setup" script file is in the "/usr/lib/setup" directory.

What you have to edit is two lines. I showed the edited text in bold.

Before.

Code:

vgchange -ay 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
if probe -l 2> /dev/null | egrep 'Linux$' 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null ; then
 probe -l 2> /dev/null | egrep 'Linux$' | sort 1> $TMP/SeTplist 2> /dev/null
else
 dialog --title "NO LINUX PARTITIONS DETECTED" \

After

Code:

vgchange -ay 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null
if fdisk -l /dev/mapper/pdc_ccfafbbhc 2> /dev/null | egrep 'Linux$' 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null ; then
 fdisk -l /dev/mapper/pdc_ccfafbbhc 2> /dev/null | egrep 'Linux$' | sort 1> $TMP/SeTplist 2> /dev/null
else
 dialog --title "NO LINUX PARTITIONS DETECTED" \

That will fix ONLY the list of TARGET partitions. You will have to set up the swap space in "/etc/fstab" after installing Slackware.

Make sure that you use the device name for the entire RAID array (disk) and not a single partition (ending in a partition number). If you create your own device names then you can use something like "/dev/sdr" for example as long as it refers to the entire disk. Create the device names before running "setup" and use the names that you want to be in "fstab". You must create the devices for the disk AND the partition where you will install Slackware. For example, "/dev/sdr" and "/dev/sdr2".

There might be a simpler solution but I don't know the Slackware setup scripts well enough to find it.

technik733 · 06-02-2009, 04:05 PM

Thank you very much, I'll try that as soon as I get a chance. I figured I would have to do something like edit one of the scripts, but I didn't know where to start.

tjsanda · 06-06-2009, 11:40 PM

I would also like to try to install Slackware on my existing fakeraid setup. I have Windows Vista on one partition, Ubuntu on another, and Linux Mint on a third. So far everything works great, the only problem is the dmraid installation must be version 1.0.0.rc15-7 or later in order to read my hard drives.(Due to a bug where hard drives must have serial #'s less than 16 characters)
This is the first post I have seen talking about using dmraid in slackware, but I dont see anywhere that states exactly how to install dmraid.

Erik_FL · 06-07-2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjsanda

I would also like to try to install Slackware on my existing fakeraid setup. I have Windows Vista on one partition, Ubuntu on another, and Linux Mint on a third. So far everything works great, the only problem is the dmraid installation must be version 1.0.0.rc15-7 or later in order to read my hard drives.(Due to a bug where hard drives must have serial #'s less than 16 characters)
This is the first post I have seen talking about using dmraid in slackware, but I dont see anywhere that states exactly how to install dmraid.

It would really be better to ask your question as a separate thread, but here is a short answer to your question.

To install dmraid one must compile and link it (build it) on some other Slackware system with the same kernel version as the RAID system. What I did was temporarily connect a normal non-RAID disk to install Slackware and build dmraid.

After installing Slackware, download the source files for "dmraid". There are a few different places that I've seen dmraid and where you get it depends mostly on which version you want.

Use tar to extract the source files to somewhere such as /usr/src.

cd /usr/src
tar jxvf dmraid-1.0.0.rc10.tar.bz2

Build dmraid.

cd /usr/src/dmraid-1.0.0.rc10
./configure
make
make install

There is a README file with much more information included with the source files. Take a look at README before building dmraid.

After you use "make install" then dmraid will be in "/sbin". You also need the file "/lib/libdevmapper.so.1.02". I believe that comes with Slackware now. If not, either install the Slackware package for "libdevmapper" or download the source for that and build it.

In order to run dmraid during Slackware installation you will have to put it and "libedevmapper" on a CD or floppy. After booting the Slackware installation disk, mount the CD or floppy with dmraid and then copy the two files. Put dmraid in "/sbin" and put "libdevmapper" in "/lib". Both those directories will be in a temporary RAM disk and will be lost on reboot.

Detect your RAID arrays.

dmraid -ay

Look at the detected device names.

ls -l /dev/mapper/*

Create partitions and do whatever else is needed to install Slackware. Copy "dmraid" and "libdevmapper" to the newly installed Slackware system or build them.

If you need more help, post a separate thread with your questions.

tjsanda · 06-23-2009, 10:43 PM

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions. When I have a little free time I plan on trying this. Right now I am totally swamped!

Again, thank you for being so helpful!