Slackware64 14.0 Raid1+0 with LVM issues

slacker1337 · 07-31-2013, 09:22 AM

I am experiencing issues booting my newly installed Slackware64 14.0 distribution on a raid1+0 with LVM. I've read the documentation from the slackware CD regarding LVM and raid setup. I feel like everywhere I look I'm finding contradictory information.

My setup: I am using an AMD 64 processor with 4GB of RAM and (6) 1TB SATA drives.

I am relatively new to slackware after a 15 year hiatus from linux, and as such am new to LVM and raid setups and that is where my questions really lie so please feel free to tell me if I'm doing something stupid or making a mistake. My desire is to have a bootable 3TB Raid1+0 using LVM to use as a network share to the rest of my computers in my home network, specifically the ability to have my /home directory structure and contents the same no matter which PC I am using.

Here is where I start,
Setting up drive partitions:
cfdisk /dev/sda1
- create primary partition (sda1) using all but 200MB of available space
** at this point I'm a little confused on what type to set for the partition, my intention is to have a raid1+0 with LVM, so do I use type 8E or DA?

Match partitions from /dev/sda to /dev/sd[bcdef]
sfdisk -d /dev/sda | sfdisk /dev/sdb
- repeat sfdisk to set partitions for additional drives

Create Raid1:
mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=raid1 --raid-devices=2 -e 1.0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=raid1 --raid-devices=2 -e 1.0 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1
mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=raid1 --raid-devices=2 -e 1.0 /dev/sde1 /dev/sdf1

Create Raid0:
mdadm --create /dev/md3 --level=raid0 --raid-devices=3 -e 1.0 /dev/md0 /dev/md1 /dev/md2

** At this point, the output of /proc/mdstat looks great and the mirrored drives are syncing but not fully syncronized, which could be my problem?

LVM setup:
pvcreate /dev/md3
vgcreate /dev/md3 VG1
lvcreate -L 30G -n root VG1
lvcreate -L 2000G -n home VG1
lvcreate -L 7G -n var VG1
lvcreate -L 30G -n var VG1
lvcreate -L 8G -n swap VG1

** The output of pvscan, vgscan and lvscan matches what I expect/want, but I am inexperienced with LVM so I might not know any better.

Install Slackware using setup
- setup runs normally until I get to the lilo config which has been kicking my butt. I am unsure what/if additional kernel parameters I need to load. Should I install on the MBR or root? If I install to MBR, where do I go to set the boot flag?

At this point, since I'm at work, I really just want to know if anything listed above appears to be wrong as I won't be able to provide any specific configuration details regarding lilo.conf until I get home from work.

kurta · 08-01-2013, 03:23 AM

Just install to the mbr, because there is more work to be done after this.

Just continue the install as it should have been a normal 1 disk install.
When the installer is done, and you exit the setup menu, you need to chroot /mnt and do the rest of the setup.

Kurt

slacker1337 · 08-02-2013, 09:44 PM

Ok, so after realizing that I can't boot LVM, I decided to make a /boot partition that is neither raid nor LVM. My setup is the same as listed above with the following exceptions:
200M /boot partition that is set as bootable
set /dev/sd[abcdef]2 as type DA

Here is my lilo.conf

Code:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
lba32
boot = /dev/sda
  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0
  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16
  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255
append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
prompt
timeout = 50
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
  root = /dev/VG1/root
  label = Slack
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends

And here is the output when I run lilo

Code:

LILO version 23.2 (released 09-Apr-2011)
  * Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger  (until v20)
  * Copyright (C) 1999-2007 John Coffman  (until v22)
  * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Joachim Wiedorn  (since v23)
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software 
distributed under the BSD License (3-clause). Details can be found in 
the file COPYING, which is distributed with this software.
Compiled at 18:37:44 on Aug 17 2012

Reading boot sector from /dev/sda
Warning: '/proc/partitions' does not match '/dev' directory structure.
    Name change: '/dev/dm-0' -> '/tmp/dev.0'
Warning: '/dev' directory structure is incomplete; device (253, 0) is missing.
Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-1' -> '/tmp/dev.1'
Warning: '/dev' directory structure is incomplete; device (253, 1) is missing.
Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-2' -> '/tmp/dev.2'
Warning: '/dev' directory structure is incomplete; device (253, 2) is missing.
Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-3' -> '/tmp/dev.3'
Warning: '/dev' directory structure is incomplete; device (253, 3) is missing.
Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-4' -> '/tmp/dev.4'
Warning: '/dev' directory structure is incomplete; device (253, 4) is missing.
Warning: Unable to determine video adapter in use in the present system.
Using BITMAP secondary loader
Calling map_insert_data
Mapping bitmap file /boot/slack.bmp
Warning: Video adapter does not support VESA BIOS extensions needed for
  display of 256 colors.  Boot loader will fall back to TEXT only operation.
Calling map_insert_file

Fatal: Illegal 'root=' specification: /dev/VG1/root