RHEL server 5.2 x86_64 installed to mirrored drive fails to mirror

liontooth · 07-17-2008, 11:14 AM

In the BIOS of an ASUS DSEB-DG/SAS Intel 5400 Serverboard, I have IDE set to RAID, and before grub I see the controller reporting the two 80GB SAS drives function as mirrored drives for /boot and an LVM drive that will contain root (/) and swap.

During installation I select default configuration, and 5.2 gets installed to /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00.

On reboot, first thing after grub, I get the "duplicate PV" error described in http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_96_11252.shtm

This means the mirrored drive doesn't actually mirror, so when I install a new kernel, it gets installed to one of the two mirrored drives. On reboot, the system may stop at grub> or see only the old kernel.

Booting into Knoppix and recreating the LVM that contains the OS shows a pristine OS, untouched by my updates.

The mirrored boot partitions are both labeled /boot, but only one of them gets mounted. RH support says to change the fstab to /dev/sdb1, but that would seem to defeat the whole purpose of a mirrored drive.

Having booted, I get this on vgscan (verbose below):

#cache/lvmcache.c:799 Found duplicate PV vcFZMnN4VZzcpn2e24xXVq6EDVvQHLbi: using /dev/sdc2 not /dev/sdb2

I attempted to create a filter, but don't have a /dev/mpath -- any suggestions?

Nasty configuration tangle. Has anyone come across it here? Is anyone familiar with SAS drives mirrored in the BIOS -- how are they supposed to work?

Dave

#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdb1 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdb1: block size is 1024 bytes
#label/label.c:185 /dev/sdb1: No label detected
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdb1
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdb2 RO
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdb2: size is 156071475 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdb2
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdb2: size is 156071475 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdb2 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdb2: block size is 512 bytes
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdb2
#filters/filter-composite.c:31 Using /dev/sdb2
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdb2 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdb2: block size is 512 bytes
#label/label.c:162 /dev/sdb2: lvm2 label detected
#cache/lvmcache.c:655 lvmcache: /dev/sdb2: now orphaned
#format_text/format-text.c:1132 /dev/sdb2: Found metadata at 6656 size 1177 (in area at 4096 size 192512) for VolGroup00 (QFpntF-bLLR-O7OJ-dSkU-H4PV-eeLk-bHvPcu)
#cache/lvmcache.c:655 lvmcache: /dev/sdb2: now in VG VolGroup00
#cache/lvmcache.c:468 lvmcache: /dev/sdb2: setting VolGroup00 VGID to QFpntFbLLRO7OJdSkUH4PVeeLkbHvPcu
#cache/lvmcache.c:690 lvmcache: /dev/sdb2: VG VolGroup00: Set creation host to localhost.localdomain.
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdb2
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc RO
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdc: size is 156301488 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:344 WARNING: /dev/sdc already opened read-only
#device/dev-io.c:521 /dev/sdc: Immediate close attempt while still referenced
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc: block size is 4096 bytes
#filters/filter.c:123 /dev/sdc: Skipping: Partition table signature found
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc1 RO
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdc1: size is 208782 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc1
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdc1: size is 208782 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc1 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc1: block size is 1024 bytes
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc1
#filters/filter-composite.c:31 Using /dev/sdc1
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc1 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc1: block size is 1024 bytes
#label/label.c:185 /dev/sdc1: No label detected
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc1
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc2 RO
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdc2: size is 156071475 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc2
#device/dev-io.c:264 /dev/sdc2: size is 156071475 sectors
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc2 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc2: block size is 512 bytes
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc2
#filters/filter-composite.c:31 Using /dev/sdc2
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc2 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc2: block size is 512 bytes
#label/label.c:162 /dev/sdc2: lvm2 label detected
#cache/lvmcache.c:799 Found duplicate PV vcFZMnN4VZzcpn2e24xXVq6EDVvQHLbi: using /dev/sdc2 not /dev/sdb2
#format_text/format-text.c:1132 /dev/sdc2: Found metadata at 6656 size 1177 (in area at 4096 size 192512) for VolGroup00 (QFpntF-bLLR-O7OJ-dSkU-H4PV-eeLk-bHvPcu)
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc2
#device/dev-io.c:445 Opened /dev/sdc2 RW O_DIRECT
#device/dev-io.c:134 /dev/sdc2: block size is 512 bytes
#label/label.c:162 /dev/sdc2: lvm2 label detected
#format_text/format-text.c:1132 /dev/sdc2: Found metadata at 6656 size 1177 (in area at 4096 size 192512) for VolGroup00 (QFpntF-bLLR-O7OJ-dSkU-H4PV-eeLk-bHvPcu)
#label/label.c:162 /dev/sdc2: lvm2 label detected
#format_text/format-text.c:1132 /dev/sdc2: Found metadata at 6656 size 1177 (in area at 4096 size 192512) for VolGroup00 (QFpntF-bLLR-O7OJ-dSkU-H4PV-eeLk-bHvPcu)
#format_text/format-text.c:493 Read VolGroup00 metadata (3) from /dev/sdc2 at 6656 size 1177
#metadata/pv_manip.c:284 /dev/sdc2 0: 0 2319: LogVol00(0:0)
#metadata/pv_manip.c:284 /dev/sdc2 1: 2319 62: LogVol01(0:0)
#device/dev-io.c:491 Closed /dev/sdc2