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gargamel

12-17-2008 01:14 PM

Slackware 12.2 + RAID-1 + LVM + LUKS encrypted root

Dear all,

after some very busy months I am back with something that appears to be a challenge. For me, at least, that is.

I am trying to get Slackware 12.2 running on a system with two identical harddiscs using RAID-1, LVM and LUKS.

/dev/md0 is unencrypted /boot
/dev/md1 is for everything else and LUKS encrypted

Here is what I get:

Code:

[...]

Freeing unused kernel memory: 424k freed

Failed to execute /init

Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel.

For details of my setup, please refer to this thread:
luks+lvm+raid
(And here I want to apologise for not delivering the promised mini-HOWTO; I was fully occupied with partially unplanned tasks, so sorry. I'll try my very best to deliver, this time, once my current problems with 12.2 are understood and solved...)

The system is still the same, however, the results of upgrading or installing 12.2 are different. The system refuses to boot. The screen messages during boot seem to suggest, that the RAID system is "seen" by the system, but the encrypted filesystem is not.

I can boot with the installation DVD, however, and

Code:

chroot

into the system, switch kernels, change /etc/lilo.conf, create a new initrd and so on. Therefore I guess that I am only missing a bit. But I'm clueless.

Thanks for any hints!

gargamel

mostlyharmless

12-17-2008 01:21 PM

Is this your 12.1 system that you upgraded, or is it a new system? I assume that if it's an upgrade that you followed the instructions meticulously (like the rc.udev part that seems to get overlooked) and that you made a new initrd.gz and that it all seemed to go without error.

I've been thinking about upgrading, but I've been nervous that the complexity of the setup (luks+lvm+raid etc) and the numerous little gotchas that seem to have occurred with 12.2 would make a lot of work...

gargamel

12-17-2008 01:34 PM

For your convenience, here is what I did.

1. Boot with the installation DVD, login as root

2. Start RAID-1

Code:

# mdadm -Es > /etc/mdadm.conf

# mdadm -As

mdadm: /dev/md0 has been started with 2 drives

mdadm: /dev/md1 has been started with 2 drives

3. Open LUKS device (well, not sure what the correct terminology here is, so correct me, if this is not the right term)

Code:

# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/md1 slackluks

Enter LUKS passphrase: <YeahSure>

key slot 0 unlocked.

Command successful.

4. Activate logical volumes

Code:

# vgscan --mknodes

  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while....

  [...]some messages referring to the install dvd, not relevant here[...]

  Found volume group "cryptvg" using metadata type lvm2

# vgchange -ay

  2 logical volume(s) in volume group "cryptvg" now active

5. Install system

Code:

# setup

Add swap partitions, then select
/dev/cryptvg/root as root (/)
/dev/md0 as /boot and
/dev/cryptvg/home as /home.
I chose "Quick format" for root and /boot, but no formatting for /home.
Install full system from DVD.
Configure system, mainly LILO: Trying "simple" install to MBR with UTF-8 console support. After a few more clicks, EXIT the setup procedure.

Code:

Installation of Slackware Linux is complete.

Please remove the installation disc and press ctrl-alt-delete to reboot.

But I do not reboot immediately. Instead I check a couple of things. First, let's see what setup has mounted.

Code:

# mount

/proc on /proc type proc (rw)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

/dev/mapper/cryptvg-root on /mnt type ext3 (rw)

/dev/mapper/cryptvg-home on /mnt/home type ext3 (rw)

/dev/md0 on /mnt/boot type ext2 (rw)

6. Check LILO and initrd

Code:

# chroot /mnt

Then I check /etc/lilo.conf:

Code:

append=" vt.default_utf8=1"

boot = /dev/hda

[...]

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/cryptvg/root

  label = Linux

  read-only

No initrd, but root is correct. Not sure, if boot = /dev/hda will work...

Code:

# cd /boot

vmlinuz is a symlink pointing to vmlinuz-huge-smp-2.6.27.7-smp. To my understanding the "huge" kernels support everything, so no need to setup an initrd, for the moment.

7. Reboot!
I get these messages during boot time.

Code:

[...]

md: running: <hdb1><hda1>

raid1: raid set md0 active with 2 out of 2 mirrors

md: ... autorun DONE.

VFS: Cannot open root device "fd01" or unknown-block(253,1)

Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:

  <list of partitions/>

0900  128384 md0 (driver?)

0901 75923072 md1 (driver?)

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(253,1)

8. Start over
Repeat steps 1 through 4.

9. Switch to generic SMP kernel

Code:

# mount /dev/cryptvg/root /mnt

# mount /dev/md0 /mnt/boot

# mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc

# mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys

# chroot /mnt

### Not sure, but AFAIK the next two commands need to be issued 

from within the change root environment, although they already have 

been issued before outside (as far as I know) ###

# vgscan --mknodes

# vgchange -ay

# cd /boot

# rm vmlinuz System.map config

# ln -sf vmlinuz-generic-smp-2.6.27.7-smp vmlinuz

# ln -sf System.map-generic-smp-2.6.27.7-smp System.map

# ln -sf config-generic-smp-2.6.27.7-smp config

At this point I like to verify, if the right modules are associated with the kernel:

Code:

# ls -l /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

/etc/rc.d/rc.modules -> rc.modules-2.6.27.7-smp

So this seems correct.

10. Create initrd
It's time to create the initrd. The mkinitrd command tends to get lengthy in complex environments. It is easier to edit

Code:

/etc/mkinitrd.conf

Code:

SOURCE_TREE="/boot/initrd-tree"

CLEAR_TREE="0"

OUTPUT_IMAGE="/boot/initrd.gz"

KERNEL_VERSION="2.6.27.7-smp"

KEYMAP="de-latin1-nodeadkeys"

MODULE_LIST="pata_acpi:ata_generic:pata_via:uhci-hcd:usbhid:mbcache:jbd:ext3"

LUKSDEV="/dev/md1"

ROOTDEV="/dev/cryptvg/root"

ROOTFS="ext3"

RESUMEDEV="/dev/hdb2"

RAID="1"

LVM="1"

WAIT="1"

This is based on the output of the mostful mkinitrd_command_generator.sh script by Eric Hameleers'.

Code:

# mkinitrd -F

6801 blocks

No error message, and in fact an intrd-tree and an initrd.gz have been created.

11. Configure LILO
Edit /etc/lilo.conf to read:

Code:

append=" vt.default_utf8=1"

boot = /dev/md0

[...]

vga = 773

[...]

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  initrd = /boot/initrd.gz

  root = /dev/cryptvg/root

  label = Linux

  read-only

Then install the new boot loader to the MBR.

Code:

# lilo

Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed

Warning: '/proc/partition' does not match '/dev' directory structure.

    Name change: '/dev/dm-0' -> '/dev/mapper/slackluks'

Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-1' -> '/dev/cryptvg/root'

Warning: Name change: '/dev/dm-2' -> '/dev/cryptvg/home'

Warning: Unable to determine video adapter in use in the present system.

Warning: Video adapter does not support VESA BIOS extensions needed for display of 256 colors.  Boot loader will fall back to TEXT only operation.

Added Linux *

The boot record of  /dev/md0  has been updated.

6 warnings were issued.

Not sure, but I'd not be surprised if the video adapter warnings had to do with UTF-8, but they are warnings only, so I ignore them.

12. Reboot
Repeat step 7. With exactly the same result... :mad:

(to be continued) ;)

gargamel

12-17-2008 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mostlyharmless (Post 3378922)

My first attempt was to upgrade, and I may have overlooked the udev thing, indeed. But since then I am trying a fresh install, so far without the desired result, unfortunately.

gargamel

mostlyharmless

12-17-2008 02:23 PM

few ideas

I'm betting that it is something in the initrd.gz, just like the last time. That message:

Quote:

Failed to execute /init
Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel

sounds familiar. Try looking at /boot/initrd-tree and verifying that the rootfs and rootdev and init files are what you think they're supposed to be and that the RAID activation comes before the LVM/LUKS activation. (That was a 12.1 patch that resulted from the last go around according to your old thread, but I'd check to make sure that it didn't get left behind.)

The other thing I did when trying to fix this sort of problem was inserting a number of "sh" commands in my /boot/initrd-tree init file so that I could inspect the status of the boot process before the kernel hang. (and don't forget to re-run mkinitrd without any options to remake the initrd.gz after you edit "init") Of course, if you never get the busybox shell, then you have another problem entirely, as that would mean the initrd doesn't get used.

If it's a lilo issue, I'll be at a loss, as I use grub. Just make sure you rerun lilo every time you change the initrd!

gargamel

12-17-2008 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mostlyharmless (Post 3379002)

I'm betting that it is something in the initrd.gz, just like the last time. That message:

sounds familiar. Try looking at /boot/initrd-tree and verifying that the rootfs and rootdev and init files are what you think they're supposed to be and that the RAID activation comes before the LVM/LUKS activation. (That was a 12.1 patch that resulted from the last go around according to your old thread, but I'd check to make sure that it didn't get left behind.)

For step 1 through 7 I tried the "huge" kernel installed by default during installation. My understanding was that this doesn't require an initrd, and therefore I didn't generate one, up to this point.
Also, with other attempts, I have checked the init script in initrd-tree. It is no authored by Pat V. (used to be Eric Hameleers, who found the solution to my original problem with 12.1 and created that great patch), but seems to contain the patch: RAID is initiated before LVM and LUKS. However, my thinking was that for step 1 through 7 this shouldn't be relevant, at all. Of course, I'll watch out for this with one of my next attempts, when I try to get a generic SMP kernel with an initrd.
:cool:

Quote:

The other thing I did when trying to fix this sort of problem was inserting a number of "sh" commands in my /boot/initrd-tree init file so that I could inspect the status of the boot process before the kernel hang. (and don't forget to re-run mkinitrd without any options to remake the initrd.gz after you edit "init") Of course, if you never get the busybox shell, then you have another problem entirely, as that would mean the initrd doesn't get used.

I'll try that sh trick and report back the result, thanks for this good idea!

Quote:

If it's a lilo issue, I'll be at a loss, as I use grub. Just make sure you rerun lilo every time you change the initrd!

Yes, of course! :cool:

mostlyharmless

12-17-2008 04:15 PM

I agree that the huge kernel wil get you to where you got, but to mount the root fs, which is where it looks like it hangs, you need lvm, and for that you need the initrd....

Alien Bob

12-17-2008 04:20 PM

Do not use the huge kernel. And do try to read and follow the README_CRYPT.TXT ...

Eric

gargamel

12-17-2008 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob (Post 3379143)

Do not use the huge kernel. And do try to read and follow the README_CRYPT.TXT ...

Eric

YES to both, but it doesn't work either way (ie with/without huge kernel/generic kernel plus initrd), currently, here.

gargamel

gargamel

12-17-2008 05:43 PM

Additional information.

/etc/fstab

Code:

[...]

/dev/cryptvg/root    /      ext3    defaults    1    1

[...]

/etc/mkinitrd.conf

Code:

[...]

LUKSDEV="/dev/md1"

ROOTDEV="/dev/cryptvg/root"

[...]

And the man page for mkinitrd.conf says:

Code:

[...]

LUKSDEV

... For example, if your actual root device name in /etc/fstab is:

/dev/mapper/cryptroot on /dev/sda2



Then you'll need to set:

LUKSDEV="/dev/sda2"

ROOTDEV="cryptroot"

Does this mean, that I have to specify ROOTDEV="cryptvg-root" instead of ROOTDEV="/dev/cryptvg/root"?
Well, in Slackware 12.1 ROOTDEV="/dev/cryptvg/root" was ok, so I guess that here the man page is a little confusing.

gargamel

gargamel

12-17-2008 06:16 PM

Next attempt.

Up to now I only issued the commands for activation the logical volumes (LVM)
only once. But probably it makes sense to issue them also right after chroot-ing:

Code:

# chroot /mnt

# vgscan --mknodes

# vgchange -ay

With everything else unchanged I created a new initrd and ran lilo. When I boot,
the system writes the number "99" on half the screen... Whatever that means!

gargamel

mostlyharmless

12-17-2008 06:22 PM

Means you have to use your boot CD, chroot in and redo LILO ;)

gargamel

12-17-2008 06:28 PM

Redoing lilo is what I did. Doing it again would therefore most likely
produce the same result.

1 Which means that I most likely will get the very samy result.
2 Therefore I will have to redo lilo.
3 GOTO 1.

Seems to be a "dynamic halt"... (synonym for "infinite loop")

gargamel

tmerriam

12-18-2008 04:32 PM

Similar setup, same problem

I have a very similar setup, just without the RAID, and I get the same problem on boot. I did a clean install of Slackware 12.2. I've done a clean install of Slackware 12.1 and had this working, which is also where I'm getting my settings from.

I've done some searching around the net for information on this no init issue. Sadly, there isn't much out there that's very useful. Some said that the initrd was missing a module for the root device, or that the root device was wrong, or that the memory was bad. I ran a memtest from the Ubuntu disc and it came back clean, so I'm not considering this anymore. The settings I'm using for the bootloader (lilo, soon to be grub as soon as I can get this booted) and for the initrd all came from my prior 12.1 install. I also updated the BIOS, but this did not have any affect either.

I've used Knoppix 5.3.1 and the Slackware install disc in attempts to repair correct this issue, but nothing I've tried has worked. I've tried changing the append line in lilo to point to init or ash/sh explicity, but THIS DOES NOT WORK:

Code:

[...]

append=" vt.default_utf8=0 init=/sbin/init"

My lilo.conf file now looks like this, with the unimportant sections omitted:

Code:

[...]

boot = /dev/sda

append=" vt.default_utf8=0"

[...]

image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-2.6.27.7-smp

initrd = /boot/initrd.gz

root = /dev/cryptvg/root

[...]

The command I used to make the initrd was:

Code:

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.27.7-smp ext3:usbhid:ehci_hcd:uhci_hcd -f ext3 -r /dev/cryptvg/root -C /dev/sda2 -L

I included both of the hcd modules because I don't know which one is needed. I didn't see the ata_generic modules in /lib/modules, and I have a hunch it is built into the kernel. Perhaps including a more specific controller would help? In my case I think it is pata_jmicron....

My setup follows the instructions in the LUKS+LVM section of README_CRYPTO almost exactly. The only changes I made were to the sizes of the LVM volumes.

....This my be entirely specific to my hardware, but during the installation (near the end of the package installation), the kernel OOPS!ed... dmesg showed a trace through the ata layer, and the hard drives were restarted. Part of it was cut off, and I'm not sure if this causes the issue... Did anyone else notice or see this? Type dmesg | less right after the install ejects the disc. This *could* cause a problem, but I don't see how it causes *this* problem.

GazL	12-18-2008 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmerriam (Post 3380453)

The command I used to make the initrd was:

Code:

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.27.7-smp ext3:usbhid:ehci_hcd:uhci_hcd -f ext3 -r /dev/cryptvg/root -C /dev/sda2 -L

You might have just left it off in the copy/paste or I may just be barking up the wrong tree, but shouldn't there be a -m before the modules list?

Code:

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.27.7-smp -m ext3:usbhid:ehci_hcd:uhci_hcd -f ext3 -r /dev/cryptvg/root -C /dev/sda2 -L

I'm running a luks/lvm setup on mine with very similar mkinitrd command with the exception of the modules and it works fine, though mine is a really old pc with standard pata drives so I don't have to specify any modules other than jfs.

tmerriam

12-18-2008 08:19 PM

Quote:

You might have just left it off in the copy/paste or I may just be barking up the wrong tree, but shouldn't there be a -m before the modules list?

Yeah, that's just a typo in my post.

There is definitely a kernel bug during the install, it occurs at about where fontconfig runs, after the packages are installed. I could only salvage part of it, but it looks redundant, look at the Oops line near the bottom. The earlier ones are lower numbered and occur on alternating cores.

Code:

Pid: 19287, comm: sh Tainted: G      D  (2.6.27.7-smp #2)

EIP: 0060:[<c073c020>] EFLAGS: 00010046 CPU: 0

EIP is at _spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30

EAX: 00000000 EBX: f7e04000 ECX: 00000246 EDX: 00000100

ESI: 00000006 EDI: 00000020 EBP: ecf83ef4 ESP: ecf83ef4

 DS: 007b ES: 007b FS: 00d8 GS: 0033 SS: 0068

Process sh (pid: 19287, ti=ecf82000 task=f7ea8000 task.ti=ecf82000)

Stack: ecf83f08 c059ff47 c059fee0 f5d6f800 00000020 ecf83f48 c045df4e 00000000 

      f1eefb7c eb6a7000 00000000 00000006 00000000 00000000 b806e000 f5d6f800 

      b7f04590 eb6a701f f783bf80 c045de40 fffffffb ecf83f6c c01b7c2d ecf83f9c 

Call Trace:

 [<c059ff47>] ? ata_scsi_user_scan+0x67/0x130

 [<c059fee0>] ? ata_scsi_user_scan+0x0/0x130

 [<c045df4e>] ? proc_scsi_write+0x10e/0x230

 [<c045de40>] ? proc_scsi_write+0x0/0x230

 [<c01b7c2d>] ? proc_reg_write+0x5d/0x80

 [<c017fa8b>] ? vfs_write+0x9b/0x130

 [<c01b7bd0>] ? proc_reg_write+0x0/0x80

 [<c017ffd2>] ? sys_write+0x42/0x70

 [<c010325a>] ? syscall_call+0x7/0xb

 [<c0730000>] ? quirk_usb_early_handoff+0xb0/0x410

 =======================

Code: 7e 9c ff f0 fe 00 8b 45 04 e8 ad ea 9e ff 5d c3 8d 74 26 00 8d bc 27 00 00 00 00 55 89 e5 e8 f0 7d 9c ff 9c 59 fa ba 00 01 00 00 <f0> 66 0f c1 10 38 f2 74 06 f3 90 8a 10 eb f6 5d 89 c8 c3 8d b6 

EIP: [<c073c020>] _spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30 SS:ESP 0068:ecf83ef4

---[ end trace 4a89a228f35c1749 ]---

BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 00000000

IP: [<c073c020>] _spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30

*pde = 00000000 

Oops: 0002 [#16] SMP 

Modules linked in: ssb pcmcia pcmcia_core



Pid: 19309, comm: sh Tainted: G      D  (2.6.27.7-smp #2)

EIP: 0060:[<c073c020>] EFLAGS: 00010046 CPU: 0

EIP is at _spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30

EAX: 00000000 EBX: f7e04000 ECX: 00000246 EDX: 00000100

ESI: 00000007 EDI: 00000020 EBP: eb5f1ef4 ESP: eb5f1ef4

 DS: 007b ES: 007b FS: 00d8 GS: 0033 SS: 0068

Process sh (pid: 19309, ti=eb5f0000 task=f7ea9810 task.ti=eb5f0000)

Stack: eb5f1f08 c059ff47 c059fee0 f5d6f800 00000020 eb5f1f48 c045df4e 00000000 

      ecfddb7c ecf7a000 00000000 00000007 00000000 00000000 b806e000 f5d6f800 

      b7f04590 ecf7a01f f783bf80 c045de40 fffffffb eb5f1f6c c01b7c2d eb5f1f9c 

Call Trace:

 [<c059ff47>] ? ata_scsi_user_scan+0x67/0x130

 [<c059fee0>] ? ata_scsi_user_scan+0x0/0x130

 [<c045df4e>] ? proc_scsi_write+0x10e/0x230

 [<c045de40>] ? proc_scsi_write+0x0/0x230

 [<c01b7c2d>] ? proc_reg_write+0x5d/0x80

 [<c017fa8b>] ? vfs_write+0x9b/0x130

 [<c01b7bd0>] ? proc_reg_write+0x0/0x80

 [<c017ffd2>] ? sys_write+0x42/0x70

 [<c010325a>] ? syscall_call+0x7/0xb

 [<c0730000>] ? quirk_usb_early_handoff+0xb0/0x410

 =======================

Code: 7e 9c ff f0 fe 00 8b 45 04 e8 ad ea 9e ff 5d c3 8d 74 26 00 8d bc 27 00 00 00 00 55 89 e5 e8 f0 7d 9c ff 9c 59 fa ba 00 01 00 00 <f0> 66 0f c1 10 38 f2 74 06 f3 90 8a 10 eb f6 5d 89 c8 c3 8d b6 

EIP: [<c073c020>] _spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30 SS:ESP 0068:eb5f1ef4

---[ end trace 4a89a228f35c1749 ]---

Sorry if this is starting to get a bit off topic....

mostlyharmless

12-19-2008 01:43 PM

any luck with 99s?

Quote:

1 Which means that I most likely will get the very samy result.
2 Therefore I will have to redo lilo.
3 GOTO 1.

Seems to be a "dynamic halt"... (synonym for "infinite loop")

Well, I think I prefer the "Hello world" kind of program. Seriously, if you can't get lilo to cooperate, you might give grub in /extras a whirl. Nice thing about it is that you don't have to keep reinstalling it everytime you fiddle with the kernel and initrd, which I find makes debugging the situation easier. Not that I have anything against LILO, used it for years!

mostlyharmless

12-19-2008 03:03 PM

I've been wondering if this problem has anything to do with the /dev/root change that was mentioned in a number of other threads, particularly this one:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...evroot-688189/

gargamel

12-19-2008 08:09 PM

I don't see an indication that the /dev/root thing is my way, but I really don't know.
My recent "experiments" didn't solve the problem, however, here are my observations:

(1) New install including formatting / and /boot, following the README_CRYPT.TXT word by
from the point where the LVM setup is complete, including creation of initrd and switching
to generic SMP kernel, liloconfig and lilo. Reboot.
==> In fact I was asked to enter a LUKS passphrase. However, my USB keyboard wouldn't work...

(2) So once again boot with the install DVD, add USB support modules to initrd (uhci-hcd,
ehci-hcd,...), lilo. Reboot.
==> Kernel panic, RAID not working.

However, I noticed something strange. After a complete install like in (1) including
formatting the first run of mkinitrd reports more than 9000 blocks written, while running it
again and again it only reports 6500 blocks. Even when I remove the initrd-tree completely,
mkinitrd would only write about 6500 blocks. But after a full install it writes 9000 plus
blocks, it reports, exactly one time.

Then I downloaded the latest version 1.40 of mkinitrd-command-generator.sh. With some of my
attempts this created just about what I already had, but in my recent attempts it doesn't
"see" the RAID anymore. Weird!

Still stuck...

gargamel

gargamel

12-19-2008 09:11 PM

SUCCESS!!!

The new mkinitrd 1.3.3 fixes the problem.

So it was really a software bug, not a PEBKAC. ;)

gargamel

mostlyharmless

12-21-2008 08:20 PM

Congratulations and good to know it can work. Maybe I'll get brave enough to try it; though at this point 12.1 has everything I need and 12.2 nothing extra that I want..

gargamel

12-22-2008 10:48 AM

Thanks. Yes, 12.1 worked flawlessly here, once I had it up and running thanks to the great support
of the folks here. The most valuable part coming from Alien Bob --- thanks, Eric, once again!
Although he doesn't stop emphasizing that he is not here for holding hands, he and his mates in the
Slackware team (Robby Workman and some other people) are very helpful, just like Pat V. himself, too.
Indeed they didn't ever refuse to hold my hand, and I am very grateful for that!

As to 12.2, there's a lot of updates, I like to have, such as Mozilla Firefox 3.x (note that 2.0.20 is
supposed to be the last 2.0.x version of this browser, the 2.x branch will no longer be maintained).
But there some truth in the saying: "Never change a running system!"

Well, I did, and immediately had a reason to return to LQ.org... ;)

So, thanks guys, for doing it again!

gargamel

gargamel

12-27-2008 01:56 PM

I have just written an initial draft for a mini-Howto on this subject. Please review it and help me to improve it!
It's available here:

http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...2_2_Howto.html
http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...12_2_Howto.pdf

Best regards and thanks for all your feedback in advance,

gargamel

rvo	12-29-2008 01:00 PM

Well done gargamel, I'll take a look, this is really useful :-)

gargamel

12-29-2008 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvo (Post 3390656)

Well done gargamel, I'll take a look, this is really useful :-)

Good luck with this initial draft, and don't forget to
report back any errors or suggestions.

gargamel

tmerriam

01-15-2009 09:40 PM

Yeah, that looks really good. I have a few minor suggestions though.

1. From experience, the modules needed for USB keyboards are *NOT* added automatically.

2. This is more of a suggestion, but perhaps you would like to include a note about multiple initrds? This is especially relevant if the user is going to be compiling their own kernels. mkinitrd will overwrite the initrd each time it is run, so there should be a unique one for each kernel entry, ie, the initrd for the default slackware 12.2 kernel should be copied to initrd.gz-2.6.27.7-smp. This can also be set with the -o switch to mkinitrd.

gargamel

01-16-2009 04:40 PM

Thanks for your feedback!

1. Ok, I'll correct this. Although it once looked to me as if my USB keyboard was working although initrd did not provide modules to the kernel for it.

2. I understand your point, but the topic is already complex, and adding information on multiple initrd setups would make it even more complex and further reduce the number of potetntial readers...
Also I don't have time to try it out myself, at the moment. That's why I am a bit reluctant, here. What do others think?

gargamel

gargamel

01-16-2009 05:23 PM

Just uploaded the second draft with minor corrections, looking forward to your feedback!
BTW, I am a non-native English speaker, so any language corrections or improvements would be most welcome, too!

gargamel

EDIT: For your convenience I add the links, again.

http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...2_2_Howto.html
http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...12_2_Howto.pdf

tmerriam

01-23-2009 08:12 PM

'swap is not part of a RAID array...' Should be 'Swap...' (Capital S)

'At least, make a node into a tissue!' Should be 'At least, make a note on a tissue!'

'This command reads the configuration and do the same things as...' Should be 'This command reads the configuration and does the same things as...'

'But how, you may asked, do I...' Should be 'But how, you may ask, do I...'

Everything else looks great. Nice job. :)

gargamel

01-24-2009 10:46 AM

Added the corrections, thanks!!!

http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...2_2_Howto.html
http://www.iverbi.de/slackware/RAID1...12_2_Howto.pdf

gargamel

EDIT:
For a future version I plan to clean up the HTML code, currently generated by export from OOo.
Once the content is stable, that is. PDF output from OOo looks better.

smaddox

12-15-2009 09:04 PM

related

I'm using LVM over software RAID 1, and I just spent 2 hours trying to recover from the "Please append a correct "root=" boot option" kernel panic after a kernel upgrade.

I thought I would post the solution in case anyone else has a similar problem.

If you run `lilo` and it says something about not being able to boot `non-linear` partitions, then you are having the same problem. It turns out that lilo can't boot to a 'non-linear' partition (AKA a partition with snapshots made of it), which turned out to be the problem. I was making snapshots before the upgrade in case I wanted to revert afterwards. Well, this isn't allowed.

I was able to boot in by hitting TAB during lilo boot-strapping and selecting LinuxOLD as the boot image. Alternatively, you should be able to get a shell using a recover disc.

The solution:
1. Remove the snapshots (on boot partition and probably root partition, too)
2. Run `lilo` so that it can load the config. If it gives no errors, you should be home free. Restart and see if it works.

mostlyharmless

12-16-2009 10:21 AM

Interesting, but FYI GRUB 0.97 has no problem with "non-linear" partitions, so you can keep your snapshots.

smaddox

12-16-2009 01:40 PM

Does GRUB do LVM on RAID?

Does GRUB 0.97 do LVM on RAID? For some reason the installer used LILO. I assumed it was for a good reason, but if GRUB works, I would prefer it, anyways.

mostlyharmless

12-16-2009 01:49 PM

Grub does LVM on RAID with LUKS encryption and dmraid too if you need it too, all at the same time. :)

smaddox

12-16-2009 01:53 PM

Awesome

Awesome. Now, I don't suppose you could tell me how to switch it over? If it's just simply installing and configuring GRUB I can probably figure it out, but do you have to do something to have it automatically update the bootlist on a kernel upgrade?

mostlyharmless

12-17-2009 11:25 AM

I didn't do anything special, but I run Slackware so if and when I ever do a kernel upgrade, it's manual and so is my tinkering with menu.lst. Actually one of my gripes with distros like Ubuntu is that it is so very easy to hose your system with all those frequent kernel upgrades. But I digress. Just install it as usual, there should be a ton of HOWTOs out there. Check out google looking particularly at grub and raid and ubuntu, it might help you not trip over anything. Be careful with the disk numbers according to BIOS and according to grub and according to ubuntu - they can be different.

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