Hello, I have setup RAID1 during setup on Ubuntu 8.04 following http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-ubuntu8.04-with-software-raid1 Output of df -h Code: root@mailbox:~# df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/md0 914G 3.5G 864G 1% / varrun 1.9G 52K 1.9G 1% /var/run varlock 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /var/lock udev 1.9G 68K 1.9G 1% /dev devshm 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev/shm Output of cat /proc/mdstat Code: root@mailbox:~# cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10] md1 : active raid1 sda5[0] sdb5[1] 11510464 blocks [2/2] [UU] md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdb1[1] 965249344 blocks [2/2] [UU] unused devices: <none> My menu.lst is Code: root@mailbox:~# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst [....] # kopt=root=/dev/md0 ro [...] title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-26-server root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-26-server root=/dev/md0 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-26-server title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-26-server (recovery mode) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-26-server root=/dev/md0 ro single initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-26-server title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, memtest86+ root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin ### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST ### RAID1: to boot if sda fails ### title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTD, kernel 2.6.24-26-server (/dev/sda Failed) root (hd1,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-26-server root=/dev/md0 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-26-server #### End RAID1 Boot Loader #### Now, if I reboot and at grub boot options, select to boot from second harddrive it boots. But, if I remove power and data cables of first harddrive and try to boot from second harddrive, it fails giving error "Error 21: Selected disk dos not exists" Please guide me in the matter, thanks in advance. Dipesh
I installed grub on my second harddrive with these commands: Code: grub >device (hd1) /dev/sdb >root (hd1,0) >setup (hd1) quit followed by Code: update-initramfs -u do I need to install grub with grub-install command? I am little unfamiliar with setting up grub. Thanks for your support all the time. Dipesh
Update: I tried re-creating RAID by following http://www.howtoforge.com/software-raid1-grub-boot-debian-etch-p4 - Step 9 onwards, but my server do not boot off second harddrive, giving same error "Error 21: Selected disk dos not exists". I tried swapping SATA port, by connecting second harddrive to SATA1 and disconnecting another drive, but failed. Dipesh
I tried installing grub on both hard drives with grub-install command. Code: root@mailbox:~# grub-install /dev/sda Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time. Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub Installing GRUB to /dev/sda as (hd0)... Installation finished. No error reported. This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map. Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect, fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'. (fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/sda (hd1) /dev/sdb root@mailbox:~# grub-install /dev/sdb Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub Installing GRUB to /dev/sdb as (hd1)... Installation finished. No error reported. This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map. Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect, fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'. (fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/sda (hd1) /dev/sdb but the result is same, not able to boot from second harddrive if first harddrive is detached. Now, it do not display any error, only one word 'GRUB' at the top of the screen is there. However if first harddrive is connected, it boots OK. Well, I think I should again start from the scratch. Can you please suggest which shall be the best option: to setup RAID1 during install (as guided in http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-ubuntu8.04-with-software-raid1) or to install ubuntu first and then setup RAID1 (http://www.howtoforge.com/software-raid1-grub-boot-debian-etch). I am having Intel Xeon E3110 based server with two Seagate 1 TB SATA Harddrives. I would like to remain with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, and I would run Zimbra on this server. Also, please guide on how to remove existing md devices, as I understand this would be little difficult and could not find suitable docs while searching. Dipesh
I've mostly used the second way, but in the end it doesn't matter which one you use. One last idea: is it possible you had GRUB2 installed instead of GRUB? Do this for all your RAID devices: Code: mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1
Hello, I am now setting up starting from scratch. I installed Ubuntu 8.04 with manual partitioning of 980 GB as / and 20.2 GB as swap. Then I followed guide http://www.howtoforge.com/software-raid1-grub-boot-debian-etch. I am getting stuck at Code: To make sure that there are no remains from previous RAID installations on /dev/sdb, we run the following commands: mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1 mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb2 It gives error Code: root@ubuntu:~# mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1 mdadm: Couldn't open /dev/sdb1 for write - not zeroing root@ubuntu:~# mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb2 mdadm: Couldn't open /dev/sdb2 for write - not zeroing Output of fdisk -l Code: root@ubuntu:~# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0009c133 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 119145 957032181 83 Linux /dev/sda2 119146 121601 19727820 82 Linux swap / Solaris Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 1 119145 957032181 fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sdb2 119146 121601 19727820 fd Linux raid autodetect Disk /dev/md1: 20.2 GB, 20201209856 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 4931936 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Disk /dev/md1 doesn't contain a valid partition table Disk /dev/md0: 980.0 GB, 980000833536 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 239258016 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Disk /dev/md0 doesn't contain a valid partition table root@ubuntu:~# Please guide me, what I am doing wrong? Dipesh Edit: I tried to stop running array with Code: mdadm --manage --stop /dev/md0 and then ran Code: mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1 success this step. Now, proceeding further.
Update: I have completely re-setup RAID1 as guided in http://www.howtoforge.com/software-raid1-grub-boot-debian-etch without facing any kind of error. My menu.lst is Code: root@ubuntu:~# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst [...] # kopt=root=/dev/md0 ro [...] ## ## End Default Options ## title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-26-server root (hd1,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-26-server root=/dev/md0 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-26-server quiet title Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-26-server root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-26-server root=/dev/md0 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-26-server quiet ### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST root@ubuntu:~# Output of /proc/mdstat Code: root@ubuntu:~# cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10] md1 : active raid1 sda2[0] sdb2[1] 19727744 blocks [2/2] [UU] md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdb1[1] 957032064 blocks [2/2] [UU] unused devices: <none> root@ubuntu:~# Output of df -h Code: root@ubuntu:~# df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/md0 906G 656M 860G 1% / varrun 1.9G 48K 1.9G 1% /var/run varlock 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /var/lock udev 1.9G 60K 1.9G 1% /dev devshm 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev/shm root@ubuntu:~# Output of fdisk -l Code: root@ubuntu:~# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0009c133 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 119145 957032181 fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sda2 119146 121601 19727820 fd Linux raid autodetect Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 1 119145 957032181 fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sdb2 119146 121601 19727820 fd Linux raid autodetect Disk /dev/md0: 980.0 GB, 980000833536 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 239258016 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Disk /dev/md0 doesn't contain a valid partition table Disk /dev/md1: 20.2 GB, 20201209856 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 4931936 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Disk /dev/md1 doesn't contain a valid partition table root@ubuntu:~# Now, my system boots ok with either option selected at grub, but if I remove any of my harddrive (just by removing power and data cable), it does not boot with any option. Please help me. Dipesh
[solved] Update: Finally, I got my setup working ok, now if I detach my first harddrive, it boots off second drive. I followed comment by burke3gd on first page of this howto, and instead running 'update-initramfs -u', I done dpkg-reconfigure mdadm. Falko, thanks to you a lot for writing such a helpful howto, as well as your continuous support all the times. Thanks to burke3gd also, as I got my setup working by your pointing few things. Now, there are couple of questions in my mind: 1. During testing as I removed one of the harddrive, the RAID array became degraded. So, after connecting the drive to its place, array will not become complete. Can I make it complete just by Code: mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/sdb1 or I shall need to follow complete process to change failed harddrive as guided in the said howto - step 9 onwards? 2. At present both of my harddrives are of same capacity and model. In future, if any of of drive fails (in real), and if I do not get the new drive of same capacity, shall it work with new higher capacity drive? Thanks a lot once again. Dipesh