Sep 24, 2010

Software RAID 0 in Ubuntu

Recently i had problem during installing Ubuntu 10.04 server on a software RAID 0 of two 500-GB hard drives. When the system boots , it cannot enter Ubuntu normally and drop to initramfs shell. Here is my Environment

On Google search, some people had the similar problem and issued a bug report on launchpad, mount: mounting /dev/md0 on /root/ failed: Invalid argument. Following the geniuses' discussion, i found that the end cylinder 60802 on the last partition of each hard drive is over the total cylinder number 60801.
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000af49c

   Device Boot    Start       End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sda1   *         1       122      975872  83  Linux
/dev/sda2           122      1338     9765888  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda3          1338     60802   477644743  fd  Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000dc68f

   Device Boot    Start       End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sdb1             1       122      975872  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2           122      1338     9765888  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb3          1338     60802   477644743  fd  Linux raid autodetect
i created the above partitions during Ubuntu 10.04 Server installation, the install partitioner seems not to handle my 500GB drives well. The workarounds proposed by geniuses are

  1. create the partitions by other Live CD's partitioner before installation, or
  2. create the partitions by the partitioner in the Ubuntu installation, but leave a bit free space after the last partition.
i followed the second way and the system is able to boot now. Here is the partition information of the new system.
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000af49c

   Device Boot    Start       End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sda1   *         1       122      975872  83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda2           122      1338     9765888  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda3          1338     60667   476562432  fd  Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000dc68f

   Device Boot    Start       End      Blocks  Id  System
/dev/sdb1             1       122      975872  83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sdb2           122      1338     9765888  fd  Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb3          1338     60667   476562432  fd  Linux raid autodetect
Finally, thanks to Ubuntu community.

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