Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

[fermier]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

(While making KK install i detach these two drives)

Is there a way to read these files from raid1 ext4 partition ??

Hey, thanks Attila for confirming that something is amiss. I thought I was the only weirdo on the planet who wanted to install KK on fakeraid using new fangled grub.


Yes, there is a way to read your existing partitions and even look at the configuration files of grub to see what it did. Unfortunately, I only know the long way.

You boot with the desktop installation CD, then open a terminal session and install dmraid:


sudo apt-get install dmraid

Then you have to look in /dev/mapper what your raid volume names are, as sudo fdisk -l does not list them for me, but only the normal partitions. You them mount the relevant partition manually, with:

sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/mapper/whateveryourchipset_whateveryourfakeraidvolume /mnt

Then you can navigate to /mnt and the rest of the directories to whatever you want to look at. Of course this method only works if you have a working network connection or if you have the dmraid package available somewhere.

[attila_66]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Thank you Fermier,

I will try that tonight at home.
Meanwhile i am downloading todays daily built.
I will install daily built if dont work then will mount
the volume and attach the files to bug report.

[attila_66]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Hi All,

I tried daily build hours ago.
No success.
Then restarted live cd.
Installed dmraid
With command sudo dmraid -r
I can see raid disks /dev/sda and /dev/sdb id seems "pdc_bacbajcca"
But in the /dev/mapper directory there is one file named "control" not the name of my raid.

What to do now??

Urgent Help Needed

[attila_66]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Thanks for any help.
I finally can mount the failed install.
I found another 80gb hdd at home.
Made another KK install on that disk.
So from that ınstall I can mount raid.
Anyone intrested this bug can find log files on

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/444639

[fermier]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Thanks for any help.
I finally can mount the failed install.
I found another 80gb hdd at home.
Made another KK install on that disk.
So from that ınstall I can mount raid.
Anyone intrested this bug can find log files on

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/444639

Still wondering about your old raid setup. If you try again the steps:

1. boot from desktop installer CD (not the alternate CD)
2. sudo apt-get install dmraid
3. sudo dmraid -ay

what ist he output from step 3?

4. Look in /dev/mapper/ to see whether any pdc_bacbajccaX devices appeared
5. if so then use the mount statement I gave you earlier to ensure that partition is mounted.
6. See if you can read anything from the mounted partition.

When you did the install, how did you prepare the partitions on the fakeraid volume?

For my previous and current installations on JJ I always needed to first start a terminal session, install dmraid, ensure that the fakeraid device is listed under /dev/mapper/, then I would prepare all my partitions with sudo fdisk /dev/mapper/pdc_bacbajcca (in my case I have an nvidia chipset, so yet another difference!). Once all the partitions were created I would start the normal installation program and manually select the partitions from /dev/mapper/pdc_bacbajccaX for /, swap and /home. Then continue with the installation, but at the end good ol'grub would fail the installation, and then one needs to install and configure grub manually by changing root file systems (copying proc and other necessary parts) and then install dmraid again under the new root system, then start the manual installation of grub followed by the manual configuration of the menulist file plus an update-grub at the end. Once this all was finished about a good hour's work, I always had a system that would boot and really use the fakeraid system and not mount the individual disks as /dev/sdax or fail completely at boot with one of grub's famous error 15 messages or one of its other favourite error messages that can throw you completely off track.

I cannot really help you by looking at the log files, but I think Colin would be doing that. It does seem though as if there are some valid partitions created for / and swap at least. I can never understand why the automatic systems would always insist on creating extended partitions even if you want to create 4 or fewer partitions. With a complicated installation like ours I would prefer trying to configure as much as I can manually and give the installation program as much manual guidance as possible. At the end, there is the big question of how to manually configure new fangled grub so that it would correctly boot and use the fakeraid partitions and not try to use /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda5 in your case. If all else fails, you can still revert to good ol'grub and use the recipe I mentioned earlier and presented on the Ubuntu faq for fakeraid installations.

Sorry that I cannot be of more help!!!! Let me know how far you get.

[attila_66]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Still wondering about your old raid setup. If you try again the steps:

1. boot from desktop installer CD (not the alternate CD)
2. sudo apt-get install dmraid
3. sudo dmraid -ay

what ist he output from step 3?

4. Look in /dev/mapper/ to see whether any pdc_bacbajccaX devices appeared
5. if so then use the mount statement I gave you earlier to ensure that partition is mounted.
6. See if you can read anything from the mounted partition.

When you did the install, how did you prepare the partitions on the fakeraid volume?

For my previous and current installations on JJ I always needed to first start a terminal session, install dmraid, ensure that the fakeraid device is listed under /dev/mapper/, then I would prepare all my partitions with sudo fdisk /dev/mapper/pdc_bacbajcca (in my case I have an nvidia chipset, so yet another difference!). Once all the partitions were created I would start the normal installation program and manually select the partitions from /dev/mapper/pdc_bacbajccaX for /, swap and /home. Then continue with the installation, but at the end good ol'grub would fail the installation, and then one needs to install and configure grub manually by changing root file systems (copying proc and other necessary parts) and then install dmraid again under the new root system, then start the manual installation of grub followed by the manual configuration of the menulist file plus an update-grub at the end. Once this all was finished about a good hour's work, I always had a system that would boot and really use the fakeraid system and not mount the individual disks as /dev/sdax or fail completely at boot with one of grub's famous error 15 messages or one of its other favourite error messages that can throw you completely off track.

I cannot really help you by looking at the log files, but I think Colin would be doing that. It does seem though as if there are some valid partitions created for / and swap at least. I can never understand why the automatic systems would always insist on creating extended partitions even if you want to create 4 or fewer partitions. With a complicated installation like ours I would prefer trying to configure as much as I can manually and give the installation program as much manual guidance as possible. At the end, there is the big question of how to manually configure new fangled grub so that it would correctly boot and use the fakeraid partitions and not try to use /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda5 in your case. If all else fails, you can still revert to good ol'grub and use the recipe I mentioned earlier and presented on the Ubuntu faq for fakeraid installations.

Sorry that I cannot be of more help!!!! Let me know how far you get.

Dear Fermier,

3. sudo dmraid -ay (I didnt know that has to be run) step was missing in my situation. I didnt run that command. So without running this command seems its impossible to see my raid pdc_xxxxx under /dev/mapper directory.

I made the install yesterday night. Yesterday afternoon at work i was watching the daily built. As it is placed on repo i downloaded "64 bit alternate cd".
I used guided partitioning partitions created automatically.

So grub failed to install. I found a 80 gb disk. Installed KK while raid disks are connected to pc. I expect to see raid partition on dolphin of new system. But no success.
I looked /dev/mapper/ notting there. Then checked /dev/disks there i see the raid partitions. I mounted the partition from that point.



My master system at home is as mentioned before is Kubuntu 8,10 interpid.

Actually my future plan is move to Raid 5 with KK on my system. A little more read speed and more data safety against hdd failure. (320 gb space now 160gb is about to fill up)
My situation is not very urgent so I am also waiting equalizer for new Amarok to upgrade completely.
At this time i want to help improving of Kubuntu.
Maybe tonight I go to buy another 160gb hdd to try Raid 5 at home .

But definetly Fake Raid and Grub2 still has some problems.

[fermier]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Normally, there is no need to run sudo dmraid -ay, but some users have indicated that they needed to run this the first time to see the raid volumes. Strange!!! Have they changed the place where the raid volumes are mapped under /dev?!?! My current system is JJ and for me all the raid volumes are under /dev/mapper/ and I never needed to issue the dmraid -ay command to have access to them.

Yes, I understand your need for more disk space, but I have long since decided not to use large disks in my PC any more for storage. I have a NAS (two in fact) that use their own raid configurations. All Linux systems, but dedicated to storage and sharing. I found this a much better solution in the long run, though pricy in the short.


Let us know if you get any joy from your next install effort on raid with new grub.

[abigsky]

Re: Intel Matrix (fakeRAID)

Thanks Fremier. You may be right about my system not really using the fakeRAID. I'll have to figure out a way to check.

I agree that when you lie to computers it may believe you, and turn out badly.

- Abigsky