Hi, here’s a step by step of what I’m doing and what error I get…
In the BIOS I have “SATA Mode” set to RAID.
Next, I go into the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology (CTRL+I on boot)
Create RAID
Name it “Stripe”
Set Type to RAID0 (Stripe)
Accept default 128KB stripe size and 238.5GB capacity
Create volume
Next I boot off the OpenSUSE 11.4 DVD
The installer asks me: “Do you want MD Partionable RAID subsystem to manage those partitions” and I answer yes.
Went with “Partition based” with all defaults
Create swap volume /dev/md126p1 (2.01 GB)
Create root volume /dev/md126p2 (20.00 GB) with ext4
Create volume /dev/md126p3 (216.47 GB) for /home with ext4
Boot Loader Type: GRUB
Status location: /dev/md126p2 ("/")
Boot from MBR is disabled
Boot from “/” partition is enabled
All other “booting” options left at default
During “Perform Installation” it starts with “Preparing disks” and pauses for 1-2 minutes, then I get the error:
YaST2
Failure occured during following action:
Formatting device /dev/md126p2 (10.00 TB) with ext4
System error code was: -3008
/sbin/mke2fs -O dir_index -m5.0 -t ext4 -v ‘/dev/md126p2’:
mke2fs 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Warning: could not erase sector 2: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write
Warning: Could not read block 0: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short read
Warning: could not erase sector 0: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write
ext2fs_mkdir: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while creating root dir
Continue despite the error?
If I continue, I get dozens more errors like it and install eventually fails.
Update. If I reboot and reinstall, this time it sees the existing partions and just wants to format them. This time, all the packages are installed and it gets to 92%, when it gets to “Install boot manager” and fails. Here’s the error:
YaST2
Error occured while installed GRUB.
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640k lower / 3072K upper memory)
grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 --force-lba (hd0,1) (hd0,1)
Checking if “/boot/grub/stage1” exists… yes
Checking if “/boot/grub/stage2” exists… yes
Checking if “/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5” exists … yes
Running “embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,1)”… failed (this is not fatal)
Running “embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,1)”… failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install --force-lba --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0,1) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu.lst "… failed
The first error with the partitioning can be resolved if I just use LVM instead. The second error goes away if I install the boot manager to the MBR instead of the /boot partition. With that, the system installs and reboots, however on first boot it immediately crashes with:
Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while…
No volume groups found
volume group “system” not found
volume group “system” not found
Could not find /dev/system/root.
Want me to fall back to /dev/system/root (Y/n)
Selecting “No” will exit back to the GRUB shell.
Yes will get in an endless loop of "Volume group “system” not found until I feel like pressing the reset button.
Sounds like FAKE RAID (BIOS assisted). It seems that some chip sets can be made to work and others may not. I recommend software RAID since it is as fast as FAKE (the OS as to manage it) or real hardware RAID.
Reply to goga: Sounds like a valid point… Perhaps you can recommend a good hardware SATA3 raid controller that’ll work out of the box? No rush though, I just installed it as two drives with no software RAID for now and have this machine running pretty awesome now - so I’m in no hurry for a re-format any time soon
Reply to ken: Raw speed. Most of the data on this machine is more transient in nature, I put most of my stuff on a 4TB NAS that’s RAID5. If a drive fails it’s probably not the end of the world… But maybe I’d have a different opinion if I were in that boat and had a bunch of uncommitted code heh.
BTW, I tried to go the software RAID route and for some reason, the partitioner sees the second hard drive as 1KB. I can’t create a software RAID due to this. However, when I booted I could create and mount a new partition on that drive with its full size. So I just gave up on RAID for now, I’m liking this just fine…
It’s only twice as fast on average. If you want a significant speed boost you could get a SSD. Anyway for commonly used files, the RAM cache will be doing the heavy lifting.
I have exactly the same problem as imaudi when installing 11.4 on my raid 0 volume with the same Grub configuration.
I keep all my partitions as they are except the install partition that i ask for formating.
Packages installation is ok but grub fail to install saying that the partition is not found.
After reviewing the grub config without more success i skip the grub install and continue.
Of course, when the sytem reboot the pc freeze, grub does not start. But i have another linux partition with grub and opensuse 11.3 with an entry pointing to vmlinux and initrd of by 11.4 partition so i activate it (using my rescue usb key) and reboot.
Booting 11.4 start and tell me that /dev/disk/by-id /… is not found but it can go back to /dev/md126p2. I answer yes and linux start normaly (except for other partitions that it cannot mount for the same reason).
Looking in /dev/disk/by-id i found a link to the raid volume but no link to all the partitions. After network configuration and and addition of the update repository i start the update with yast. After that i reboot, the same method and, fortunatly, i retrieve the configuration panel and the installation continue with the automatic configuration.
Everything works normally, my raid partitions are well known but it’s not the simple way to install.
Because i love problems ! I restart the 11.4 installation but when it asks me: “Do you want MD Partionable RAID subsystem to manage those partitions” i answer NO.
I see that dmraid was started (and not mdraid) and 11.4 is installed without problem.
Conclusion, it seems that there is a problem with mdraid included on the DVD distribution.
