Scenario: SSD for OS with separate RAID HDD for /home. Erase & re-make all partitions on SSD. Keep existing /home
How to install OpenSuse with an existing /home on a separate volume? I am able to configure the partitions on the SSD as I want them. However, the installer then wants to create a list of Btrfs subvolumes - including one for /home. There does not seem to be a way to instruct the installer to not do this and use the existing /home parition on the other volume.
When at the partition proposal click on the “Expert Partitioner” then on “Start with existing partitions”: at that point you will be able to select each partition you want to use, click on “Edit” and choose type of filesystem and mount point.
When done, click on “Accept”
Nope. The installer can’t see the RAID.
I really don’t have experience with RAID but AFAIK Yast should see all available disks and partitions if not open a bug report it might not get fixed for 15.0 but it will for 15.1
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/
you could try and use one of the live disks for install
https://download.opensuse.org/distribution/leap/15.0/live/
The YAST Partitioner can see the RAID when running 42.3. But the 15 and Tumbleweed installers cannot.
or existing RAID device. RAID should be listed under Hard Disks right under unexpanded sdX device(s), ahead of Volume Management and BTRFS.
Looks like 1094933 – [storage-ng] Installer will not longer allow RAID1 installations is your problem, which I would have expected to be fixed in TW by now. Anyway you should be able to do the install, letting it create /home the way it wants, and just not use it. After installation is complete and booted into you should be able to add the existing RAID to fstab.
How do I delete the Btrfs “/home” subvolume that the installer creates after rebooting?
I don’t use BTRFS. I would expect deleting any content it contains should suffice, as it would on any other filesystem. The directory itself is needed for mounting the RAID, so can’t be deleted.
Now I want to know why you don’t use Btrfs when it’s the default OpenSUSE filesystem type. Maybe I’m creating my own problem by accepting that as the default for the OS drive.
I haven’t done a clean install in a while I usually do live upgrades so I can’t comment on the current state of the installer but if you have a working 42.x system why not do a live upgrade (removing 3rd party repo’s, uninstalling 3-rd party drivers, pointing the 4 main repo’s to LEAP 15.0 and doing zypper dup)
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade
if this is a known bug in the current installer the live iso’s should work (again I’m not sure how the live disks install to hdd I don’t know if they copy the running image but if they see the RAID you should be able to reuse it as home)
as mrmazda said you can edit /etc/fstab to point to your old home partition (just don’t format it) after a successful install and if you’re going this route I’d suggest installing without using a /home partition
How do I delete the Btrfs “/home” subvolume that the installer creates after rebooting?
the root filesystem always has a /home directory it’s just not shown if you have a home partition with a /home mount point
but I can’t tell you about btrfs afaik you can’t exclude directories from a file system
Linux offers choice and a “default” does not mean that we are forced on using it. On laptops I prefer EXT4 for the /root filesystem and think that it might be better suited to an SSD install.
Anyway, your system => your choice.
Did that already from 42.x to 42.3. It’s time for a full erase-and-install to clean the dust out.
but I can’t tell you about btrfs
I also don’t understand what a Btrfs “subvolume” is and if it should be / can be deleted if the /home subvolume that the installer creates isn’t going to be used.
Do you have some unallocated space on disk? Or maybe an external drive?
If you do, then while in the expert partitioner, assign that space to be used as “/home”. That should leave the root file system suitable for later mounting your existing “/home”. You will just have do make a few changes after install.
Oh, I don’t use “btrfs” either. I did briefly try it, but I decided that I preferred “ext4”.
Well as in other FS it is just the mount point for home partition. If you don’t have it no place to mount home. BTRFS which is based on B-trees I suspect that each sub volume represents a different b-tree. But only guessing 
If you say make a EXT4 root and do not mount home you will see a /home directory and if you go ahead and make users their homes will be made there… If you then mount home partition at /home it will supersede anything in that directory with the contents of the home directory… I use this to test an OS before committing to a new version or OS using a second root partition. Ie I have two roots and rotate them.Initial I don’t mount home until I’m happy with the testing.
(In no particular order):
1-AFAIK, it’s a default exclusive to openSUSE & SLE, and only for /.
2-Defaults are for people who can be content with them. EXT4 was the default for quite some time. I didn’t use it until around the time the default was switched to BTRFS. EXT4 does what I need done. Grub2 has been default since longer than I can remember and I still don’t use it except on one UEFI/GPT PC.
3-Personal computers are intended for personalization, changing defaults that do not suit their users.
4-A KISS adherent generally, I try to not fix what ain’t broke as much as I can manage. I don’t see BTRFS as a solution whose benefits outweigh its costs in a multiboot environment, so do see it likely to break more than it might fix, complicate more than simplify.
Maybe I’m creating my own problem by accepting that as the default for the OS drive.
Maybe. Maybe you should investigate the options before assuming defaults are the best choices for you.
That’s clever. However, how confident can I be that Tumbleweed or 15.0 will recognize my RAID after reboot so I can edit /etc/fstab appropriately? The installer can’t see it. Can I be sure the “installed” be able to?
In many things, I rely on the people who are more smart than me to be more smart than me.
I do not know the answer to that. I have carefully avoided RAID.
Have you tried booting the live media? I would guess that’s the best way to test.
Reading carefully comment #9 at 1094933 – [storage-ng] Installer will not longer allow RAID1 installations
and checking that yast2-storage-ng is currently at 4.0.186 for Leap15 and 4.0.195 for Tumbleweed, with the changelog reading:
| gio 17 mag 2018 14:00:00 CEST
|
| jlopez@suse.com
| - Allow to consider MD RAIDs as BIOS RAIDs by using the env
variable LIBSTORAGE_MDPART (bsc#1092417).
|
it seems that you should be able to do a TW install with current media or a Leap 15 “net install” by using a live media on a USB updated before launching the install,
by issuing in a terminal emulator (again quoting from the bug report):
- Run the installation executing this in a terminal emulator: LIBSTORAGE_MDPART=1 xdg-su -c /usr/sbin/start-install.sh
I cannot check as I have no RAID to play with, but it seems worth a shot.