Installer halts/fails with CCISS (HP SmartARRAY) as sole HDD

[abolis]

System: IBM eServer, dual 1.266, 2GB RAM, HP SmartARRAY 641 w/ 6 36GB in RAID5
VL Version: 6 Standard Gold

After about an hour of messing with the halts during GUI setup and the failure at LILO setup, I've resorted to posting.

The install process runs fine until after partitioning.  As a side note, GParted took at least 180 sec. to format a 20GB volume with ext3.  When the system attempts to detect the partition scheme, it halts when the scripts that put the $size and $sw variables run.  With the CCISS driver, it places the drives (and partitions) in the /dev/cciss/ directory like this:

cxdy for the disk (where 'x' is the controller number and 'y' is the logical disk number)
cxdypz for the partitions (where 'z' is, you guessed it, the partition number)

I assume the scripts to set $size and $sw expect partitions to be like /dev/hda1 and /dev/sda3, and so don't like the extra characters, because a "# ps -ef" shows me

Code:

sh -c export size=$(parted /dev/cci print | grep ^'ss/c0d0p1 '); echo $size | cut -f 4 -d ' '

and I assume it should be

Code:

sh -c export size=$(parted /dev/cciss/c0d0p1 print | grep ^' '); echo $size | cut -f 4 -d ' '

If I kill those scripts (one for each partition), the system proceeds through the install.  Then we get to the LILO install.  After killing the same scripts, LILO errors out (and forgive me for not having the EXACT error message) about a variable being invalid, most likely to do, again, with the /dev/cciss nomenclature.

Can anybody give me an idea as to where those scripts are so I can modify them before they execute?  The "linux" option at boot time can't even find the drives, so I'm a bit SOL there, as well...

--
Andrew

[M0E-lnx]

Sounds like an off the wall hardware configuration for what the installer was designed to do.
My suggestion would be to test out the VL 6.0 SOHO beta ISO.
This release includes a major overhaul to the installer. I'd be interested to see what kind of results you get there.

As far as 6.0 STD goes, I'm not sure you'll be able to install. You can try the old text installer by typing 'linux' at the boot prompt and see how that goes.

Let me know if you decide to try the SOHO release

[abolis]

Hrm... Off the wall? I guess that means that the cciss support in the kernel was there by default, and not choice.  I will try the SOHO beta.

As I said at the end of my first post, the old text installer doesn't see my drive at all. I don't know if that means it's not loading the cciss driver, or it doesn't get populated into the /dev, but after the failure, there is no cciss folder within /dev.

Are the install scripts all packaged up into the /usr/bin/install.gambas?  I'm not terribly familiar with distro installer software...

Thanks!

--
Andrew

[M0E-lnx]

The GUi installer depends on parted to perform the disk partitioning and partition selection. (in 6.0 SOHO beta)
This means if parted can see your drive, the vl installer can see it.

[abolis]

OK.  But parted can see my drive.  It's the installer script that calls it (in 6.0 Std Gold) that has a problem with the cciss nomenclature.  If I run the command that halts during the GUI install manually (with corrections per my first post), I can put the partition sizes into the variables suggested without issue.

I assume, though, that you mean in the SOHO beta, drive selection and information gathering are done differently than in 6.0 Std Gold.  I'll download and burn it while at work tomorrow, and give it a try tomorrow evening.

--
Andrew

[abolis]

BTW, found the problem.  After looking through the Gambas code at vlcore.vectorlinux.com, line 105 in /branches/iVL/MdlPartSel.module sets a static length:

Code:

sDrive = Left(sPartList[i], Len("/dev/hda"))

, which won't match my controller nomenclature.  I imagine this means any system, either cobbled together from pieces or purchased directly through HP/Compaq with a controller that uses the cciss driver, would be unable to run the installer.  Is that the same code you use in the SOHO beta, or does it use a different branch?

If I changed your code to match the appropriate length:

Code:

sDrive = Left(sPartList[i], Len("/dev/cciss/c0d0p"))

, and am sure to change all the "Len" references, should I be able to recompile the installer.gambas and replace the one that's on the install image (i.e. copy to usb drive, boot to gui install, close gui install, cp from usb to /usr/bin, and re-run gbr2)?

--
Andrew

[M0E-lnx]

Can you post the output of this command in your computer please?

Code:

parted -l

that's a lowercase L btw.
Show me the output of that command and I can get it fixed for 6.0 SOHO to make sure it works with hardware similar to yours.

[abolis]

Here is the output of parted -l:

Code:

Warning: Unable to open /dev/hda read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/hda
has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/hda: unrecognized disk label

Model: Compaq Smart Array (cpqarray)
Disk /dev/cciss/c0d0: 182GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      16.4kB  543MB   543MB   primary  ext2         boot
 2      543MB   4842MB  4299MB  primary  linux-swap
 3      4842MB  182GB   177GB   primary  reiserfs


Error: /dev/md0: unrecognized disk label

Thanks!

--
Andrew

[M0E-lnx]

Wow... even parted has a hard time with this.
So, is it only one phisical device?

Can you run the following commands as root in a terminal and let me know if you are able to mount a partition this way?

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/cciss/c0d03
mount /dev/cciss/c0d03 /mnt/cciss/c0d03

if this mounts correctly, i can fix it.

Let me know

[abolis]

Yep, with one caveat.  It's not "/dev/cciss/c0d03", it's "/dev/cciss/c0d0p3".

I'm not sure why this driver implementation insists on balking the standard dev naming convention (I have LSI/Dell RAID controllers at work that show up as /dev/sdx), but it is the only controller series I have "free" access to.

I am curious as to what you see in parted's output that suggests it's having a hard time with this setup.  The only errors I see are for the CDROM and what I assume is a default enumeration to support software RAID.

BTW, the GUI installer can mount and recognize the drives (I saw /dev/cciss/c0d0p3 mounted as /mnt/target, and /dev/cciss/c0d0p1 mounted as /mnt/target/boot when I was playing around with installing grub after lilo failed), it just seems that some of the scripts are having trouble finding the appropriate dev targets.

--
Andrew

[M0E-lnx]

Im not sure why it needs the 'p' before the partition number.
Are you trying the soho beta yet or is this still 6.0 std?