boot timeout and fsck.ext3
Hi all,
since my system is now working again, I have 2 more problems.
1. When Linux starts it requires a password for the encrypted partitions. How do I set the timeout value ? I know there is an easy way to do it, but I did not find it any more.
2. When the system starts, it requests a fsck.ext3 check. How is that done on luks ?
Best regards
Rainer
hello,
Quoted 5 lines · On 13/08/2009 Rainer Maier wrote:
since my system is now working again, I have 2 more problems.
1. When Linux starts it requires a password for the encrypted partitions. How do I set the timeout value ?
I know there is an easy way to do it, but I did not find it any more.
no, unfortunately there's no easy way to do it any longer. the timeout option always had major drawbacks, such as fsck on boot failing in case the dm-crypt device wasn't setup due to timeout. thus we completely kicked the timeout option from cryptdisks in debian.
the way to go if you don't have physical access to your machine, is adding the 'noauto' option in /etc/cryptdisks and decrypting the device manually later with 'cryptdisks_start <device>'.
another option would be to use dropbear (small ssh server) within initramfs to ssh into the machine while booting, and enter the passphrase there. see debian bug #465902 [1] for more information.
Quoted 2 lines
2. When the system starts, it requests a fsck.ext3 check. How is that done on luks ?
fsck is run for the devices in /etc/fstab. you don't have the source device of your encrypted partition in /etc/fstab, but rather the decrypted target device. and that one contains the filesystem (i.e. ext3). thus fsck runs a filesystem check on your decrypted filesystem, just like it does for unencrypted partitions.
if the device doesn't exist (i.e. because cryptdisks init script failed) then fsck fails on boot and an emergency shell is started. that's the reason why we kicked timeout support from cryptdisks initscript in debian (see above).
greetings,
jonas
Hi,
on my Debian installation I attached the noauto in /etc/crypttab:
tresor /dev/sda2 none luks,check=ext2,retry=5,timeout=5,noauto
and in fstab I only left:/dev/mapper/tresor /tresor auto defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda2 /tresor ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0
Since only the /dev/sdb system is encrypted and not the /dev/hda or /dev/sda everything starts ok.
When I then use cryptdisks_start is seems equal to:
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 tresor
but I have to mount the system manually:
mount /dev/mapper/tresor /tresor
Is that behaviour normal or do I have to change some settings to make cryptdisks_start even mount the disks ?
Best regards
Rainer
Quoted 47 lines · Jonas Meurer
hello,
Quoted 5 lines · On 13/08/2009 Rainer Maier wrote:
since my system is now working again, I have 2 more problems.
1. When Linux starts it requires a password for the encrypted partitions. How do I set the timeout value ?
I know there is an easy way to do it, but I did not find it any more.no, unfortunately there's no easy way to do it any longer. the timeout option always had major drawbacks, such as fsck on boot failing in case the dm-crypt device wasn't setup due to timeout. thus we completely kicked the timeout option from cryptdisks in debian.
the way to go if you don't have physical access to your machine, is adding the 'noauto' option in
/etc/cryptdisksand decrypting the device manually later with 'cryptdisks_start<device>'.another option would be to use dropbear (small ssh server) within initramfs to ssh into the machine while booting, and enter the passphrase there. see debian bug #465902 [1] for more information.
Quoted 2 lines
2. When the system starts, it requests a fsck.ext3 check. How is that done on luks ?
fsck is run for the devices in
/etc/fstab. you don't have the source device of your encrypted partition in/etc/fstab, but rather the decrypted target device. and that one contains the filesystem (i.e. ext3). thus fsck runs a filesystem check on your decrypted filesystem, just like it does for unencrypted partitions.
if the device doesn't exist (i.e. because cryptdisks init script failed) then fsck fails on boot and an emergency shell is started. that's the reason why we kicked timeout support from cryptdisks initscript in debian (see above).greetings,
jonas[1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=465902
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Hi Arno,
since only /dev/sdb is encrypted and /dev/hda and /dev/sda are not encrypted, the system should have started just without this mount.
Regarding fsck.ext3, I usually left it to Linux when it started. Would you have some hint how to do it manually ?
I.e. the steps to be performed or a page where I find a description.
Best regards
Rainer
Quoted 16 lines · Arno Wagner
Quoted 5 lines · Rainer Maier
Hi all,
since my system is now working again, I have 2 more problems.1. When Linux starts it requires a password for the encrypted partitions. How do I set the timeout value ? I know there is an easy way to do it, but I did not find it any more.
What do you want it to do if the timeout expires?
Is this so the system can come up unattended?Quoted 2 lines
2. When the system starts, it requests a fsck.ext3 check. How is that done on luks ?
On the decrypted raw device.
Arno
Quoted 11 lines · On 15/08/2009 Rainer Maier wrote:
Hi,
on my Debian installation I attached the noauto in/etc/crypttab:
tresor/dev/sda2none luks,check=ext2,retry=5,timeout=5,noautoand in fstab I only left:
/dev/mapper/tresor/tresor auto defaults 0 0# /dev/sda2 /tresor ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0Since only the
/dev/sdbsystem is encrypted and not the/dev/hdaor/dev/sdaeverything starts ok.
Quoted 7 lines
When I then use
cryptdisks_startis seems equal to:
cryptsetup luksOpen/dev/sda2tresor
but I have to mount the system manually:
mount/dev/mapper/tresor/tresorIs that behaviour normal or do I have to change some settings to make
cryptdisks_starteven mount the disks ?
no, this is normal behaviour.
greetings,
jonas