Boot fails from one of the drives cos it's not an ext4 filesystem.

DISCUSSION Richard Gomes 3 participants 4 messages Jan 30, 2014 – Jan 31, 2014 MD RAID

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Richard Gomes

author

2014-01-30 21:08 UTC #0 lore raw

[ 3rd time I'm trying to post this! :( This Majordomo sucks :( ]

Hello,

I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb in RAID1.

I've discovered that I can boot from partition /dev/sda1 but not from /dev/sdb1.

Apparently, both disks have equivalent partition tables:

    # sfdisk -l /dev/sda

    Disk /dev/sda: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty


    # sfdisk -l /dev/sdb

    Disk /dev/sdb: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

But /parted/ tells me a different story.
This is the culprit: /dev/sdb1 is not known as ext4, as it should be.

    # parted -l
    Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
    Partition Table: msdos

    Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
     1      1049kB  500MB   499MB   primary  ext4         boot, raid
     2      500MB   64.5GB  64.0GB  primary               raid
     3      64.5GB  1000GB  936GB   primary               raid

Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 500MB 499MB primary boot, raid
2 500MB 64.5GB 64.0GB primary raid
3 64.5GB 1000GB 936GB primary raid

What would be a recommended way to fix this issue?

Thanks

Signature · 6 lines

Richard Gomes
http://rgomes.info
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rgomes
mobile: +44(77)9955-6813
inum <http://www.inum.net/>: +883(5100)0800-9804
sip:[email protected]

Robert L Mathews

2014-01-31 00:22 UTC #1 lore raw

Quoted 1 line · Richard Gomes

This is the culprit: /dev/sdb1 is not known as ext4, as it should be.

I don't know how to affect that, but are you sure that's actually the problem?

In my experience, a boot problem involving mirrored RAID 1 is more likely to be a GRUB issue, needing to be fixed with something like:

# grub-install /dev/sdb

(This assumes that /dev/sdb1 really is a valid mirror of /dev/sda1; I'm taking that on faith because you didn't include the output of "mdadm --detail" and "mdadm --examine".)

Signature · 1 line

Robert L Mathews, Tiger Technologies, http://www.tigertech.net/

Wilson Jonathan

2014-01-31 09:52 UTC #2 lore raw

In reply to Richard Gomes

Quoted 64 lines · Richard Gomes

[ 3rd time I'm trying to post this! :( This Majordomo sucks :( ]

Hello,

I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb in RAID1.

I've discovered that I can boot from partition /dev/sda1 but not from /dev/sdb1.

Apparently, both disks have equivalent partition tables:

    # sfdisk -l /dev/sda

    Disk /dev/sda: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty


    # sfdisk -l /dev/sdb

    Disk /dev/sdb: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

But /parted/ tells me a different story.
This is the culprit: /dev/sdb1 is not known as ext4, as it should be.

    # parted -l
    Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
    Partition Table: msdos

    Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
     1      1049kB  500MB   499MB   primary  ext4         boot, raid
     2      500MB   64.5GB  64.0GB  primary               raid
     3      64.5GB  1000GB  936GB   primary               raid

Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Quoted 4 lines

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 500MB 499MB primary boot, raid
2 500MB 64.5GB 64.0GB primary raid
3 64.5GB 1000GB 936GB primary raid

As far as I know, the flags are redundant to a degree; although they "may" be used as a hint.

Making a drive bootable requires a boot sector loader of some form (as mentioned in Roberts post).

If you can output the result of cat /proc/mdstat and also the mdadm outputs as suggested by Robert then a more informed response can be given.

Quoted 5 lines

What would be a recommended way to fix this issue?
Thanks

Richard Gomes

author

2014-01-31 10:15 UTC #3 lore raw

Hello Wilson,

Thanks a lot for your answer. The issue is now solved, actually.

Majordomo refused my previous post, again! :( ... when I inform it was solved.
[ It's really annoying this thing to have to remember to force messages as text-only :( ]

The solution, as Robert suggested was

      # grub-install /dev/sdb

Thanks a lot :)

Richard Gomes
http://rgomes.info
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rgomes
mobile: +44(77)9955-6813
inum <http://www.inum.net/>: +883(5100)0800-9804
sip:[email protected]

Quoted 85 lines · Wilson Jonathan

Quoted 64 lines · Richard Gomes
[ 3rd time I'm trying to post this! :( This Majordomo sucks :( ]
Hello,
I have /dev/sda and /dev/sdb in RAID1.
I've discovered that I can boot from partition /dev/sda1 but not from /dev/sdb1.
Apparently, both disks have equivalent partition tables:
    # sfdisk -l /dev/sda
    Disk /dev/sda: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sda4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty


    # sfdisk -l /dev/sdb

    Disk /dev/sdb: 121601 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
    Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting
    from 0

       Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1   *      0+     60-     61-    487424   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb2         60+   7841-   7781-  62499840   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb3       7841+ 121601- 113760- 913773568   fd  Linux raid
    autodetect
    /dev/sdb4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty
But /parted/ tells me a different story.
This is the culprit: /dev/sdb1 is not known as ext4, as it should be.
    # parted -l
    Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
    Partition Table: msdos
    Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
     1      1049kB  500MB   499MB   primary  ext4         boot, raid
     2      500MB   64.5GB  64.0GB  primary               raid
     3      64.5GB  1000GB  936GB   primary               raid
Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Quoted 4 lines
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 500MB 499MB primary boot, raid
2 500MB 64.5GB 64.0GB primary raid
3 64.5GB 1000GB 936GB primary raid
As far as I know, the flags are redundant to a degree; although they "may" be used as a hint.
Making a drive bootable requires a boot sector loader of some form (as mentioned in Roberts post).
If you can output the result of cat /proc/mdstat and also the mdadm outputs as suggested by Robert then a more informed response can be given.
Quoted 4 lines
What would be a recommended way to fix this issue?
Thanks