mdraid and hpa upgrade issues

[Jarod Wilson]

Tony Nelson wrote:
> At 2:55 PM -0400 5/24/07, Jarod Wilson wrote:
>> Jarod Wilson wrote:
>>> Okay, fc6 mdraid to f7 upgrading via anaconda works for me now.
>>>
>>>> Once that's done, I'll see what I can do to see if the kernel option
>>>> libata.ignore_hpa can be used to help those who don't really wanna
>>>> nuke their entire system to move from FC6 to F7.
>>> Starting in on this right now...
>> Got the problem reproducing, but...
>>
>>   Unknown boot option 'libata.ignore_hpa=1': ignoring
>>
>> Talked to davej, module parameters can't be passed on the command line
>> just yet. So anyone with an FC6 system that uses part of the host
>> protected area is currently not able to upgrade to F7 using anaconda
>> (FC6 to F7 can be done with some modprobe.conf magic and upgrading via
>> yum though).
>>
>> davej is going to poke some folks who were working on a patch to allow
>> module parameters to be passed on the kernel command line.
> 
> Well, this keeps me from upgrading to F7!

Not entirely. You can put the following into /etc/modprobe.conf:

options libata libata.ignore_hpa=1

Then upgrade via yum. Sub-optimal for those who prefer to upgrade via 
anaconda, but its an option.

> How serious a problem results from doing an installer upgrade from FCx to
> F7, no repartitioning?  Is it going to cause massive data loss for
> unsuspecting users, or does the Anaconda notice and stop the process?

Warning

The partition table on device sdX was unreadable. To create new 
partitions it must be initialized, causing the loss of ALL DATA on this 
drive.

This operation will override any previous installation choices about 
which drives to ignore.

Would you like to initialize this drive, erasing ALL DATA

No(selected by default)    Yes

> Would a respin be needed to get the installer to work for them (me)
> (assuming they recovered from the first upgrade attempt)?

At this point in time, its way too late in the game to get a fix into 
anaconda, so yes, either a respin or possibly an updates.img as Jesse 
suggested would be the only way to get anaconda-based upgrades working 
in this situation.

The initial thought is that we'll have to patch both anaconda and 
modprobe to be able to recognize and apply kernel module options passed 
on the kernel command line. I'll be filing bugs against both 
module-init-tools and anaconda shortly. Never say never, but getting a 
fix in for the F7 release is highly, highly, highly unlikely.

Ah, just noticed the email in this thread from Bruno... Could be some 
way to deep-six the hpa area within FC6 before upgrading... (and 
personal experience would suggest this can be done somehow -- I had a 
drive that used to have the hpa issue and now doesn't -- but I know not 
the magic incantation).

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jwilson at redhat.com