kickstart config file syntax for RAID

[Rick Stevens]

On Wed, 2006-06-14 at 15:40 -0700, Jason Nemecek wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> I'm trying to install via Kickstart over NFS. I have the basic install
> working somewhat, but I want to set up a few RAID1 partitions on my
> system
> during the install. I created a ks.cfg file with the Kickstart
> Configurator.
> 
> The Kickstart install starts fine but when I get to the disk
> partitioning
> phase of the install I get a dialog box that says:
> 
> ****************************************************
> Error Partitioning
> 
> Could not allocate requested partitions:
> 
> Partitioning failed: Could not allocate partitions.
> 
> Press 'OK' to reboot your system
> ****************************************************
> 
> Bravo again to RHEL4 with their brilliant descriptive error messages.
> 
> My first question is on the syntax of the Kickstart RAID partitioning.
> 
> Can anyone see any syntax errors with the following section of my
> ks.cfg:
> 
> part /boot --fstype ext2 --size=128 --ondisk=sda
> part /dead --fstype ext2 --size=128 --ondisk=sdb
> part swap --size=2048 --ondisk=sda
> part swap --size=2048 --ondisk=sdb
> part raid.01 --size=10240 --ondisk=sda
> part raid.02 --size=10240 --ondisk=sdb
> part raid.03 --size=275000 --ondisk=sda
> part raid.04 --size=275000 --ondisk=sdb
> raid / --fstype ext3 --level=RAID1 --device=md0 raid.01 raid.02
> raid /home --fstype ext3 --level=RAID1 --device=md1 raid.03 raid.04
> 
> I'm mainly wondering about the "--" options and the placement of the "="
> signs between the options and values. Ie: should it be --ondisk=sda or 
> --ondisk sda ?? Same question with --size and --level. I've been trying
> to find other ks.cfg files via Google for examples, but there's not much
> out there, especially anything recent. I've seen examples with and
> without
> the "=" sign.
> 
> Before rebooting the last time this happened, I killed the X server and
> Looked at the console to see the following message repeated about 15
> times:
> 
> <4>program anaconda is using a deprecated SCSI ioctl, please convert it
> to SG_IO  
> 
> Does anyone know if this is a serious error, or if it's just a warning
> For the future?  

It's a warning.

> 
> I'm using RHEL4 WS on Dell Precision 470s
> 
> I see that there are updated RPMs for anaconda, anaconda-runtime, and
> system-config-kickstart.
> 
> Can these RPMs be installed in a way that will make a difference during
> the install? 

Not really.  system-config-kickstart is really what you know as the
"kickstart configurator" (what a bloody awful name).

> Ideas? Obvious errors? 

Well, you really should delete partitions before creating new ones.
If the drive has partitions on it, it's entirely possible that you
are out of space and the message is fairly obvious then, isn't it?  Try
adding

	clearpart --drives=sda,sdb

or

	clearpart --all

to your script.  Also, the "--fstype" stuff should be "--fstype=ext3".
In general, any "--" flag that accepts options wants an "=" between
the flag and its options, e.g.:

	--fstype=ext3

It _may_ work without the "=", but better to be safe than sorry.  I
believe in belts and suspenders.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-  Time: Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.  -
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