[rhelv6-beta-list] Can RHEL6 installer align the disk partition with 4k-sector or raid stripe size?

[Steve Bonneville]

Actually, I am seeing the RHEL 6 beta installer aligning partition 1
to start at a +1M offset:

   [root at localhost ~]# fdisk -uc /dev/sda

   Command (m for help): p

   Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
   Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0x0005d392

      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
   /dev/sda1   *        2048     1026047      512000   83  Linux
   /dev/sda2         1026048   625141759   312057856   8e  Linux LVM

When I did the install, I *did* have the installer remove all existing
partitions on the disk, so that could have fixed the old partition table.  
If I had not done that, it wouldn't surprise me to see /dev/sda1 still 
start at LBA 63 (from the previous RHEL 5 installation).

Not sure why it's not happening in your case.

In the RHEL 6 beta fdisk command, -u switches to sectors and -c turns 
off the obsolete DOS compatibility cylinder alignment warnings. 

  -- Steve

Kirby Zhou wrote:
> Are you sure?
> I think RHEL6 installer does not align partitions.
> 
> ~]# parted /dev/sda unit kib print
> Model: IBM ServeRAID M5014 (scsi)
> Disk /dev/sda: 291991552kiB
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
> Partition Table: msdos
> 
> Number  Start      End           Size          Type     File system  Flags
>  1      31.5kiB    200812kiB     200781kiB     primary  ext4         boot
>  2      200813kiB  291989407kiB  291788595kiB  primary               lvm
> 
> Regards,
>    Kirby Zhou    
>    from   SOHU-RD   +86-10-6272-8261
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhelv6-beta-list-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:rhelv6-beta-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Pasi K?rkk?inen
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:48 AM
> To: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) Beta releases discussion
> mailing-list
> Subject: Re: [rhelv6-beta-list] Can RHEL6 installer align the disk partition
> with 4k-sector or raid stripe size?
> 
> On Mon, Jun 07, 2010 at 07:37:28PM -0400, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> 
> at least Fedora 13 installer aligns partitions to 2 MB starting offset
> (iirc),
> even when the drive has 512 bytes per sector. I assume RHEL6 installer does
> the same.
> 
> No mis-alignment there, like RHEL5 installer has (the famous offset 63
> issue).
> 
> -- Pasi