[linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[Patrick van den Berg]

Hello everybody, 

I'm new at using LVM and I ran into trouble using it. I've got problems 
mounting an LVM volume as root on my system running Gentoo Linux 1.4. My 
configuration is as follows (skip to the bottom of the text for the actual 
error message): 

Gigabyte mainboard with onboard Promise RAID. I've got 2 80GB discs attached 
(same model) and configured as RAID1. I installed via the Gentoo RC1 Stage 1 
CDROM. During boot of the CD I had to abort and add the "IDE0=0x9400,0x9802 
IDE2=0x9c00,0xa002" parameters to be able to load the pdcraid module. 

My fstab looks as follows: 
 
/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1  /boot       ext3      noauto,noatime  1  1 
/dev/vg3/rootlv           /           reiserfs  noatime         0  0 
/dev/ataraid/disc0/part2  none        swap      sw              0  0 
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0        /mnt/cdrom  iso9660   noauto,ro       0  0 
proc                      /proc       proc      defaults        0  0 
tmpfs                     /dev/shm    tmpfs     defaults        0  0 

I also compiled my kernel using the gentoo-sources, and with the following 
options enabled: 

- LVM support 
- Built-in RAM disk support with initrd 
- DEV fs support 
- mount DEV filesystem at boot
- ReiserFS support 

I also ran lvmcreate_initrd with the -M option, because everything is compiled 
in the kernel. Also, when I run lvmceate_initrd without the -M options, it 
returns errors and the lvm image is not created. 

My grub,conf (linked to menu.lst) looks as follows: 
 
default 0 
timeout 30 
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz 

title=Gentoo 1.4 GNU/Linux on Antigone 
root (hd0,0) 
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/vg3/rootlv ide0=0x9400,0x9802 ide2=0x9c00,0xa002 
initrd /boot/initrd-lvm.gz 


When I boot the system grub starts correctly, but when grub wants to boot my 
system the following messages appear: 

Code: 
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 
Freeing initrd memory: 994k freed. 
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). 
Mounted devfs on /dev 
vgscan -- found inactive volume group "vg3" 
vgscan -- ERROR 28 writing volumegroup backup file /etc/lvmtab.d/vg3.tmp in 
vg_cfgbackup.c [line273] 
vgscan -- ERROR: "lvm_tab_vg_remove(): unlink" removing volume group "vg3" 
from "/etc/lvmtab.d" 
vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" succesfully created 
vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA backup of your volume group 

vgchange -- no volume groups found 

VFS: Cannot open root device "vg3/rootlv" or 00:00 
Please append a correct "root=" boot option 
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on 00:00 


Now, the strange thing is, when I boot via the CD and do vgscan and
vgchange -ay by hand, I can mount /dev/vg3/rootlv normally! 

Does anybody got any ideas? I've run out of them  

Thanks for any help in advance. When you need any more info, just say so. 

Regards, 
Patrick

Re: [linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[Francis SOUYRI]

Hello Patrick,

There is not enough space ("vgscan -- ERROR 28" check the file 
"/usr/include/asm/errno.h") in the ramdisk to create the file 
"/etc/lvmtab.d/vg3.tmp"

What files did you copy to your ramdisk ?

Best regards.

Francis


Patrick van den Berg wrote:

>Hello everybody, 
>
>I'm new at using LVM and I ran into trouble using it. I've got problems 
>mounting an LVM volume as root on my system running Gentoo Linux 1.4. My 
>configuration is as follows (skip to the bottom of the text for the actual 
>error message): 
>
>Gigabyte mainboard with onboard Promise RAID. I've got 2 80GB discs attached 
>(same model) and configured as RAID1. I installed via the Gentoo RC1 Stage 1 
>CDROM. During boot of the CD I had to abort and add the "IDE0=0x9400,0x9802 
>IDE2=0x9c00,0xa002" parameters to be able to load the pdcraid module. 
>
>My fstab looks as follows: 
> 
>/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1  /boot       ext3      noauto,noatime  1  1 
>/dev/vg3/rootlv           /           reiserfs  noatime         0  0 
>/dev/ataraid/disc0/part2  none        swap      sw              0  0 
>/dev/cdroms/cdrom0        /mnt/cdrom  iso9660   noauto,ro       0  0 
>proc                      /proc       proc      defaults        0  0 
>tmpfs                     /dev/shm    tmpfs     defaults        0  0 
>
>I also compiled my kernel using the gentoo-sources, and with the following 
>options enabled: 
>
>- LVM support 
>- Built-in RAM disk support with initrd 
>- DEV fs support 
>- mount DEV filesystem at boot
>- ReiserFS support 
>
>I also ran lvmcreate_initrd with the -M option, because everything is compiled 
>in the kernel. Also, when I run lvmceate_initrd without the -M options, it 
>returns errors and the lvm image is not created. 
>
>My grub,conf (linked to menu.lst) looks as follows: 
> 
>default 0 
>timeout 30 
>splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz 
>
>title=Gentoo 1.4 GNU/Linux on Antigone 
>root (hd0,0) 
>kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/vg3/rootlv ide0=0x9400,0x9802 ide2=0x9c00,0xa002 
>initrd /boot/initrd-lvm.gz 
>
>
>When I boot the system grub starts correctly, but when grub wants to boot my 
>system the following messages appear: 
>
>Code: 
>RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 
>Freeing initrd memory: 994k freed. 
>VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). 
>Mounted devfs on /dev 
>vgscan -- found inactive volume group "vg3" 
>vgscan -- ERROR 28 writing volumegroup backup file /etc/lvmtab.d/vg3.tmp in 
>vg_cfgbackup.c [line273] 
>vgscan -- ERROR: "lvm_tab_vg_remove(): unlink" removing volume group "vg3" 
>from "/etc/lvmtab.d" 
>vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" succesfully created 
>vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA backup of your volume group 
>
>vgchange -- no volume groups found 
>
>VFS: Cannot open root device "vg3/rootlv" or 00:00 
>Please append a correct "root=" boot option 
>Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on 00:00 
>
>
>Now, the strange thing is, when I boot via the CD and do vgscan and
>vgchange -ay by hand, I can mount /dev/vg3/rootlv normally! 
>
>Does anybody got any ideas? I've run out of them  
>
>Thanks for any help in advance. When you need any more info, just say so. 
>
>Regards, 
>Patrick
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>linux-lvm mailing list
>linux-lvm@sistina.com
>http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
>read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/
>
>  
>

Re: [linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[Pierre Lamb]

check your rc.sysinit script for the lvm section mine
had a check for /proc/lvm before it did vgchange
portion which doesn't exist until you do a vgchange
--- Patrick van den Berg <P.van.den.Berg@ogd.nl>
wrote:
> 
> Hello everybody, 
> 
> I'm new at using LVM and I ran into trouble using
> it. I've got problems 
> mounting an LVM volume as root on my system running
> Gentoo Linux 1.4. My 
> configuration is as follows (skip to the bottom of
> the text for the actual 
> error message): 
> 
> Gigabyte mainboard with onboard Promise RAID. I've
> got 2 80GB discs attached 
> (same model) and configured as RAID1. I installed
> via the Gentoo RC1 Stage 1 
> CDROM. During boot of the CD I had to abort and add
> the "IDE0=0x9400,0x9802 
> IDE2=0x9c00,0xa002" parameters to be able to load
> the pdcraid module. 
> 
> My fstab looks as follows: 
>  
> /dev/ataraid/disc0/part1  /boot       ext3     
> noauto,noatime  1  1 
> /dev/vg3/rootlv           /           reiserfs 
> noatime         0  0 
> /dev/ataraid/disc0/part2  none        swap      sw  
>            0  0 
> /dev/cdroms/cdrom0        /mnt/cdrom  iso9660  
> noauto,ro       0  0 
> proc                      /proc       proc     
> defaults        0  0 
> tmpfs                     /dev/shm    tmpfs    
> defaults        0  0 
> 
> I also compiled my kernel using the gentoo-sources,
> and with the following 
> options enabled: 
> 
> - LVM support 
> - Built-in RAM disk support with initrd 
> - DEV fs support 
> - mount DEV filesystem at boot
> - ReiserFS support 
> 
> I also ran lvmcreate_initrd with the -M option,
> because everything is compiled 
> in the kernel. Also, when I run lvmceate_initrd
> without the -M options, it 
> returns errors and the lvm image is not created. 
> 
> My grub,conf (linked to menu.lst) looks as follows: 
>  
> default 0 
> timeout 30 
> splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz 
> 
> title=Gentoo 1.4 GNU/Linux on Antigone 
> root (hd0,0) 
> kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/vg3/rootlv
> ide0=0x9400,0x9802 ide2=0x9c00,0xa002 
> initrd /boot/initrd-lvm.gz 
> 
> 
> When I boot the system grub starts correctly, but
> when grub wants to boot my 
> system the following messages appear: 
> 
> Code: 
> RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 
> Freeing initrd memory: 994k freed. 
> VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). 
> Mounted devfs on /dev 
> vgscan -- found inactive volume group "vg3" 
> vgscan -- ERROR 28 writing volumegroup backup file
> /etc/lvmtab.d/vg3.tmp in 
> vg_cfgbackup.c [line273] 
> vgscan -- ERROR: "lvm_tab_vg_remove(): unlink"
> removing volume group "vg3" 
> from "/etc/lvmtab.d" 
> vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d"
> succesfully created 
> vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA
> backup of your volume group 
> 
> vgchange -- no volume groups found 
> 
> VFS: Cannot open root device "vg3/rootlv" or 00:00 
> Please append a correct "root=" boot option 
> Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on 00:00 
> 
> 
> Now, the strange thing is, when I boot via the CD
> and do vgscan and
> vgchange -ay by hand, I can mount /dev/vg3/rootlv
> normally! 
> 
> Does anybody got any ideas? I've run out of them  
> 
> Thanks for any help in advance. When you need any
> more info, just say so. 
> 
> Regards, 
> Patrick
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> linux-lvm mailing list
> linux-lvm@sistina.com
> http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
> read the LVM HOW-TO at
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/


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Re: [linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[Steven Lembark]

> Does anybody got any ideas? I've run out of them

<brokenrecord iter=1073741824>

Take your root volume off of LVM. If there is any problem
with the system then you cannot fix it if the root volume
is inaccessable. The simplest fix is to leave /boot on
your root volume and push /usr and /var onto their own
LV's (along with /home, /opt or /usr/local, some scratch
space and /home). The point is to make sure that there is
enough of a system avaiable that you can boot single-user
if LVM is cooked and fix the problem. If you are stuck
booting off of a CD then you don't really know what the
problem is or what it looks like at boot time.

In my own case I use tmpfs for /tmp, 2GB for /scratch,
have a rather small /home and large /sandbox (where things
managed through CVS live).

</brokenrecord>

You might want to poke around in the rc.sysint (whatever
the dist uses for it) and convince yourself that vgchange
is happening after devfsd is started up.

If your root is off of LVM then you can put something like:

	/bin/grep 'single' /proc/cmdline && exit 0;

near the top of your rc.sysinit (whatever) file --
obviously after mouting /proc -- which is after /
has been fsck-ed. Depending on how high you put this
it allows you to walk down the startup process and see
what environment the startup file is living in. If you
don't like "single" as the word then try "foobar" or
"kwitit". After the system has left itself in low-level
mode you can step through the rc.sysinit by cut+paste
or simply checking the commands by hand yourself.


--
Steven Lembark                               2930 W. Palmer
Workhorse Computing                       Chicago, IL 60647
                                            +1 800 762 1582

Re: [linux-lvm] Problems mounting LVM root volume

[Patrick van den Berg]

I'm sorry for this *very* late reply to my original post almost 3 weeks ago 
(original post is pasted below). I put the problem down for a while because I 
had some other things to do. I now have found the problem, and it wasn't LVM 
related at all. My kernel incorrectly detected my onboard Promise RAID 
controller (PCI cards should work fine though), and thus couldn't find the vg. 
I've now configured my onboard RAID controller to behave like an extra ATA-100 
controller, and have installed software raid. I now run LVM on top of software 
RAID; I have excluded / from LVM though, just to be sure.

Thanks to Francis SOUYRI, Pierre Lamb and Steven Lembark for their suggestions.

Regards,
Patrick van den Berg



>Hello everybody, 
> 
>I'm new at using LVM and I ran into trouble using it. I've got problems 
>mounting an LVM volume as root on my system running Gentoo Linux 1.4. My 
>configuration is as follows (skip to the bottom of the text for the actual 
>error message): 
> 
>Gigabyte mainboard with onboard Promise RAID. I've got 2 80GB discs attached 
>(same model) and configured as RAID1. I installed via the Gentoo RC1 Stage 1 
>CDROM. During boot of the CD I had to abort and add the "IDE0=0x9400,0x9802 
>IDE2=0x9c00,0xa002" parameters to be able to load the pdcraid module. 
> 
>My fstab looks as follows: 
> 
>/dev/ataraid/disc0/part1  /boot       ext3      noauto,noatime  1  1 
>/dev/vg3/rootlv           /           reiserfs  noatime         0  0 
>/dev/ataraid/disc0/part2  none        swap      sw              0  0 
>/dev/cdroms/cdrom0        /mnt/cdrom  iso9660   noauto,ro       0  0 
>proc                      /proc       proc      defaults        0  0 
>tmpfs                     /dev/shm    tmpfs     defaults        0  0 
> 
>I also compiled my kernel using the gentoo-sources, and with the following 
>options enabled: 
> 
>- LVM support 
>- Built-in RAM disk support with initrd 
>- DEV fs support 
>- mount DEV filesystem at boot 
>- ReiserFS support 
> 
>I also ran lvmcreate_initrd with the -M option, because everything is compiled 
>in the kernel. Also, when I run lvmceate_initrd without the -M options, it 
>returns errors and the lvm image is not created. 
> 
>My grub,conf (linked to menu.lst) looks as follows: 
> 
>default 0 
>timeout 30 
>splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz 
> 
>title=Gentoo 1.4 GNU/Linux on Antigone 
>root (hd0,0) 
>kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/vg3/rootlv ide0=0x9400,0x9802 
ide2=0x9c00,0xa002 
>initrd /boot/initrd-lvm.gz 
> 
> 
>When I boot the system grub starts correctly, but when grub wants to boot my 
>system the following messages appear: 
> 
>Code: 
>RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 
>Freeing initrd memory: 994k freed. 
>VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). 
>Mounted devfs on /dev 
>vgscan -- found inactive volume group "vg3" 
>vgscan -- ERROR 28 writing volumegroup backup file /etc/lvmtab.d/vg3.tmp in 
>vg_cfgbackup.c [line273] 
>vgscan -- ERROR: "lvm_tab_vg_remove(): unlink" removing volume group "vg3" 
>from "/etc/lvmtab.d" 
>vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" succesfully created 
>vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA backup of your volume group 
> 
>vgchange -- no volume groups found 
> 
>VFS: Cannot open root device "vg3/rootlv" or 00:00 
>Please append a correct "root=" boot option 
>Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount rootfs on 00:00 
> 
> 
>Now, the strange thing is, when I boot via the CD and do vgscan and 
>vgchange -ay by hand, I can mount /dev/vg3/rootlv normally! 
> 
>Does anybody got any ideas? I've run out of them   
> 
>Thanks for any help in advance. When you need any more info, just say so. 
> 
>Regards, 
>Patrick 
> 
> 
>_______________________________________________ 
>linux-lvm mailing list 
>linux-lvm@sistina.com 
>http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm 
>read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/ 
>