Software raid-5 on root partition (2.6.32.1)

Software raid-5 on root partition (2.6.32.1)

[Kurt Newman]

Q: Does the 2.6.32.1 kernel still support raid-5 on the root device if
using an initial ram disk?
Q: Since this isn't working for me, have any suggestions of things to
look at?
Q: Is order important when doing an "mkinitrd --preload"?

Background:

When booting with busybox, I can mount the partitions, modify them, etc.
 I'm simply having problems booting.

The raid devices are clean and aren't sync'ing.

I've been running a 2.6.20 variant kernel with a machine who's root
partition is a software raid-5 device (/dev/mdX).  I was not using any
kernel modules to boot, so no initrd was needed.

I'm now trying to run 2.6.32.1 + some additional kernel modules via an
initrd (I put several of the modules in initrd at this point).
Unfortunately, I'm no longer able to boot with the root partition as a
raid-5 device.

The initrd was created using mkinitrd.  I requested that the following
modules should loan on startup with the --preload option:

 - pata_it8213
 - sata_sis
 - pata_sis
 - pata_sch
 - pata_mpiix
 - pata_it821x
 - ata_generic
 - dm-mod
 - dm-multipath
 - dm-mirror
 - dm-log
 - raid1
 - raid456
 - sr_mod
 - aic94xx
 - aic79xx
 - aic7xxx
 - scsi_transport_spi
 - BusLogic
 - mptbase
 - mptsas
 - mptspi
 - mptctl
 - mptfc
 - mptlan
 - mptscsih

Re: Software raid-5 on root partition (2.6.32.1)

[Kurt Newman]

Kurt Newman wrote:
> Q: Does the 2.6.32.1 kernel still support raid-5 on the root device if
> using an initial ram disk?
> Q: Since this isn't working for me, have any suggestions of things to
> look at?
> Q: Is order important when doing an "mkinitrd --preload"?
> 
> Background:
> 
> When booting with busybox, I can mount the partitions, modify them, etc.
>  I'm simply having problems booting.
> 
> The raid devices are clean and aren't sync'ing.
> 
> I've been running a 2.6.20 variant kernel with a machine who's root
> partition is a software raid-5 device (/dev/mdX).  I was not using any
> kernel modules to boot, so no initrd was needed.
> 
> I'm now trying to run 2.6.32.1 + some additional kernel modules via an
> initrd (I put several of the modules in initrd at this point).
> Unfortunately, I'm no longer able to boot with the root partition as a
> raid-5 device.
> 
> The initrd was created using mkinitrd.  I requested that the following
> modules should loan on startup with the --preload option:
> 
>  - pata_it8213
>  - sata_sis
>  - pata_sis
>  - pata_sch
>  - pata_mpiix
>  - pata_it821x
>  - ata_generic
>  - dm-mod
>  - dm-multipath
>  - dm-mirror
>  - dm-log
>  - raid1
>  - raid456
>  - sr_mod
>  - aic94xx
>  - aic79xx
>  - aic7xxx
>  - scsi_transport_spi
>  - BusLogic
>  - mptbase
>  - mptsas
>  - mptspi
>  - mptctl
>  - mptfc
>  - mptlan
>  - mptscsih
> 
> 

I was too quick with the send button.  I forgot to include the kernel
output:

Creating block devices
Creating root device
Mounting root filesystem
EXT3-fs: unable to read superblock
mount: error 22 mounting ext3
pivotroot: pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) failed: 2
umount /initrd/proc failed: 2
Freeing unused kernel memory: 364k freed
Kernel panic - not syncing: No initial found. Try passing init= option
to kernel
Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 2.6.32.1 #1
Call Trace:
 [<c102b103>] panic+0x38/0xe4
 [<c1001235>] init_post+0xd3/0xd6
 [<c1427908>] kernel_init+0x83/0x8a
 [<c1427885>] ? kernel_init+0x0/0x8a
 [<c100340f>] kernel_thread_helper+0x7/0x10