[CentOS] anaconda in centOS 4 fails to read md raid arrays

Tue Jun 7 07:10:35 UTC 2005
Feizhou <feizhou at graffiti.net>

Johnny Hughes wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-06-06 at 16:05 +0800, Feizhou wrote:
> 
>>Has anybody encountered this problem?
>>
>>I have a box that has FC2 installed. I wanted to trash the FC2 
>>installation and install CentOS 4.
>>
>>I have a pxeboot/dhcp/kickstart environment and so I tried automatic 
>>disk partitioning (clear all partitions and then create new ones), 
>>manual disk partitioning but everything else is automated and finally, 
>>zero automation, just a manual installation through VNC.
>>
>>Once I reach a part that touchs disk, the process will stop and end up with:
>>
>>  Traceback (most recent call last):
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/gui.py", line 
>>789, in nextClicked
>>     self.dispatch.gotoNext()
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/dispatch.py", 
>>line 171, in gotoNext
>>     self.moveStep()
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/dispatch.py", 
>>line 239, in moveStep
>>     rc = apply(func, self.bindArgs(args))
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/partitioning.py", 
>>line 54, in partitionObjectsInitialize
>>     partitions.setFromDisk(diskset)
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/partitions.py", 
>>line 140, in setFromDisk
>>     diskset.startAllRaid()
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/partedUtils.py", 
>>line 542, in startAllRaid
>>     DiskSet.mdList.extend(raid.startAllRaid(driveList))
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/raid.py", line 
>>106, in startAllRaid
>>     mdList = scanForRaid(driveList)
>>   File "/var/tmp/anaconda-10.1.1.13//usr/lib/anaconda/raid.py", line 
>>56, in scanForRaid
>>     (major, minor, raidSet, level, nrDisks, totalDisks, mdMinor) =\
>>   File "/usr/lib/anaconda/isys.py", line 97, in raidsb
>>     return raidsbFromDevice("/tmp/md")
>>   File "/usr/lib/anaconda/isys.py", line 103, in raidsbFromDevice
>>     rc = _isys.getraidsb(fd)
>>SystemError: (5, 'Input/output error')
> 
> 
> I had a similar problem with a ppc install on RHEL. I think (but I am
> not 100% positive) that it is a LVM1 / LVM2 compatibility issue. 

No LVM here. As you can see from the traceback, it is all RAID related.
> 
> What I had to do was use fdisk and wipe the partitions and then I
> recreated them in anaconda using the raid and lvm tools in anaconda.  

You don't get good old fdisk via serial console or VNC...it is all 
crappy disk druid or autopartition. I wish fdisk was still an option...
> 
> I have never actually had that problem on CentOS-4, but it is the same
> code, so I'm sure it happens in C4 too.

well, the thing is, Fedora Core 2 reinstallation was a snap after the 
botched CentOS 4 installation. kickstart all the way through.