Install Using USB DVD

[carnold6]

OK, i installed SLES11 on our PE 2850 using a USB DVD as the server does not have a dvd drive. After the install, it will not boot past waiting for /dev/sdb2 to appear......want me to fall back to /dev/sdb2? And if you answer Y or N it ends at bash prompt $. I need to somehow tell SLES11 to not worry about sdb2 or split the dvd into CD's. Anyway to do 1 of these 2?

[magic31]

carnold6;2162455 wrote:
OK, i installed SLES11 on our PE 2850 using a USB DVD as the server does not have a dvd drive. After the install, it will not boot past waiting for /dev/sdb2 to appear......want me to fall back to /dev/sdb2? And if you answer Y or N it ends at bash prompt $. I need to somehow tell SLES11 to not worry about sdb2 or split the dvd into CD's. Anyway to do 1 of these 2?

It's not so much about your installation media, but what your system's BIOS does with the device layout when booting from USB.

While installing (and booting) from USB, the USB device was defined as /dev/sda (as it's presented as primary boot device by the BIOS) and what actually is your regular primary boot drive was defined as /dev/sdb. << and the bootloader was set to load from /dev/sdb*.
(Re)booting the system from it's primary drive (without USB acting as boot device), that primary drive is now using the /dev/sda definition. << so the set /dev/sdb* bootloader configuration is incorrect, pointing to the wrong boot device.

To get past this, either modify the boot.1st, fstab and device.map to correct the /dev/sdb* entries to /dev/sda* using the rescue option of the SLES install DVD (also see : Good Things To Know When Imaging Linux To Different Hardware | DiWi ), or reinstall and make sure the partitioning and boot is set to use disk-by-uuid instead of the traditional /dev/sd* definitions.

Hope that helps,
Willem

[carnold6]

I took your advice and reinstalled using a internal DVD drive that i found and worked. However, i get the same error as when installing from the USB DVD. I am going to try the rescue option from the install DVD and change those pointers. I just want to point out the drive config and hardware installed:
2 arrays - Array 0 has swap and root. Array 1 has /opt
Hardware - Perc 4e/DI, some Sil controller for virtual drives and a DRAC 4/I

[carnold6]

The fstab did not have any pointers to sd**, so i left that alone. I tried a "repair" and this corrected some boot loader stuff but i get the same error on reboot. When i boot from the install DVD and install SLES11, the partitioning has sdb and sdc. Sdb is (sdb1)swap and (sdb2)/ and sdc is /opt. Could this be a driver problem?

[carnold6]

I also need to point out that array 0 is raid 1 and array 1 is raid 5

[carnold6]

OK, as if i was not already confused, i surely am now! I installed SLES11 using the defaults; meaning i accepted the default partitioning, which was / on sdc and swap on sdb. Now when booting the server, i get the grub menu of SLES11, failsafe and an extra one SLES11 on sdc? I select sdc and am presented with another grub menu of SLES11 and failsafe, i of course select SLES11 and the server boots! So i am partitioning the drives wrong? As stated earlier, array 0 (raid 1) is 2GB swap and the rest /. Array 1 (raid 5) is /opt. In this config, server does not boot. I also switched array 0 around and made sdb1=/ and sdb2=swap and array 1=/opt. This config gives me a kernel panic. Maybe someone could help clear up the partitioning mess i have going?

[magic31]

carnold6;2162681 wrote:
OK, as if i was not already confused, i surely am now! I installed SLES11 using the defaults; meaning i accepted the default partitioning, which was / on sdc and swap on sdb. Now when booting the server, i get the grub menu of SLES11, failsafe and an extra one SLES11 on sdc? I select sdc and am presented with another grub menu of SLES11 and failsafe, i of course select SLES11 and the server boots! So i am partitioning the drives wrong? As stated earlier, array 0 (raid 1) is 2GB swap and the rest /. Array 1 (raid 5) is /opt. In this config, server does not boot. I also switched array 0 around and made sdb1=/ and sdb2=swap and array 1=/opt. This config gives me a kernel panic. Maybe someone could help clear up the partitioning mess i have going?

Frustrating indeed!

The partition setup you intend to make (with swap / and /opt) is fine. With what you are describing it looks like the system can boot as the reinstall added an entry for the previous install (as it seems) and makes it work... but I'd see that as a 'lucky' side affect.

If you want, please post the output of the following commands on the running system:

fdisk -l
cat /etc/fstab
cat /boot/grub/menu.1st

-Willem

[carnold6]

magic31;2162831 wrote:

fdisk -l
cat /etc/fstab
cat /boot/grub/menu.1st

fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 109.9 GB, 109911736320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13362 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000b5d8b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb2 263 13362 105225750 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 36.6 GB, 36637245440 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4454 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000d636

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4454 35776723+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdd: 16.0 GB, 16049504256 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1951 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd16fd16f

cat /etc/fstab
UUID=1fad0611-2225-43dc-b2d5-dbbeefd49ce7 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
UUID=b0087d19-1864-4d7e-94c4-b2cca383e17e /opt ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0


cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Dec 20 17:25:46 EST 2011
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 - 2.6.32.12-0.7
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.12-0.7-default root=/dev/sdb1 splash=silent crashkernel=256M-:128M showopts vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.32.12-0.7-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 - 2.6.32.12-0.7
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.12-0.7-default root=/dev/sdb1 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.32.12-0.7-default

I have since installed without a swap partition and the server now boots, kinda. Here is some of the screen output after i select SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 - 2.6.32.12-0.7 from the boot menu:
graphic goes off and seen is text scrolling by:
find usb stuff.....
mount: devpts already mounted
mount: according to mtab, devpts is already mounted
boot logging started
resume device not found (ignoring)
waiting for device /dev/sdb1 to appear
find usb stuff......
............could not find /dev/sdb1
want me to fallback to /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:02:0e-scsi-0:2:0:0-part1? (Y/n)
I answer yes, and the system boots to desktop.
Thanks for any help!