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cypher_zero

Member

Registered: 2014-10-23

Posts: 50

Raid setup - Unable to boot

I'm setting up a new computer with Arch for the first time and I've got 4 SSDs that I'm trying to set up in a RAID config with /boot on an mdadm raid1 and LVM on raid10. 

I've done nearly the exact same setup twice before on different hardware, but for some reason, this time it's not working.  The computer doesn't see the SSDs as bootable

Here's what my setup looks like:

4 drives partitioned accordingly:
  GPT Partition Table
   `1 MB free space
   `Partition 1 - 1MB unpartitioned.  Flag as “bios_grub”
   `Partition 2 - 1GB.  Will become mdadm raid1 [/dev/md0] then formatted as ext2 for /boot 
   `Partition 3 - [rest of drive]. Will become mdadm raid10 then formatted to LVM
      `Logical volume - swapLV (16GB)
      `Logical volume - archLV (60GB).  Formatted as ext4 for / (root).
      `Logical volume - dataLV (the rest). Formatted as BTRFS
           `BTRFS sub-vol - @data => mounted as /data
           `BTRFS sub-vol - @home => mounted as /home

Commands used to setup partitions:
  parted /dev/sdX
	mklabel gpt
	mkpart primary 1mb 2mb
	mkpart primary 2mb 1024mb
	mkpart primary 1024mb 100%
	set 1 bios_grub on

Here's the exact sequence of commands, etc. that I used after partitioning to setup the system:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 -c 512 --raid-devices=4 --metadata=1.0 /dev/sd[abcd]2
mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=10 -c 64 --layout=f2 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sd[abcd]3

pvcreate /dev/md1
vgcreate vg1 /dev/md1
lvcreate -n swapLV -L 16GB vg1
lvcreate -n archLV -L 80GB vg1
lvcreate -n dataLV -l +100%FREE vg1

mkswap /dev/vg1/swapLV
swapon /dev/vg1/swapLV

mke2fs -t ext4 -E stride=32,stripe_width=64 /dev/vg1/archLV
mke2fs -t ext2 /dev/md0
mkfs.btrfs /dev/vg1/dataLV

mount /dev/vg1/archLV /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/btrfs-dataLV
mkdir -p /mnt/home
mkdir -p /mnt/data
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/md0 /mnt/boot
mount /dev/vg1/dataLV /mnt/btrfs-dataLV

# Create subvolumes for data and home:
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/btrfs-dataLV/@data
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/btrfs-dataLV/@home

# Get subvolid for @data and @home:
btrfs subvolume list -p /mnt/btrfs-dataLV

# Mount @home and @data subvolumes using the subvolid:
mount -o subvolid=[ID for @home] /dev/vg1/dataLV /mnt/home
mount -o subvolid=[ID for @data] /dev/vg1/dataLV /mnt/data

# Setup Mulitlib (run 32-bit apps): 
  ` Uncommented the [multilib] section in /etc/pacman.conf

# Install base software packages:
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel mdadm grub os-prober nvidia vim xorg-server sddm plasma-meta firefox lynx kde-applications libreoffice-fresh zsh bash-completion openssh rsync k3b dvd+rw-tools gparted btrfs-progs dosfstools remmina freerdp p7zip zip unzip 

genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Eastern /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc --utc
echo [hostname] > /etc/hostname
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable sddm

nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
  `add to MODULES: dm_mod
  `add to HOOKS (after “block”): mdadm_udev lvm2
mkinitcpio -p linux

passwd

groupadd sudo 
useradd -m -G sudo UserName
visudo -f /etc/sudoers
  `uncomment the line to allow sudo group root permissions
passwd UserName
grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda
grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sdb
grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sdc
grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sdd
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

exit
reboot

Everything seems to install correctly and I get no errors during the setup. 

I've tried setting up the raid1 with "--metadata=0.9", which didn't seem to have any effect.  I've also tried setting it up using MSDOS partitioning table instead of GPT, but again, I haven't had problems with GPT when I've set this up in the past.  I even went so far as to do a basic ubuntu install on another drive and make sure that would boot to ensure there isn't anything wrong with the system itself and that came right up.

At this point, I'm stumped.  Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by cypher_zero (2016-12-09 17:02:57)

cypher_zero

Member

Registered: 2014-10-23

Posts: 50

Re: Raid setup - Unable to boot

Quick update:
I tried getting rid of the raid1 and just doing a standard partion for /boot on /dev/sda1 and reinstalling GRUB.  Still no dice, but it looks like it's not a raid issue as near as I can tell.  Still stumped though.

Some hardware info:
The computer is a work-provided HP EliteDesk 800 G2.  The SSDs are Samsung EVO 850 500GB drives.

Last edited by cypher_zero (2016-12-09 18:05:58)

cypher_zero

Member

Registered: 2014-10-23

Posts: 50

Re: Raid setup - Unable to boot

Another update:

I'm now thinking that the bios doesn't like my SSDs, which seems weird, but that's the only thing I can think at this point.

For testing purposes, I tried installing Ubuntu to another SSD, and it booted right up.  Installing to the raid fails. 

I also rebuilt my home computer over the weekend using almost exactly the same Arch setup (6 SSDs instead of 4; put / [root] partion on a subvolume of the BTRFS LV instead of it's own LV) but different hardware,and that worked flawlessly.

So, yeah.  As near as I can tell at this point, my config and setup should be correct; it's gotta be a hardware and/or BIOS thing on the HP EliteDesk 800 G2.

Last edited by cypher_zero (2016-12-12 17:45:51)