Bug 726879

Summary: RFE: add cli option to mkinitrd to override wwid
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Reporter: Fred van Zwieten <fvzwieten>
Component: kernelAssignee: Red Hat Kernel Manager <kernel-mgr>
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX QA Contact: Red Hat Kernel QE team <kernel-qe>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 5.8CC: fvzwieten
Target Milestone: rcFlags: pm-rhel: needinfo? (fvzwieten)
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: Unspecified   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
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Last Closed: 2014-06-02 13:04:52 UTC Type: ---
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Fred van Zwieten 2011-07-30 09:21:05 UTC 
In boot-from-san setup's the init file in the initrd image has a line "multipath -v 0 <wwid>. This is the wwid of the boot/root filesystem from the running system. However, there are situations where one wants to have a different wwid in there:

1. as part of a migration to a different SAN environment, where the underlying LUN has been replicated. You'll want to generate a new initrd and create a corresponding GRUB entry to facilitate a fast a smooth migration.

2. as part of a cold-standby situation. The root/boot LUN is being permanently replicated to a storage array on a different site. When failing over, it would be nice to have a initrd ready to go with the WWID from the replicated LUN.

There is a knowledge base article about this situation: https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-17660

However this is using the rescue CD image as a method. This is rather time consuming, especially in lights-out environments where iso's must be mounted as virtual devices through management boards (really slow).

Currently, we modify and rebuild the initrd image by hand to make this work. If mkinitrd would support something like "--wwid=<wwid>" that would be great.

Because I have no intimate knowledge of dracut, i'm not sure I should file a RFE against 6.* as well.
Comment 1 RHEL Program Management 2014-03-07 12:41:32 UTC 
This bug/component is not included in scope for RHEL-5.11.0 which is the last RHEL5 minor release. This Bugzilla will soon be CLOSED as WONTFIX (at the end of RHEL5.11 development phase (Apr 22, 2014)). Please contact your account manager or support representative in case you need to escalate this bug.
Comment 2 RHEL Program Management 2014-06-02 13:04:52 UTC 
Thank you for submitting this request for inclusion in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. We've carefully evaluated the request, but are unable to include it in RHEL5 stream. If the issue is critical for your business, please provide additional business justification through the appropriate support channels (https://access.redhat.com/site/support).