Bug 752261

Summary:	cannot create partitions - disk type is "software raid"
Product:	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Reporter:	Konstantin Olchanski <olchansk>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Release Test Team <release-test-team>
Severity:	unspecified	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	6.1
Target Milestone:	rc
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2011-11-14 05:08:16 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Konstantin Olchanski 2011-11-08 23:52:02 UTC

Cannot install RHEL6.1 on second-hand disks - RHEL6.1 installer proceeds normally until disk partitioning using "custom layout", where both disks are listed as "type - software raid" and the "create partition" dialogs show both disks as "unavailable".

As a work around one can use the "use all available space" mode, where it correctly overwrites both disks with nonsense LVM partitions which I have to manually delete, then recreate normal partitions (I have 2 identical disks, RHEL should be smart enough to DWIM that I want everything mirrored across the 2 disks - instead of having these silly LVM partitions concatenating both disks together into one effective RAID0 array).

Note that the RHEL installer does correctly recognize that in their previous lives, both disks were part of a raid array.

But at the point of installing RHEL, there should be an option to override this finding.

K.O.

Comment 2 Chris Lumens 2011-11-10 00:06:25 UTC

As a rule, we do not attempt to use degraded RAID arrays, or ones that look to otherwise be incomplete - like what I think is going on here.  Could you please be more specific as to exactly what you are doing, though?

Comment 3 David Lehman 2011-11-10 17:31:00 UTC

If you want anaconda to create new disklabels on your disks, choose "Use all space" or "Use entire drive" and also activate the "Review and modify partitions" checkbox. That will get you a default layout which you can then edit to your heart's content.

Comment 4 Konstantin Olchanski 2011-11-12 06:32:53 UTC

(In reply to comment #3)
> If you want anaconda to create new disklabels on your disks, choose "Use all
> space" or "Use entire drive" and also activate the "Review and modify
> partitions" checkbox. That will get you a default layout which you can then
> edit to your heart's content.

Yes, thanks. It took me 6 months to figure out this workaround.

My previous solution was to "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/new_disk" to make RHEL installer recognize my disk as an empty disk. Requires connecting the disk to a spare computer and twiddling thumbs for a few hours while dd grinds away. On the bright side, this also does a disk surface scan and clears out all bad sectors...

K.O.

Comment 5 Konstantin Olchanski 2011-11-12 06:40:56 UTC

(In reply to comment #2)
> Could you please be more specific as to exactly what you are doing, though?


I am trying to install RHEL on second hand disks. Those second hand disks used to be part of a raid array, so the installer flags them as "type - software raid" and refuses to use them. And there is no button to say "please use these disks anyway".

The workaround using the "use all space" mode is not obvious, it is scary and I think it will erase every disk connected to the machine (well, at least repartition them).

Another workaround is to erase those disks before running the linux installer.


K.O.

Comment 6 Chris Lumens 2011-11-14 05:08:16 UTC

We're not going to include a UI element to allow you to use the disks anyway.  This is bound to result in people selecting it who shouldn't, and ending up with their degraded RAID array getting wiped instead of being used like they think should happen.