Bug 517868 - mkinitrd copies lvm.conf verbatim inside the initrd without parsing it properly
Summary: mkinitrd copies lvm.conf verbatim inside the initrd without parsing it properly
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Classification: Red Hat
Component: mkinitrd
Version: 5.3
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: rc
: 5.5
Assignee: Peter Jones
QA Contact: Alexander Todorov
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2009-08-17 15:38 UTC by Jon Thomas
Modified: 2018-10-27 15:52 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

Fixed In Version: 5.1.19.6-56
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2010-03-30 09:00:21 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2010:0295 0 normal SHIPPED_LIVE mkinitrd bug fix and enhancement update 2010-03-29 14:21:24 UTC

Description Jon Thomas 2009-08-17 15:38:50 UTC
Description of problem:


RHEL5 will no longer boot, because it will not be able to activate the root VG/LV, if lvm is configured to use host tags with the configuration below inside /etc/lvm/lvm.conf

tags { host_tags = 1 }

The problem happens because mkinitrd copies lvm.conf verbatim inside the initrd without parsing it properly. tags { host_tags = 1 } is not suitable inside initrd time even because hostname is not set.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

rhel 5.3

How reproducible:

with lvm

Steps to Reproduce:

  
1- Pick a pristine RHEL5 machine recently installed with a root filesystem on LVM

2- insert the configuration onto lvm.conf

tags { host_tags = 1 }

3- create the file /etc/lvm/lvm_`hostname`.conf and add the activation entries in there:

activation { volume_list=[ "VolGroup00", "@myhostname.localdomain"] }

4- Rebuild initrd

mkinitrd -f /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img `uname -r`

5- Reboot with new initrd

6- Notice a kernel panic because root vg was not activated.

Actual results:

kernel panic because root vg was not activated.
Expected results:
normal boot

Additional info:


A few options are available.

    1- creating an lvm.conf from lvm dumpconfig

lvm dumpconfig > initrd/etc/lvm/lvm.conf

    2- Another option is to use lvm dumpconfig and cherry pick what is more suitable.

lvm dumpconfig global > initrd/lvm/lvm.conf

    3- Another option entirely is to bypass having lvm.conf inside the initrd/init and doing:

# lvm vgscan --config 'devices{ filter = [ "a/mapper/", "r/.*/" ] }'
       # lvm vgchange -ay  VolGroup00 --config 'devices{ filter = [ "a/mapper/", "r/.*/" ] }'

This is similar to what is done in the article below:

http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-10146

Comment 2 Peter Jones 2009-08-18 14:13:33 UTC
This looks good to me.

Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2009-09-25 17:43:49 UTC
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release.  Product Management has requested
further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential
inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed
products.  This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update
release.

Comment 6 Peter Jones 2009-12-21 20:41:51 UTC
This should be resolved in mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-56 .

Comment 8 Alexander Todorov 2010-01-06 14:04:34 UTC
VERIFIED with mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-56


lvm.conf has:
tags { hosttags = 1 }

lvm_dhcp70-248.rhts.bos.redhat.com.conf has:

activation { volume_list=["VolGroup00", "@dhcp70-248.rhts.bos.redhat.com"]}


After running mkinitrd the system was able to boot into runlevel 3 without a kernel panic.

Comment 10 errata-xmlrpc 2010-03-30 09:00:21 UTC
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem
described in this bug report. This report is therefore being
closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information
on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files,
please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report
if the solution does not work for you.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2010-0295.html


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.