[Bug 485604] Re: karmic server 64 bit installer fails at GRUB when installing with RAID1

[Curtis Hovey]

** No longer affects: null

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Title:
  karmic server 64 bit installer fails at GRUB when installing with
  RAID1

Status in grub-installer:
  New
Status in “grub-installer” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: ubiquity

  'lsb_release -rd Description:    Ubuntu 9.10, Release:        9.10
  Linux 2.6.31-14-server #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 15:07:34 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

  when installing karmic server 64 bit with RAID1 installer always fails at installing GRUB.
  Tried on three different mobos, one amd 64 bit, one with intel core 2 and one with ICH10 and intel i7
   all fail at the same step.

  STEPS to REPRO
  --------------------------
  download ubuntu 9.10 server (2.6.31-14-server)
  do checksum against the downloaded image
  burn image on cd
  boot to cd
  check cd
  run install ubuntu

  set ip etc
  set tz
  partitioner:

  choose manual
  partition sda
   #1 6gb beginning, use as: physical volume for RAID
   #2 100 gb beginning, use as: physical volume for RAID

  (attempts to set bootable flag on here failed)

  
  partition sdb
   #1 6gb beginning, use as: physical volume for RAID
   #2 100 gb beginning, use as: physical volume for RAID

  move back up the menu to "Configure software RAID"
  answer Yes to "write changes to the storage devices and configure RAID"
  Create MD device  choose RAID1, 2 devices,0 spares
  select
  /dev/sda1   (6000MB; raid)
  /dev/sdb1   (6000MB; raid)
  press enter
  Create MD device  choose RAID1, 2 devices,0 spares
  select
  /dev/sda2   (100000MB; raid)
  /dev/sdb2   (100000MB; raid)
  press enter
  Finish <enter>
  (|starting up the partner| scanning disks…)

  Choose RAID1 device #0 - 6.0 GB Software RAID device
           #1     6.0 GB
  select use as: swap area
  Choose RAID1 device #1 - 100.0 GB Software RAID device
           #1     100.0 GB
  *select 
    use as: ext4 journaling file system
    mount point: /

  *Select "Finish partitioning and write changes to disk" <enter>
  *Select 'Yes" to "Do you want to boot your system if your RAID becomes degraded?"

  *Select "Yes" to "write the changes to disks?"

  
  creating ext4 file system on …  

  installing the base system…

  *enter username, password for new user
  *encrypt home <no>
  *configuring apt..
  *HTTP proxy <blank>
  configuring apt 
  retrieving (28 files)

  *select and install software
    no automatic updates
  retrieving file 1of 3…
  choose software to instal. <don't choose any>
  retrieving file 1of 142…
  97% cleaning up…

  installing grub2 package
  retrieving file 1 of 3

  Configuring grub-pc
  Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
  Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda failed.
  This is a fatal error. 
  ----------------------------
  What I expected to happen:
  GRUB would install and then a reboot would take me into the new system
  -------------------------
  After reading this bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-meta/+bug/436340  I tried regular grub but same outcome.
  I think the fix from that bug may have only been applied to the desktop version as grub2 was in the installer I used.

  But from there I found where to look for the logs and  found in the syslog these lines here:
  Nov 19 18:59:05 grub-installer: grub-setup: warn: This GPT partition label has no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible!
  Nov 19 18:59:05 grub-installer: grub-setup: error: Embedding is not possible, but this is required when the root device is on a RAID array or LVM volume.
   so I think this is related to a doc bug I filed before doing all thhe above https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/477167

  From that error I figured I could use a separate non-RAID /boot with
  the bootable flag set then the install went flawlessly. However that
  route requires a bunch of tweaking to get the system booting from both
  drives.

  attached is the syslog, I'll add partman in the next comment as this post only allows on attachment
  Note that the logs attached are for a slightly different partition layout but the results for the RAID test case which is what I described above were exactly the same.

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