[Bug 1335642] Re: mdadm runs into infinite loop and prevents initrd/initramfs phase to finish on boot

[vak]

** Description changed:

  Hi all,
  
  probably the issue is caused by changing the SATA-port where RAID disks
  were originally attached -- this is the only thing that happened before
  my Ubuntu 14.04 (kernel-3.13.0-27) became unbootable.
  
- 
- During the boot the OS runs into infinite loop reporting from time to time these:
+ During the boot the OS runs into infinite loop reporting from time to
+ time these:
  
  incrementally starting raid arrays
- mdadm: Create user root not found 
- mdadm: create group disk not found 
+ mdadm: Create user root not found
+ mdadm: create group disk not found
  incrementally started raid arrays
  
  Since mdadm is in initrd image, I don't even know how to skip mdadm --
  workarounds are very welcome, please!
  
  For example, renaming /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf in initrd image didn't help,
  mdadm then just repeats infinitely without group/user-related errors:
  
  incrementally starting raid arrays
  incrementally started raid arrays
  incrementally starting raid arrays
  incrementally started raid arrays
  ...
  
  Disks are successfully assembled into a RAID under LiveCD Ubuntu 13 (yes
  , i have only old CD here)
  
  Why I consider this a bug? because my RAID-array is needed at
  application level, not on OS-level (e.g. it is not mounted as / or
  /boot). So, if one can't boot into OS it is a serious bug. Last but not
  least, I was never choosing to put mdadm into initramfs, so it is a
  decision taken by default that leads to not-bootable system...
+ 
+ UPDATE1:
+ in scripts/mdadm-functions of initrd image i see this:
+ 
+ mountroot_fail()
+ {
+     message "Incrementally starting RAID arrays..."
+     if mdadm --incremental --run --scan; then
+         message "Incrementally started RAID arrays."
+         return 0
+     else        
+         if mdadm --assemble --scan --run; then
+             message "Assembled and started RAID arrays."
+             return 0
+         else
+             message "Could not start RAID arrays in degraded mode."
+         fi
+     fi
+     return 1
+ }
+ 
+ i tried 'mdadm --incremental --run --scan -c <path to
+ etc/dmadm/dmadm.conf of initrd image> -v' and it exits silently without
+ creating /dev/md/127 as I have expected.
+ 
+ Whereas
+ 
+ sudo mdadm --assemble --run --scan -c ./etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf -v
+ 
+ Does the job. Is it an issue just of incremental mode?

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1335642

Title:
  mdadm runs into infinite loop and prevents initrd/initramfs phase to
  finish on boot

Status in “mdadm” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Hi all,

  probably the issue is caused by changing the SATA-port where RAID
  disks were originally attached -- this is the only thing that happened
  before my Ubuntu 14.04 (kernel-3.13.0-27) became unbootable.

  During the boot the OS runs into infinite loop reporting from time to
  time these:

  incrementally starting raid arrays
  mdadm: Create user root not found
  mdadm: create group disk not found
  incrementally started raid arrays

  Since mdadm is in initrd image, I don't even know how to skip mdadm --
  workarounds are very welcome, please!

  For example, renaming /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf in initrd image didn't
  help, mdadm then just repeats infinitely without group/user-related
  errors:

  incrementally starting raid arrays
  incrementally started raid arrays
  incrementally starting raid arrays
  incrementally started raid arrays
  ...

  Disks are successfully assembled into a RAID under LiveCD Ubuntu 13
  (yes , i have only old CD here)

  Why I consider this a bug? because my RAID-array is needed at
  application level, not on OS-level (e.g. it is not mounted as / or
  /boot). So, if one can't boot into OS it is a serious bug. Last but
  not least, I was never choosing to put mdadm into initramfs, so it is
  a decision taken by default that leads to not-bootable system...

  UPDATE1:
  in scripts/mdadm-functions of initrd image i see this:

  mountroot_fail()
  {
      message "Incrementally starting RAID arrays..."
      if mdadm --incremental --run --scan; then
          message "Incrementally started RAID arrays."
          return 0
      else        
          if mdadm --assemble --scan --run; then
              message "Assembled and started RAID arrays."
              return 0
          else
              message "Could not start RAID arrays in degraded mode."
          fi
      fi
      return 1
  }

  i tried 'mdadm --incremental --run --scan -c <path to
  etc/dmadm/dmadm.conf of initrd image> -v' and it exits silently
  without creating /dev/md/127 as I have expected.

  Whereas

  sudo mdadm --assemble --run --scan -c ./etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf -v

  Does the job. Is it an issue just of incremental mode?

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