13.10 64-bit server: problems with software RAID partitioning option

[Patrick Goetz]

So far I've installed 13.10 64-bit server on 2 different machines.  In 
each case, I want / on a software RAID 1.

The first server is a Thinkmate superMicro based box with 2 OCZ SATA 
drives.  In this case, I was able to install the software RAID without a 
hitch.

The second server is a Dell Poweredge R610 with 2 69GB SAS drives 
attached to Dell SAS 6 host bus adapter.  In this case, the system 
install seems to go well, but then the machine won't boot.  On my first 
install attempt, I never got a console.  On the second attempt, I hang 
at a grub rescue prompt:

Error:
file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found
Grub rescue>

None of the grub rescue commands work, indicating that grub isn't 
finding anything.  Oddly, even if I don't try and put / on a software 
RAID (i.e. I just install the system to the first disk), I don't get a 
bootable server -- i.e. I never get a console.  However, if I remove the 
second disk from the machine and try the install again, everything works 
properly.

As a side note (because I've seen this with previous versions of the 
server OS), why is it that a software RAID 1 configured from the 
installer sometimes comes up as /dev/md0 and sometimes as /dev/md127, 
seemingly randomly?  And I've even had it change from /dev/md127 to 
/dev/md0 after the first sytem reboot.

I'm not sure if I should file this a bug on launchpad.  The workarounds 
are to install the OS on the system with only one disk, put the second 
disk back in and convert to software RAID 1 after the fact or boot from 
a Live CD and try and fix the grub-install (I'm pretty confident about 
the first option, not so much the first one.)