[Bug 1817321] [NEW] installer does not support iSCSI iBFT

Launchpad Bug Tracker 1817321 at bugs.launchpad.net
Wed May 22 16:22:58 UTC 2019


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[Impact]

 * It's not possible to access iBFT (iSCSI Boot Firmware Table) information
   (settings for network interface, initiator, and target) in the installer
   because the 'iscsi_ibft' module is not present in udeb packages.

 * Even if it was, the installer does not handle iBFT information at all,
   thus any settings are ignored, and iSCSI-related configuration has to
   be done manually or with workarounds.

 * This impacts user-experience and automatic installation on systems and
   deployments which actually do provide the iBFT feature and information,
   but cannot use it practically.

 * With proper iBFT support in the installer (kernel module in udeb package
   and automatic iSCSI-related configuration) users will be able to rely on
   iBFT to install/deploy Ubuntu on their servers and datacenters.

 * These fixes add the 'iscsi_ibft' kernel module in the scsi-modules udeb,
   and configure network/iSCSI according to iBFT information in disk-detect.

   This is done in disk-detect so that the iSCSI LUNs are detected as disks
   (useful in case of no other disks in the system so the installer doesn't
   complain nor wait too long) and that any partman-related preseed options
   are not required and may be still available for the user.

[Test Case]

 * linux package / kernel module in udeb:

   $ dpkg-deb -c scsi-modules_*.udeb | grep iscsi_ibft.ko

   Check the module loads in the installer environment.
   See comment with example for disco.

 * d-i/hw-detect/partman-iscsi package:
   See comments 11, 12, 13.

[Regression Potential]

 * linux package: low, the kernel module is not loaded by default,
   and only checks whether iBFT information is present in firmware,
   then exposes that in sysfs in read-only mode.

 * d-i/hw-detect/partman-iscsi:
   - d-i: kernel version update to include iscsi_ibft module,
          based on kernel released to -updates plus one week
          monitoring bug reports -- it should be OK.
          Tested on amd64/i386/arm64/ppc64el on QEMU, plus amd64
          on baremetal -- see comment 11.
   - hw-detect: low, the changes are enabled by a preseed option.
                see comment 12.
   - partman-iscsi: low, simple changes, plus one fix that has
                    been tested in detail, and falls back to
                    previous behavior if it fails.
                    see comment 13.

[Other Info]

 * This has been verified both by the developer with a simple iSCSI
   iBFT environment (2 VMs: iSCSI target & initiator with UEFI+iPXE)
   and by an user with system/firmware that supports iBFT for iSCSI.

** Affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: hw-detect (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: partman-iscsi (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu Bionic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: hw-detect (Ubuntu Bionic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu Bionic)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: partman-iscsi (Ubuntu Bionic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu Cosmic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: hw-detect (Ubuntu Cosmic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu Cosmic)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: partman-iscsi (Ubuntu Cosmic)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu Disco)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: hw-detect (Ubuntu Disco)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu Disco)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: partman-iscsi (Ubuntu Disco)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: debian-installer (Ubuntu Eoan)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: hw-detect (Ubuntu Eoan)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu Eoan)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: partman-iscsi (Ubuntu Eoan)
     Importance: Undecided
     Assignee: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira (mfo)
         Status: Confirmed


** Tags: patch verification-done-bionic verification-done-cosmic
-- 
installer does not support iSCSI iBFT
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1817321
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