[Bug 1817321] Re: installer does not support iSCSI iBFT

[Mauricio Faria de Oliveira]

Hi Eric,

Nice catch. Sorry about that!

Sure, just attached the partman-iscsi debdiffs with the LP bug mentioned
in changelog.

Thanks,
Mauricio

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Title:
  installer does not support iSCSI iBFT

Status in debian-installer package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Committed
Status in hw-detect package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in partman-iscsi package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in debian-installer source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in hw-detect source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Bionic:
  Fix Released
Status in partman-iscsi source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in debian-installer source package in Cosmic:
  Confirmed
Status in hw-detect source package in Cosmic:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Cosmic:
  Fix Released
Status in partman-iscsi source package in Cosmic:
  Confirmed
Status in debian-installer source package in Disco:
  Confirmed
Status in hw-detect source package in Disco:
  Confirmed
Status in linux source package in Disco:
  Fix Released
Status in partman-iscsi source package in Disco:
  Confirmed
Status in debian-installer source package in Eoan:
  Fix Committed
Status in hw-detect source package in Eoan:
  Fix Released
Status in linux source package in Eoan:
  Fix Released
Status in partman-iscsi source package in Eoan:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [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.

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