[dmraid] trouble (plus LVM, plus multiboot)

[David Abrahams]

I'm trying to install Dapper using LVM over Raid 1 (I'm trying to be
very conservative about data management on this server).

I've been following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FakeRaidHowto, with the
obvious exception that I create an LVM physical volume, volume group,
and multiple logical volumes instead of using gparted or fdisk to
partition the disk.

So far, a few things needed adjustment, which I'll publicize once I'm
finished.  However, I'm having the same problem described in this note
from the HOWTO, and the workaround it describes isn't working out for
me.

  **Temporary Note to other editors: when I tested this howto with
    6.06 LTS on 1 June 2006, the install of dmraid failed
    (--configure), indicating it was unable to start the dmraid
    initscript. This may have been some kind of error on my part. I
    was able to fix this with dpkg-reconfigure dmraid, so I add it
    here as a possibily useful tip should this turn out to be systemic
    problem that others encounter. Also, install dmraid first, then
    the kernel, in order to use the initramfs scripts that are now
    part of the 6.06 distrubution. This is based on one 6.06 test --
    please correct/edit this as appropriate.**

It seems a bit logical to me that the dmraid daemon would fail to
start during installation; after all it's already running -- and it
has to be -- so we can write the new installation to the RAID array.

Now, I could try

     /etc/init.d/dmraid stop
     dpkg-reconfigure dmraid
     /etc/init.d/dmraid start

but I'm a little worried that if I stop dmraid and actually *do*
anything that changes the system state, the change won't have the
benefit of RAID mirroring and I'll corrupt my array.

Anyone got a clue for me?

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com