Installing on software RAID without CD ROM does not work

[Matthias Brennwald]

Dear all

I believe there is a nasty error in the text-based installer (Ubuntu 10.04). Here's my situation:
- I have a machine without a CD drive
- The machine has 5 SATA slots, and I want to combine the 5 drives into a MD RAID array (software RAID level 5)
- I want to install the system onto the RAID array

According to the documentation, I need the alternate (text based) installer to setup the RAID before installing the system onto the RAID. The standard (graphic) installer does not allow setting up a RAID. I therefore downloaded the alternate installer ISO file and used this with the "Make startup disk" utility (in the "Administration" menu) to make a bootable disk (I used an external USB hard drive). I did this on an existing Ubuntu install on a machine I already had. I then attached the external USB drive to the machine where I wanted to install Ubuntu on the RAID and booted up. The installeer came up fine and I started the installation process. The process halted when it could not find a CD drive, and asked me to manually select the missing CD ROM drivers. I could not get past this point because the installer insisted in having a CD drive. The only solution was to borrowed an external USB CD drive, burn the ISO to a CD and use this instead the USB harddisk to install Ubuntu.

I do not understand why the installer insists in having a CD drive around. I was lucky I could borrow a CD drive, but I think it should be possible to install without a CD ROM using the alternate installer for those who cannot easily borrow a CD drive. Installation without CD drive DOES work with the graphical installer, which, however lacks the ability to set up a RAID (this is also something I do not understand).

I am not saying this is a bug, but it is certainly something that needs to be addressed. How / where can I report this problem so that someone can take care of it?

Matthias


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Matthias Brennwald
Eawag, CH-8600 Dübendorf
Office Eawag BU-C08: +41 44 823 53 05
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matthias.brennwald at eawag.ch