Problem with Ubuntu 24 and RAID
Posted by Electronic-Unit2808@reddit | linuxadmin | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Is anyone having RAID trouble when installing Ubuntu 24 on a recent PowerEdge server?
My configuration:
Server: PowerEdge R470
HDD: 2x2TB (1 as hot swapp)
For my installation I need a custom storage setup, but Ubuntu 24 installation keeps showing this "unsupported partition table" message, and when I choose the formatting option, the installer restarts from scratch.
I've already tried RAIDO and RAID1, but I face the same error.
paulstelian97@reddit
At this point I’d go the manual way: setup the raid or whatever custom configuration, use debootstrap to install the base system, chroot correctly (with the correct bind mounts), install kernel and set up bootloader, set up the user(s) manually, install GUI packages if needed (eventually a metapackage like ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop or something; I guess server metapackages exist; debootstrap just does ubuntu-minimal)
As someone who’s done Arch installs, the only thing I miss is the arch-chroot command which does the correct bind mounts for me.
Electronic-Unit2808@reddit (OP)
But I need to manually configure the Linux partitions, that's the problem, and then this "error" appears saying that the partition is incorrect.
In another post, someone suggested formatting the virtual disk I created BEFORE installing Ubuntu; I'll test that.
paulstelian97@reddit
Why RAID inside a virtual disk?
darthgeek@reddit
"virtual disk" is what Dell calls the disk device made from the RAID.
paulstelian97@reddit
That is very weird of them.
darthgeek@reddit
It's just a colloquialism. It's not that weird. they've been doing it for literal decades.
Electronic-Unit2808@reddit (OP)
"RAID inside a virtual disk"? Sorry if it seemed like that's what I said, pardon me, no, I created a RAID1 WITH a 2TB virtual disk.
paulstelian97@reddit
I still don’t see the point. RAID is something you should only do with physical disks.
Electronic-Unit2808@reddit (OP)
Sorry if it seemed like that's what I said, but no.
What I did was: I created a RAID1 with 2TB from two physical 2TB disks. One of the two fisical disks I configured as "hot spare"
Niouke@reddit
I don't see the point either, if you already have a RAID layer you don't need to configure a raid in the VM, it will only see one disk that is already "safe"
darthgeek@reddit
He's not creating VMs. Dell RAID presents the RAIDed disks as one "virtual disk".
paulstelian97@reddit
And then made the virtual disks as a file on top of that RAID? Then there’s no point in having the VM know about the RAID in the first place, so it’s irrelevant for the installer…
LameBMX@reddit
Idrac. setup raid in the controller. it will appear as a single physical disk to the OS.
you have a proper raid controller, use that instead of software raid.
Electronic-Unit2808@reddit (OP)
That's exactly the problem that I'm facing, I created a RAID1 of 2TB (from 2 fisical 2TB HDDs), and Linux isn't able to use it, in the installation process it is showing format error...
LameBMX@reddit
you just made a raid array. you now have to partition the disk. if its like the old stuff they basic OS will only see the raid array as what it was defined. you would need the controller driver and tools to see anything more.
maybe I got the question wrong.
Electronic-Unit2808@reddit (OP)
No, I haven't partitioned yet, I only tried to partition using the installer...
drunkenjunkconstruct@reddit
did this on my r740, long disk labels were the culprit, blank screen in the console until i shortened them
StyleSharp5443@reddit
The new Ubuntu installer is a nightmare for anything that isn't a basic single-drive setup. I had the same loop on an R640 last week. I ended up using the automated "Autoinstall" (cloud-init) method just to bypass the buggy UI storage screen. Also, double check if your PowerEdge is in UEFI mode; BIOS legacy support is basically dead weight for 24.04.
drunkenjunkconstruct@reddit
ran `mdadm --assemble --scan` in the live session before launching installer, fixed it
Taledo@reddit
I've had trouble with the Ubuntu server installer straight up crashing if the disks had previous LVM partitions before.
Good luck