preseed installation with RAID + LVM fails on Lucid 10.04

[lemsx1]

(Update: created a bug in Launchpad as nobody seems to have an answer to this. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-auto-raid/+bug/591909 )
(Update2: there is now a work around for this problem. see last comment or launchpad bug from the previous URL)

I'm getting the following issues when preseeding a system with 2 (exact same disks) as mirrors with LVM:

1. "d-i partman/confirm boolean true" is not recognize and I get asked to confirm overwriting the partition tables (I'm puzzled by this)

2. after everything installs, the system reboots and the second disk is added to /dev/md1 as a RAID physical device! This destroys everything and initramfs displays error

These 2 are probably bugs. I have not tried opening bugs for them.

I can easily fix this manually after the installation is done (using a Live CD). However, this is not what I'm intending to do with a unattended installation!

This is the relevant information from the preseed file I'm using:

### Partitioning
# 2009-10-20 14:30 EDT
d-i partman-auto/method string raid

# If one of the disks that are going to be automatically partitioned
# contains an old LVM configuration, the user will normally receive a
# warning. This can be preseeded away...
# This makes partman automatically partition without confirmation.

# Write the changes to the storage devices and configure RAID?
d-i partman-md/confirm boolean true

# Write a new empty partition table?
#d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true

# Remove existing software RAID partitions?
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true

# Write the changes to disks and configure LVM?
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true

d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true

# Write the changes to disks?
d-i partman/confirm boolean true

d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda /dev/sdb

d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm_span boolean true

d-i partman-auto-lvm/new_vg_name string bootdisk

d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string max

# Notes:
# - partitions are created in the order they are defined
# - higher priority takes precendence
# - highest priority number chosen is 5,000
# - very impotant!! do not leave spaces after \ or it won't work
# RAID:
# /dev/md0 -> /boot -> 100M - 256MB (high priority)
# /dev/md1 -> LVM VG bootdisk -> 500M - 1T (high priority)
# LVM:
# /dev/mapper/bootdisk-root -> / -> 5G - 1T (high priority)
# /dev/mapper/bootdisk-swap_1 -> swap -> 3G - 3 times size of RAM (high priority)
#
# Last you need to specify how the previously defined partitions will be
# used in the RAID setup. Remember to use the correct partition numbers
# for logical partitions.
# Parameters are:
# <raidtype> <devcount> <sparecount> <fstype> <mountpoint> \
# <devices> <sparedevices>
# RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 are supported; devices are separated using "#"
d-i partman-auto-raid/recipe string \
1 2 0 ext4 /boot \
/dev/sda1#/dev/sdb1 \
. \
1 2 0 lvm / \
/dev/sda2#/dev/sdb2 \
.

# RAID partitions are tagged as "lvmignore"
# and LVM logical volumes as "defaultignore" and "lvmok"
d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string \
multiraid :: \
100 512 256 raid \
$lvmignore{ } \
$primary{ } \
method{ raid } \
. \
900 5000 1000000000 raid \
$lvmignore{ } \
$primary{ } \
method{ raid } \
. \
700 5000 1000000000 ext4 \
$defaultignore{ } \
$lvmok{ } \
method{ format } \
format{ } \
use_filesystem{ } \
filesystem{ ext4 } \
options/relatime{ relatime } \
mountpoint{ / } \
. \
256 3000 300% linux-swap \
$defaultignore{ } \
$lvmok{ } \
method{ swap } \
format{ } \
.


mdadm mdadm/boot_degraded boolean true

[joker-]

I am having the same problem. I am trying to do unattended PXE installation inside Virtualbox (one server guest, one client guest) and it asks to confirm the partition changes every time.

In first attempt, I used lvm, second attempt was with regular.

d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman-auto/method string regular

I haven't been able to solve this yet, but my current guess is, it has something to do with partman/choose_partition. You, like I, seem to have used a value "select finish". This value is used in most of the example files also. However, if you look at this example file (http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/394), it uses value "select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk"

I'm going to give it a try. Not that exact value, though. Possible alternative select values need to checked first (what are the actual button labels the installer gives you).

[r.gelobter]

The preseed line that "selects finish" needs to be in a certain order in your preseed, the example-preseed does not follow this.

# Partitioning
d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string max
# - atomic: all files in one partition
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic
d-i partman/default_filesystem string ext3
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true

[lemsx1]

The preseed line that "selects finish" needs to be in a certain order in your preseed, the example-preseed does not follow this.

# Partitioning
d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string max
# - atomic: all files in one partition
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic
d-i partman/default_filesystem string ext3
d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true

If you look at the bug report ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-auto-raid/+bug/591909 ), the suggestion to fix problem #1 is to simply add:

d-i partman-md/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true

Now I get no questions asked during boot (except for postfix configuration which I'll fix shortly).

After preseed is done, however, the system still boots into some weird state where /dev/sdb and /dev/sda are part of /dev/md1 instead of /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2 part of /dev/md1. This also gets a weird name /dev/md1p1.

/dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb1 should be in /dev/md0 (as they are during preseed'ing) but they get wiped by mdadm during sync of the above partitions and /dev/md0p0 has no actual drives attached to it.

In short, like the original post and all screwed up. At least 1 problem has been fixed. Perhaps in another 6 months I'll be able to find a solution for the other one :-(

[lemsx1]

There is now a work around for this problem

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-auto-raid/+bug/591909/comments/8

Essentially:

1. use boot param partman/alignment=cylinder (or d-i in preseed)
2. use the following recipe

d-i partman-auto-raid/recipe string \
1 2 0 ext4 /boot /dev/sda1#/dev/sdb1 . 1 2 0 lvm / /dev/sda5#/dev/sdb5 .

# RAID partitions are tagged as "lvmignore"
# and LVM logical volumes as "defaultignore" and "lvmok"
d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string \
multiraid :: \
100 512 256 raid $lvmignore{ } $primary{ } method{ raid } . \
900 5000 1000000000 raid $lvmignore{ } method{ raid } . \
700 5000 200000 ext4 $defaultignore{ } $lvmok{ } \
method{ format } format{ } use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext4 } \
options/relatime{ relatime } mountpoint{ / } . \
256 3000 4500 linux-swap $defaultignore{ } $lvmok{ } method{ swap } format{ } .