agarrett5
November 20th, 2013, 10:55 AM
I am trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 server onto a new PC which has UEFI in the BIOS. I am sure I have disabled UEFI and secure boot. The PC is a Novatech with 2 ssd hard disks in it which I am wanting to make into a RAID.
I installed the server with zimbra on a virtual machine fine, no problems at all. When I go through the same process (which I will outline below) it fails on installing grub. I have tried many variations on the process that worked on the virtual box,
I have since tried other things, I will post a link to the latest attempt.
I get several errors depending on what I've done, the current one is
[!!]Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk
unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed
This is a fatal error
I have tried different media. I have also tried partitioning with a live copy of Gparted.
What worked on the virtual box smoothly but failed on the real machine was
Install RAID
Manual
Choose Disk → Create new empty Partition table → yes
select free space → Create partition →Set size to twice the amount of RAM (this will be swap space) → primary → beginning
Use as ->Physical volume for RAID → done
Select Free space → Create new partition → rest of the space on HD → primary → use as physical volume for RAID → bootable flag on
Choose 2nd Disk → Create new empty Partition table → yes
select free space → Create partition →Set size to twice the amount of RAM (this will be swap space) → primary → beginning
Use as ->Physical volume for RAID → done
Select Free space → Create new partition → rest of the space on HD → primary → use as physical volume for RAID → bootable flag on
Configure Software RAID → Write changes to storage devices - yes
create MD device ->RAID1 → number of devices in RAID -2 → Number of spare devices in RAID - 0 → select SDA1 & SDB1
create MD device ->RAID1 → Number of Devices in RAID -2 → Number of spare devices in RAID - 0 → select SDA2 & SDB2 → finish
Select 1st SDA1 → use as – swap area → done
select 1st SDA2 → use as - Ext 4 Journaling file system → mount point – '/ - the root file system' → done
Finish Partitioning and write changes to disk
Do you want to boot your system if RAID becomes degraded – no (will change later in process)
Write changes to disk? - yes
The latest thing I have tried in the many things is from this link http://getasysadmin.com/2012/08/install-ubuntu-12-04-with-raid-lvm-on-uefi-system/
Insert the USB stick into the new PC and boot. Press the key to chose Boot menu. In my case it was F12. From the menu select “EFI: USB harddrive” (this may look different for you, but make sure you select the EFI entry). After the live CD/USB loads everything you are presented with GParted interface. I had two harddisks since I was trying to make RAID. I made the following partitions:
/dev/sda:
128 MB vfat32 partition for EFIboot, select “boot” flag for it (right click on partition, Make flags)
rest of the space as another partition, unformatted , select “raid” flag
/dev/sdb:
128 MB xfs partition for /boot (you can use anything you want for file system)
rest of the space as another partition, unformatted, select “raid” flag
Write the partition changes to HDD and reboot.
Insert Ubuntu 12.04 Server edition USB stick (or CD). Press Boot menu key (F12 for me) and again select “EFI: USB Harddrive” (or whatever is called for you). When you get to the partition scheme chose “Manual” and do the following:
Select the vfat32 partition and make sure “Boot flag” is “on” and select “Use this -> EFIBoot partition” (where you normally select file system for a partition). Done with this.
Select the other 128 MB partition from 2nd HDD and use it to mount /boot
Configure software RAID (Create MD device, RAID1, 2 devices, 0 spare, use /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2)
Configure the LVM using /dev/md0 as Physical Volume and create a Volume Group on it (I named mine VolGroup00). Now create as many Logical Volumes as you need. I created 4, but feel free to use as many as you need.
10 GB LogVolRoot for /
10 GB LogVolTmp for /tmp
16 GB LogVolSwap for swap space
rest of the space as LogVolVar for /var (I was going to install ISPConfig on this server and most of the files are located in /var in this case).
You can go without /var and /tmp separated volumes if you want. The recommended swap is space is 2x RAM if you are under 2GB RAM, and RAM+2 if you have over 2GB RAM.
Select each of the Logical Volumes you have created and assign them the right mountpoints and use what file system you want. I used XFS for all since it allows me to grow the partition on the fly and freeze the file system. I’ve also selected (nosuid, noexec) for /tmp and (usrquota,grpquota) for /var.
The only thing I can think of is the issue is something to do with UEFI or secure boot, but I dont see why as I have disable all the options for that in the BIOS :-/
I installed the server with zimbra on a virtual machine fine, no problems at all. When I go through the same process (which I will outline below) it fails on installing grub. I have tried many variations on the process that worked on the virtual box,
I have since tried other things, I will post a link to the latest attempt.
I get several errors depending on what I've done, the current one is
[!!]Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk
unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed
This is a fatal error
I have tried different media. I have also tried partitioning with a live copy of Gparted.
What worked on the virtual box smoothly but failed on the real machine was
Install RAID
Manual
Choose Disk → Create new empty Partition table → yes
select free space → Create partition →Set size to twice the amount of RAM (this will be swap space) → primary → beginning
Use as ->Physical volume for RAID → done
Select Free space → Create new partition → rest of the space on HD → primary → use as physical volume for RAID → bootable flag on
Choose 2nd Disk → Create new empty Partition table → yes
select free space → Create partition →Set size to twice the amount of RAM (this will be swap space) → primary → beginning
Use as ->Physical volume for RAID → done
Select Free space → Create new partition → rest of the space on HD → primary → use as physical volume for RAID → bootable flag on
Configure Software RAID → Write changes to storage devices - yes
create MD device ->RAID1 → number of devices in RAID -2 → Number of spare devices in RAID - 0 → select SDA1 & SDB1
create MD device ->RAID1 → Number of Devices in RAID -2 → Number of spare devices in RAID - 0 → select SDA2 & SDB2 → finish
Select 1st SDA1 → use as – swap area → done
select 1st SDA2 → use as - Ext 4 Journaling file system → mount point – '/ - the root file system' → done
Finish Partitioning and write changes to disk
Do you want to boot your system if RAID becomes degraded – no (will change later in process)
Write changes to disk? - yes
The latest thing I have tried in the many things is from this link http://getasysadmin.com/2012/08/install-ubuntu-12-04-with-raid-lvm-on-uefi-system/
Insert the USB stick into the new PC and boot. Press the key to chose Boot menu. In my case it was F12. From the menu select “EFI: USB harddrive” (this may look different for you, but make sure you select the EFI entry). After the live CD/USB loads everything you are presented with GParted interface. I had two harddisks since I was trying to make RAID. I made the following partitions:
/dev/sda:
128 MB vfat32 partition for EFIboot, select “boot” flag for it (right click on partition, Make flags)
rest of the space as another partition, unformatted , select “raid” flag
/dev/sdb:
128 MB xfs partition for /boot (you can use anything you want for file system)
rest of the space as another partition, unformatted, select “raid” flag
Write the partition changes to HDD and reboot.
Insert Ubuntu 12.04 Server edition USB stick (or CD). Press Boot menu key (F12 for me) and again select “EFI: USB Harddrive” (or whatever is called for you). When you get to the partition scheme chose “Manual” and do the following:
Select the vfat32 partition and make sure “Boot flag” is “on” and select “Use this -> EFIBoot partition” (where you normally select file system for a partition). Done with this.
Select the other 128 MB partition from 2nd HDD and use it to mount /boot
Configure software RAID (Create MD device, RAID1, 2 devices, 0 spare, use /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb2)
Configure the LVM using /dev/md0 as Physical Volume and create a Volume Group on it (I named mine VolGroup00). Now create as many Logical Volumes as you need. I created 4, but feel free to use as many as you need.
10 GB LogVolRoot for /
10 GB LogVolTmp for /tmp
16 GB LogVolSwap for swap space
rest of the space as LogVolVar for /var (I was going to install ISPConfig on this server and most of the files are located in /var in this case).
You can go without /var and /tmp separated volumes if you want. The recommended swap is space is 2x RAM if you are under 2GB RAM, and RAM+2 if you have over 2GB RAM.
Select each of the Logical Volumes you have created and assign them the right mountpoints and use what file system you want. I used XFS for all since it allows me to grow the partition on the fly and freeze the file system. I’ve also selected (nosuid, noexec) for /tmp and (usrquota,grpquota) for /var.
The only thing I can think of is the issue is something to do with UEFI or secure boot, but I dont see why as I have disable all the options for that in the BIOS :-/