jdsn::blog

openSUSE 12.2 with GRUB2 with entire root partition in LVM

jdsn — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:13:48 +0000

It took me a long evening to figure it out how to do it, but it is possible to install an openSUSE 12.2 with GRUB2 on a disk with GTP partition table and have the entire root partition within LVM (and in my case even have the LVM in a MD RAID). The current openSUSE installer (partitioning and bootloader) does not fully support this use case, but they will however install it correctly even though the warning messages shown might be misleading.

These are my partitions (adapt them to your use case):

sda (GPT partition table: gpt_sync_mbr)
1. 7.84 MB primary, flags: bios_grub (do not format or mount)
2. 8 GB primary, flags: raid (raid1, md0), swap
3. ? GB primary, flags: raid (raid1, md1), LVM
sdb (same as sda)
- Note: the first partition of both disks is not part of any raid. The sda1 partition has to be synced manually once after installation to its pendant on sdb.

The first partition has to be unformatted and unmounted and have the flag bios_grub set. This can be done with parted by running (for both disks):

(parted) toggle 1 bios_grub on
(parted) select /dev/sdb
(parted) toggle 1 bios_grub on

This will allow GRUB2 to find space to install its core.img to.

There is more than one way to do this kind of installation. But with YaST you can not (yet) create set the bios_grub flag during installation. Here are two ways which should work pretty nicely (I took the latter):

Prepare the partition setup before booting the installation media. Make sure to have all partitions setup correctly (including the flags you need). There is no need to create the RAID and LVM beforehand – of course you could, but this is something where YaST has a pretty nice and intuitive graphical UI for. During the installation also make sure that YaST uses the existing partition setup. The default is to propose an own partition setup.
Start the installation with the plain and empty disks. Do the partitioning via YaST (make sure to use a GTP partition table; see the export button within the YaST partitioner). Let the system do the installation and ignore the warnings that are shown. While the installation process is installing the packages do this:
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X to open an xterm
2. In the xterm run parted and set the flags for the first partitions of each disk
3. If you finish this before YaST installs the bootloader everything work smoothly
  If you do not manage to do this before the YaST installs the bootloader it will popup an error message with warnings that your setup is totally unsupported and will not be able to boot. Just ignore the warning, but to not yet press the OK button. Continue to toggle the flags in the xterm and close parted. When done, press the OK button of the warning message and YaST will try again to install the bootloader and now will succeed without any error message.

The bootloader will only be installed on /dev/sda by default. So after the first boot sync the content of the first partition of sda to the first one on sdb (e.g. using dd).

openSUSE 12.2 has been released

jdsn — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:27:06 +0000

openSUSE 12.2 brings deep innovations developed by different community projects to everyday GNU/Linux users. Check the 12.2 Release Highlights for further details.

openSUSE News: Green Means Go

download openSUSE 12.2

Got Engaged

jdsn — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:34:18 +0000

We got engaged.

2011 is about to become an interesting year for us.

Frustration-Free Packaging #2 – Yes we can

jdsn — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:38:01 +0000

I gave the Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging a 2nd try when I ordered a memory card. When it arrived I thought: yes, this is frustration-free packaging – ok the ratio between packaging and article resembles the last Amazon package, but this time the latter is minimized.

This is Frustration Free Packaging

Amazon Frustration-Free-Free Packaging

jdsn — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:04:09 +0000

Two days ago I ordered two HDMI cables (2m) at Amazon. The explanation on frustration-free packaging sounded quite well. Today the package from Amazon arrived in my office and I wondered about what I may have done wrong as the package was so huge. The picture speaks for itself:

Amazon Frustration-Free-Free Packaging

Most of the sending is waste – ok, at least its only paper and no plastic. But the overall packaging to send these two cables is big enough to carry one big or two small notebooks.

Youtubian

jdsn — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:50:09 +0000

The never ending story continues …

When YouTube lately changed their api again I found out about Youtubian. Goto the website, drag’n'drop the Youtubian link to your bookmarks. Then when watching a YouTube video that you want to cache locally just click the Youtubian bookmark and enjoy the new view to YouTube. Youtubian offers a very comfortable way to download the video in various formats, sizes and levels of quality.

Lets see when we have to change again …

Random Number

jdsn — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:45:39 +0000

int getRandomNumber()
{
  // result of a real dice roll to
  // guarantee the quality of randomness
  return 3;
}

Test Cases Improve Software Quality

jdsn — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:10:58 +0000

int add( int a, int b )
{
  // fix for testcases (bug#123456)
  if ( a == 3  &&  b == 4 ) return 7;
  if ( a == 2  &&  b == 3 ) return 5;

  return a * b;
}

The never ending story – How to Download YouTube Videos

jdsn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:04:47 +0000

YouTube again changed the way you can easily download your favourite videos to watch them offline. I already posted twice how to do it – you just need to create a Bookmark in your browser and click on it when watching the video that you want to download. Quite simple. But the target of this bookmark changed again. Here is current version:

Download YouTube Video

Just right-click on this link and select “Save as Bookmark”.

openSUSE 11.2

jdsn — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:18 +0000

openSUSE 11.2 is now available

Are you new to linux and want to learn about it or have never used it before? Then now its your turn to download openSUSE 11.2 and give it a try. Besides the installation DVD images you can also download LiveCD images to run linux on your computer without installation – the harddisk will not be touched. Find more information in the openSUSE wiki about whats new in this release.