[TriLUG] Linux forums other than trilug?

[Tom Bryan]

On Thursday 09 September 2004 09:37 am, Matthew Lavigne wrote:

> 1. is the boot still on hda?  if so then you will need to ensure that
> you edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf there.

/dev/hda8 is the current root partition.  I do not keep a separate partition 
for /boot.  I would like the new root partition to be /dev/hdb1, and the 
/boot directory will live on the /dev/hdb1.

Right now, / is /dev/hda8 and /newroot is /dev/hdb1.  Once I can successfully 
boot off of /dev/hdb1, then I'll test the system like that for a bit, not 
even mounting /dev/hda8.  If everything still works, then /dev/hda is going 
to be repartitioned.  

Every time I modify /boot/grub/grub.conf, I copy it to 
/newroot/boot/grub/grub.conf so that the two files are identical.  I just ran 
diff to make sure.  

> 2. have you installed linux before on the disk that you are using for
> hdb?  

No.  /dev/hdb was just a "data" drive for this machine for quite some time.  
Now, I'd like to use the /dev/hda disk in another machine, so I'm rearranging 
and repartitioning.  :-)

> If so and you user using the BIOS to boot to the secondary hard
> drive on the Primary channel (hdb) then you will need to ensure that
> you run grub-install /dev/hdb

Yes, but I don't want to do that until I can boot off of /dev/hda and then use 
grub to select the kernel, etc., from /dev/hdb and test things out.

> 3. what is your fstab setup as and what is the label on hdb?  that may
> be causing some issues.

Trimming out the proc filesystems and such in /etc/fstab leaves me with

/dev/hda8               /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
LABEL=/data             /data                   ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hdb1               /newroot                ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=/opt              /opt                    ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=backup            /opt/ftp                ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hdb2               /newlocal               ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda10              /usr                    ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda9               /usr/local              ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hdb5               /usr/share              ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda11              swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdg6               /home                   ext3    defaults        1 2

A bit of a mess right now, but you can see that I'm explicitly mounting the 
root and /newroot partitions because labels get too confusing while I'm 
moving things around.  :)

Of course, on /dev/hdb1, /etc/fstab looks a bit different.

/dev/hdb1               /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
LABEL=/data             /data                   ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=/opt              /opt                    ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=backup            /opt/ftp                ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hdb2               /newlocal               ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda10              /usr                    ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda9               /usr/local              ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hdb5               /usr/share              ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/hda11              swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdg6               /home                   ext3    defaults        1 2


> I would be inclined to think that you will need to get grub configured
> by chrooting in to the hdb then doing grub-install

Interesting.  I could give that a try.  But you're basically just trying to 
get grub on /dev/hdb's MBR?  That shouldn't really be a problem yet, should 
it?  I should be able to run grub off of /dev/hda and boot to the system on 
/dev/hdb.

> Could  you list the partition information (ie hda1 = /boot, hdb1 = /)
> fully?

My current system has

/dev/hda8 on / type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb1 on /newroot type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda13 on /data type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda12 on /opt type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb6 on /opt/ftp type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda10 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda9 on /usr/local type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb2 on /newlocal type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb5 on /usr/share type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdg6 on /home type ext3 (rw)

Of course, if I can get the system to boot with (hd1,0) as the root 
filesystem, then I should have 

/dev/hdb1 on / type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda13 on /data type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda12 on /opt type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb6 on /opt/ftp type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda10 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hda9 on /usr/local type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb2 on /newlocal type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb5 on /usr/share type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdg6 on /home type ext3 (rw)

> Looking at your grub.conf the question that I have is that have you
> run grub-install? and is so how (ie using what parameters?)

No.  I have no notes of having run it.  :)

> Where is the boot that you are trying to boot to right now?  is hda
> the only active partition?

By "active" partition, you mean...?

> Worst case bring it to the installfest on the 18th (if you can) and I
> will give you a hand bailing it out..

Before then, I'll have bought a new disk and installed from scratch.  :)  The 
only reason that I haven't done that yet is that it's hard for me to let go 
of such a strange problem without understanding it at all.  I have no problem 
working around a problem that I understand.  I don't like working around 
problems caused by my own ignorance.

---Tom