Root disk mounted as Read-Only prevents system from booting

This document (7024031) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 4 (SLES 11 SP4)

Situation

A recently updated/patched SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 4 server, configured to boot from Software RAID is booting into the "repair filesystem" stage.

The system was checked and repaired, but upon booting, entered the "repair filesystem" stage again.

Despite all File system checks and repair efforts, the root disk remained stayed marked as Read-Only.

Using the SLES DVD to boot into "Rescue Mode", the root disk could be mounted as Read-Write (RW) without any problems.

Resolution

There are two options:

Use mdadm-3.3.1-10.13.1
Install the newer version: mdadm-3.3.1-10.27.4 which is available in the SLES11-SP4-LTSS-Updates repository

Since the system is not booting, the work around for this problem is achieved as follows :

Boot the system from SLES DVD and select Rescue Mode
Change root ins rescue mode : See TID 7018126
Mount SLES DVD like step 3 in : TID 7021125
Remove the current installed mdadm from the system: rpm -e mdadm
Install the mdadm-3.3.1-5.7 from SLES DVD as this: rpm -Uhv --force --oldpackage /path-to-sles-dvd/suse/x86_64/mdadm-*.rpm
Reboot the system

Cause

Since the system is booting from Software RAID, the system needs to use mdadm.

The latest mdadm for SLES 11 SP4 (mdadm-3.3.1-10.18.1) not working probably with certain hardware.

Additional Information

Disclaimer

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