Installing SLES11 on an active/passive storage LUN

This document (7005037) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

Situation

This article will explain which steps are necessary to install SLES11 on an active/passive storage.

Resolution

As multipathd is not active during the installation, it needs to be started in the partitioner:

Click on Partitioning in the YaST2 installation settings
Select "Custom Partitioning (for experts)"
Select the Hard Disks main icon, click on the Configure button and select Configure Multipath
Start multipath

YaST2 starts to rescan the disks and shows available multipath devices (like /dev/mapper/3600a0b80000f4593000012ae4ab0ae65). This is the device that should be used for all further processing.

Once all settings are done and the installation finished, YaST2 will start to write the bootloader information and display a countdown to restart the system. Stop the counter by clicking the Stop button and press CTRL+ALT+F5 to access a console.

As the installation does not distinguish between active and passive paths, it might happen that a passive path was entered in /boot/grub/device.map. To check this:

Mount the root device to /mnt:

mount /dev/mapper/3600a0b80000f4593000012ae4ab0ae65_part2 /mnt
Mount the boot device to /mnt/boot:

mount /dev/mapper/3600a0b80000f4593000012ae4ab0ae65_part1 /mnt/boot
Open /mnt/boot/grub/device.map using

less /mnt/boot/grub/device.map

In case the hd0 entry points to a passive path the configuration needs to be changed and the bootloader has to be reinstalled. Proceed as described below:

mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
chroot
Run multipath -ll and check which path is active and which one not. Passive paths are flagged as ghost.
Change the hd0 entry in /boot/grub/device.map to an active path
Save the changes
In case the selection was to boot from MBR, /etc/grub.conf should look like:

setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0) (hd0,0)
quit
To reinstall the bootloader use:

grub < /etc/grub.conf
exit
umount /mnt/*
umount /mnt

To return to the graphical environment use CTRL+ALT+F7 and press ok to have the installation reboot.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.