There are two issues to be aware of when using software RAID under Fedora Core 3:
This can be worked around during a kickstart installation by adding the following section to the kickstart file:
%post /sbin/grub --batch << EOF device (hd0) /dev/sda root (hd0,0) setup (hd0) device (hd1) /dev/sdb root (hd1,0) setup (hd1) EOF
This will install grub to both members of the RAID 1 boot device. This script assumes that the RAID1 boot device is composed of the first partition of the first two SCSI/SATA drives in the system.
If kickstart installation is not used or a kernel upgrade has been performed, the system needs to be booted into rescue mode using the steps below:
Next execute the following command:
/sbin/grub GNU GRUB version 0.95 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory) [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename.] grub> device (hd0) /dev/sda grub> root (hd0,0) grub> setup (hd0) grub> device (hd1) /dev/sdb grub> root (hd1,0) grub> setup (hd1) grub> quit
This assumes that the RAID1 boot device is composed of the first partition of the first two SCSI/SATA drives in the system. If the RAID consists of IDE disks, /dev/sd? should be replaced with /dev/hd?. If a partition other than the first is used to create the the boot RAID device, the 'root' command will need to be modified:
In general, the argument to the root command will be 1 less than the partition number.
Afterward, run 'exit' twice. That will reboot the system. Be sure to eject the FC2 CD#1 in order to boot from the hard drive.
To work around this issue during kickstart, add a section similar to the following to the kickstart file:
%pre mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sda1 mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sda2 mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sda3 mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1 mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sdb2 mdadm --misc --zero-superblock /dev/sdb3
The mdadm command must be executed once for each existing RAID partition in the system. This will remove the existing RAID superblock and will allow the installation to proceed normally.
Before installing manually, the system must be booted into rescue mode as described earlier with slight changes below:
Once the bash prompt is presented, execute the following command to clear any RAID superblocks:
mdadm --misc --zero-superblock <partition>
Where partition is the RAID device name (ie: /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1). This command needs to be executed once for each partition containing a RAID superblock. When the system reboots, it can be installed normally.