[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
> PS: how can you run asciinema within the installer? I cheated and used developer tools :) (`make dryrun` in the source tree if you're interested) To simulate that with the real installer the easiest thing would be to SSH into the install and capture the SSHed terminal. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Thanks again for the logs Fernan, I now believe I understand what
happened.
About your item #1 ("starting with fresh disks")
It's our expectation that most people will, when faced with a blank disk or one
they are reformatting, will use the "Add Partition" on the "Free Space" area
under a disk to add one or more partitions. It's also a good idea to
proactively "Use as Boot device" from the menu on a disk to have more control
over where that boot device ends up - the first time you add a partition to a
disk, Subiquity will notice that nothing is setup for boot yet and try to help
with that, which may or may not match your intentions.
The problem you ran into was using the "Format" option from the disk,
not the "Free Space" area. "Format" on an empty disk results in an
obscure option to setup the disk for formatting and mounting directly,
without an partition table. And given that when you dropped to a shell
you created partition tables, I'm guessing the direct format and mount
of the disks isn't what you had in mind.
About item #2 ("even after formatting the disks in the shell"), that one
is more challenging. Subiquity is trying to prevent people from losing
data - maybe you're mounting a partition at "/" and it already has data
there - the install process is going to wipe out some of that! When
Subiquity is in charge of creating the partitions starting from free
space, you can do this more simply (Free Space -> Add Partition ->
choose Format and Mount options). To go back to a state of a blank disk
one can use the Disk -> Reformat option, which will reverse your steps
manually done on the command line but will also let the installer
clearly know that there isn't data on that disk that needs to be
preserved.
I completely agree that this is a User Experience issue and will keep
this bug around to investigate if we can do this better. In particular
I think the Disk -> Format option is confusing. In the meantime I hope
the above helps you to get your VM going.
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Title:
failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
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[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Hi Dan, thanks for the fast response. No, the disks where clean. I just started fresh (from zero!) using the VMWAre Vsphere Client. New VM -> Add HDD (Create New Virtual Disk, Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, Store with the VM, 50 GB SCSI (0:0) Hard Disk 1) -> Add HDD (Create New Virtual Disk, Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, Store with the VM, 300 GB SCSI (0:1) Hard Disk 2) -> Add HDD (Create New Virtual Disk, Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, Store with the VM, 300 GB SCSI (0:2) Hard Disk 3) -> Add CD/DVD Drive (Connect at power on; Device Type: Datastore ISO File: ubuntu-22.04-live-server-amd64.iso) Then Boot the VM and at the console select Try/Install Ubuntu. Then, went for the "Custom Storage Layout", this was what I did first, and were unable to proceed past the "Storage Configuration" screen. In my second attempt (same session, did not reboot the VM), I went up to the "Help" box in the upper right corner and hit the "Exit to Shell" option, where I did the following fdisk commands manually. This is what may be confusing you, as this made the disks appear as formatted. fdisk /dev/sda (n: create new partition, accept all defaults; a: toogle bootable; w write to disk and exit) fdisk /dev/sdb (n: create new partition, accept all defaults; w write to disk and exit) fdisk /dev/sdc (n: create new partition, accept all defaults; w write to disk and exit) mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1 mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1 exit shell and return to installer resume configuring storage layout (here is where I succeeded even if I had to select mount -> Other -> / (as the mount / option was greyed out). My bug report is about two confusing things: 1) starting with fresh disks there is no way of selecting a bootable disk and at the same time selecting / as a mount point (options greyed out); 2) even after formatting the disks in the shell, it is confusing that the "mount under /" option is greyed out and one has to go to "Other", then /. Hope it is clearer now. I am now attaching the complete logs, though I understand they may contain information from the whole session and may be confusing. I can try and reproduce with a new VM from scratch. PS: how can you run asciinema within the installer? Cheers -- fernan ** Attachment added: "requested /var/log/installer files" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1969822/+attachment/5582219/+files/var-log-installer-files.tar.gz -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Thanks for attaching the installer files. Unfortunately the subiquity- server-debug.log is actually a symlink to the real log file, so all we got was an empty symlink. That said, I can reproduce part of what's going on with the probe-data. Where I'm confused is the initial state - I think maybe the way things started is that the disks themselves were formatted, without a partition table? Is that correct? While I'm not yet certain what happened in your case, I've taken a screen recording to show what I would have done at the formatting screen. https://asciinema.org/a/489119 > I've been able to work around this by selecting Mount -> Other and ignoring the warning about this being dangerous. Both mounting at / and /var/lib produced these warnings. Mounting at /srv did not. So the concern there is that Subiquity knows we need to write files as part of the install to those partitions, but doesn't know if that is OK to do so. Maybe you're mounting an existing ext4 formatted disk at / and it has stuff - is that going to be ok? In your case it should be fine because you just formatted them, but it doesn't really know that. The workaround in your case when at the "Editing partition n of /dev/sdX" is to, instead of using "Leave formatted as ext4", to choose the plain "ext4" option which will cause it to be formatted, which should then allow you to mount at "/" without having to choose Other and get a scary-sounding warning. If you remember, I'm very interested in the initial state of those disks, as I think that's the key to what happened here. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Of course! Please let me know if you need more files or further debugging. ** Attachment added: "requested /var/log/installer files" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1969822/+attachment/5582190/+files/var-log-installer-files.tar.gz -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Thanks for the report. > However there is nothing I can do to select one! (the option to "Use As Boot Device" is greyed out). Up through that part sounds correct - there needs to be a little space to setup for a boot disk and there isn't, so you made the right choice to go backwards a bit and format the disks. Would you attach the contents of the /var/log/installer directory? If you're concerned about sharing information, the files I'm most interested in are /var/log/installer/subiquity-server-debug.log and /var/log/installer/block/probe-data.json. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
Moreover, if I go to a shell and format the disks, when I go back to the installer, and hit "Reset" the system recognizes the changes, and shows the disks as "already formatted as ext4", with "partition 1 existing", "not mounted", and with a message saying: "To continue you need to: Mount a filesystem at / Select a boot disk" But there is now way to mount at / (option greyed out). I've been able to work around this by selecting Mount -> Other and ignoring the warning about this being dangerous. Both mounting at / and /var/lib produced these warnings. Mounting at /srv did not. ** Attachment added: "screenshots of installer" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1969822/+attachment/5582185/+files/MergedPDF%2C2.pdf -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 1969822] Re: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server
** Also affects: subiquity Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu) Status: New => Invalid -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1969822 Title: failed storage configuration at install of ubuntu-22.04-server To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/1969822/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
