[Solved] Loading grub on both drives for RAID 1

[Energizer]

Hi there,

I am newish to linux, but have managed to get Zentyal installed on using RAID1 on a test server using 2 x 80 gig drives. I seem to have most of the components up and running, but I am now testing RAID, as the point of the RAID in this server is failover. When I unplug the secondary drive of the RAID1, Zentyal waits 30 seconds and then starts up, showing a warning that degraded RAID is in use... awesome.

However, the issue is when I unplug the primary drive of the RAID1 array. I then simply get a message: Error, disk missing. grub rescue>

So, my actual question, am I supposed to actually install grub on both drives of the RAID1 even though they are supposed to mirror each other?

I have looked around in other forums, but I can't find a clear cut answer. If anybody has the time, please, a step-by-step guide would be awesome, or reference to one. And why does Ubuntu not create this by default? That is the reason after all for RAID. I have played with SME server and that installs RAID automatically, and the redundancy works first time. However, I prefer Zentyal and would like to get this going using RAID.

Thanks.

[robb]

If you have a raid1 volume and install any OS including bootloader on that volume, you should be able to boot from either disk in degraded mode.

What kind of raid adapter are you using? Or did you configure Raid1 as a softraid in zentyal/ubuntu?

[Energizer]

Yip, using software (fake) Raid using the Manual setup during installation. I selected Expert mode installation and then setup RAID1 using manual partitions setup.

Used this guide:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SoftwareRAID

Thanks.

[Energizer]

Got it going, had to simply let the drives synch overnight, now working from both drives... Patience is a virtue

[Sam Graf]

I'm glad you got this solved. I'm kicking myself a little because I was going to ask if the drives had had a chance to completely sync. But I thought, no ... there must be something more to this.

While I'm at it, though, I will mention that so-called fake RAID and Ubuntu's software RAID aren't the same thing. Just to try to avoid any confusion.

[robb]

I was strugling with the same 'problem'

And I solved by purchasing a ESXi compatible RAID card (in my case a Dell perc5/i) On ebay you can buy those for about 50-75 euro

[albatroz]

I followed the ubuntu tutorial, but ended in a situation ilustrated by the picture.
In summary, the problem is that Ubuntu refuses to format the partitions because it says that I can´t have
2 partitions that are mounted to the same path (e.g. / )

Any ideas?

Yip, using software (fake) Raid using the Manual setup during installation. I selected Expert mode installation and then setup RAID1 using manual partitions setup.

Used this guide:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SoftwareRAID

Thanks.