has anyone ever managed to install a ubuntu on a software RAID just using the provided install CDs? I am trying to do what is probably a very common software need:
- two identical SSDs (each 512GB, though one weirdly now has a few less sectors)
- a root partition
- a home partition
(I presume I should have a separate /boot partition, the same way simple configs have one.)
I have been tearing my hair out.
19.10: the ubuntu 19.10 live-server was sort of capable creating the RAID device, but not capable of allowing me to then define partitions on /dev/md. I then booted a gparted live USB, and finished it, so I had an 8GB /boot, a 32GB /root, and the rest /home. I then rebooted on the ubuntu 19.10, but now it no longer recognizes that it has an installation medium. (uhmm...it had created /dev/md itself first!) some posts suggested that the live-server and server were different, but 19.10 only has a live-server. [I may have mistakenly set up /boot (probably 1M and FAT are correct), but why would the installer forget its desired partitions if I want RAID??), and not even allow me to make any changes to md partitions?]
18.04: no problem, me thinks. go back to 18.04 server (not live-server), install, then do-release-upgrade to 19.10. painful, but doable. ok, done this all...until it fails at installing grub. no problem, I can use grub-install and hand-tell it my places, right? well, no. there is something called grub-installer on the 18.04 usb, but it is a different program, and lacks documentation afaik. no man page.
given how simple my needs are---two similar identical drives, RAID-1, bootable please---this task has seemed remarkably difficult to accomplish.
I have given up for now, and just installed a normal non-RAID 19.10 server on one of the drives. worked like a charm, except only one SSD.
- now I need a guide to madm-raiding sda to sdb. In particular, I need mdadm to work for my (necessarily mounted) root partition, and I would love it if grub2 could still boot afterwards when sda becomes md0. help, please!
what is the recommended low-pain way to install a ubuntu system with the security of RAID-1?