[Triumf-linux-managers] Installing TRIUMF SL 6.1 kickstart on > 2TB disks

[sclaret at triumf.ca]

I ran into trouble installing SL on a machine with 3TB disks.

The problem was that the installer created 'MBR' partition tables (which
only support disks < 2TB).

To support larger disks, 'GPT' partition tables must be used.

For me, the solution was to boot with a livecd, and manually create GPT
tables:

> parted /dev/sda
(parted) mklabel
New disk label type? gpt
(parted) quit

> parted /dev/sdb
(parted) mklabel
New disk label type? gpt
(parted) quit

When I subsequently ran the installer, it recognized and used the GPT tables.

Annoyingly, fdisk is not GPT-aware.  So, the home and data partitions
(which we create post-install) had to be made with a new tool:

[root at neut19 ~]# yum install gdisk
[root at neut19 ~]# gdisk /dev/sda
Command (? for help): n
Partition number (3-128, default 3):
First sector (34-5860533134, default = 73730048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (73730048-5860533134, default = 5860533134) or
{+-}size{KMGTP}: +60G
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): fd00
Changed type of partition to 'Linux RAID'
Command (? for help): w

Note 1: parted and gdisk have similar functionality, though gdisk seems to
be more advanced and has an interface that resembles fdisk.  In my
opinion, gdisk is the way to go.

Note 2: There is a feature in some BIOSes which may need to be enabled for
GPT to work. For an Intel DH67BL, I changed BIOS->'Boot'->'UEFI Boot' from
'Disable' to 'Enable'.

For information on GPT vs MBR, see:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/dw/linux/l-gpt/l-gpt-pdf.pdf

-Simon



p.s.

Below, we see the 'msdos' (aka MBR) partition tables created by the
installer the first time around:

[root at neut19 ~]# parted /dev/sda
(parted) print
...
Disk /dev/sda: 3001GB
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  21.0GB  21.0GB  primary  ext4         boot, raid
 2      21.0GB  37.7GB  16.8GB  primary               raid

Next, we see the 'gpt' partition tables that I created, and that were
reused by the installer the second time around:

[root at neut19 ~]# parted /dev/sda
...
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  21.0GB  21.0GB  ext4               boot
 2      21.0GB  37.7GB  16.8GB                     raid