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Ubuntu Server 10.04 + OVH kernels not working


Loke
23-06-2010, 16:33
thx for the info kro.

@ cmaion have u had any problems so far with 10.04? for me under heavy write / read ( but less from what happened on 9.04 ) the server pings out and stays that way till i hard reboot. Any ideas what can be the cause of that?

kro
23-06-2010, 15:58
Loke wrote:
> would
> A. try to disable the splash screen
> B. installing the ubuntu kernel
> have any effect?


A. isn't enough
B. yes, if you configure it correctly (grub, initramfs)

> also for option B, by not using ovh kernels what will i lose? ( what
> ovh features won't work) ?


most importantly, netboot. Then it's also more of a hassle to administrate,
keeping it up-to-date etc.
--
Felix
OVH Team

kro
23-06-2010, 15:54
Loke wrote:
> That aside, any ideas how can i fix it? i doubt i can rollback to a


http://travaux.ovh.net/?do=details&id=4295

The new kernels are already available on our ftp server:
ftp://ftp.ovh.net/made-in-ovh/bzImage/
--
Felix
OVH Team

Loke
21-06-2010, 15:42
nice thanks that is really helpfull

cmaion
21-06-2010, 12:42
Hi there

I have spent the better part of a day last week solving the same issue.
I had upgraded one of my production server from 9.10 to 10.04 w/o knowing that it was due to fail...

Anyway, here is my post (in french) on the subject:
http://forum.ovh.com/showthread.php?p=371059#post371059

For the non french readers...:

For those who have upgraded from 9.10 to 10.04 using the OVH kernel (and thus, who are stuck at boot), and if you use software RAID... here's what I ended up doing to get the server back on it's feets:

- boot in rescue mode and mount the root of your system
root@rescue:~# mount /dev/md1 /mnt
root@rescue:~# mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
root@rescue:~# mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
root@rescue:~# chroot /mnt

- install grub2 and the linux stock image (don't worry about some grep errors... the OVH kernel has been built without modules)
root@rescue:~# apt-get install grub2 linux-image

- manually declare the needed kernel modules (I had to add r8169: this is the network card on the OVH servers I use -- w/o it, the system would boot but couldn't reach the network)
root@rescue:~# vi /etc/modules
loop
rtc
raid
mdraid
ext2
r8169
root@rescue:~# update-initramfs -c -k all

- I also had to explicitly declare the raid devices in the raid configuration (wouldn't get auto-detected by the kernel)
root@rescue:~# mdadm --detail --scan --verbose >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
root@rescue:~# vi /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
(replace metadata=00.90 by metadata=0.90)
root@rescue:~# update-initramfs -c -k all

- make sure that grub is properly installed on both hard drives
root@rescue:~# update-grub2
root@rescue:~# grub-install /dev/sda
root@rescue:~# grub-install /dev/sdb

- reboot and hope for the best


The same procedure can also be used before upgrade (install a Ubuntu 9.10 stock kernel before upgrade; you will also need to declare the modules & raid configuration before rebooting on it). I have successfully tested it: if you can boot your 9.10 system with the stock Ubuntu kernel, the upgrade to 10.04 is painless (at least, on my system).

Cheers

Loke
17-06-2010, 23:53
mm is there a special way or something to install the ubuntu kernel on a server with raid? grub is set up and the kernel too, but keeps crashing cause of the splash screen

Loke
17-06-2010, 22:17
cheers

makno
17-06-2010, 19:02
loke to avoid problems in the future it would be much easier to compile a kernel from scratch. there is a step by step guide here on how to do it, just follow that and you'll be fine: http://forum.ovh.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2056

Loke
17-06-2010, 17:53
ok hope we ( and u ^^ ) manage to fix this quickly ..

Neil
17-06-2010, 17:47
Quote Originally Posted by Loke
Neil thanks for the answer, at the moment got some friends trying to disable the splash screen on boot up, if that fails they ll compile a ubuntu kernel.

I can't wait for the patched kernels cause this downtime is well as bad as any downtime ....

When the ovh patched kernels appear should i switch back to them? or i can keep using the 'self compiled kernels' ?

thanks again
Hi

You can use any kernel you want But at the moment the default OVH Kernels do not work with Ubuntu 10.04, once they do you could switch back or if it is not broken, don't fix it.

Loke
17-06-2010, 17:46
Neil thanks for the answer, at the moment got some friends trying to disable the splash screen on boot up, if that fails they ll compile a ubuntu kernel.

I can't wait for the patched kernels cause this downtime is well as bad as any downtime ....

When the ovh patched kernels appear should i switch back to them? or i can keep using the 'self compiled kernels' ?

thanks again

Neil
17-06-2010, 16:35
Hi

We are very close to resolving the kernel issue, there should be news in the coming days about a fix and a resolution. So please keep an eye on, http://status.ovh.net/?do=details&id=43

Regarding if you have tried to upgrade, you will need to use Rescue Mode to compile your own kernel or wait for us to patch the netboot kernels and then just boot your server off them.

Loke
17-06-2010, 15:10
would

A. try to disable the splash screen

B. installing the ubuntu kernel

have any effect?

also for option B, by not using ovh kernels what will i lose? ( what ovh features won't work) ?

YouWhat
17-06-2010, 13:31
Just idea, but would changing the repositorys in /etc/apt/sources.list make the difference so as it isnt updating from ovh, but from an external sources so as then it will not install the ovh kernel?

Loke
17-06-2010, 13:10
thx ExW but if it's possible keep your suggestions simple cause i am a noob in linux ( though i ll forward them to my admin friend )



Also can someone from ovh staff confirm if its possible to re install the OS using the manager without having to format the whole server? in my case formatting just the raid 1 and not touching the raid 5.

ExW
17-06-2010, 09:33
If its possible , you could try to compile a new kernel from rescue mode

Loke
17-06-2010, 02:38
Well today i decided to upgrade from ubuntu server 9.04 to 9.10 and then straight to 10.04. After 10.04 was installed the server switched to rescue mode and a ticket was auto created. I was informed that ovh kernels freak out with 10.04 and they are trying to correct it.

First let me say that i don't know if they posted somewhere about it but they could / should have send an email to customers running ubuntu informing them not to go to 10.04 as it's not working properly with ovh kernels. ( not everyone looks at forums or searches through http://travaux.ovh.net/?do=details&id=4154 to check if something in general is wrong ).

That aside, any ideas how can i fix it? i doubt i can rollback to a previous version, backing up my data and formatting server is not an option ( 1.2TB+ i don't even know where i can back up that kind of data size ). The server has a raid 1 for the OS and a raid 5 for the rest. Any idea if i can change the OS from the manager without formatting / damaging in general the raid 5?

ps. the server is .fr and ticket # 472283 if a mod wants to take a look at this ( ignore my whining ... but this came on a really bad time for me ..)

pps. do we have even a rough estimate of when ovh kernels will support 10.04?

thanks to anyone who cares to read / respond to this.