Bug 1080790 - EFI boot from software raid1
Summary: EFI boot from software raid1
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: openSUSE Distribution
Classification: openSUSE
Component: Documentation (show other bugs)
Version: Leap 42.3
Hardware: Other Other
: P5 - None : Normal with 5 votes (vote)
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Frank Sundermeyer
QA Contact: Frank Sundermeyer
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2018-02-13 11:55 UTC by Marco M.
Modified: 2018-05-18 13:55 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Found By: ---
Services Priority:
Business Priority:
Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: ---
IT Deployment: ---

Attachments
Add an attachment (proposed patch, testcase, etc.)

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Marco M. 2018-02-13 11:55:32 UTC 
I think something is missing in the installation guide. The question is what is the best partition layout to have full boot and system redundancy with software raid1 and EFI boot mode? 

I did several tests and toughts (https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/526269-EFI-boot-from-software-raid1) and i ended up in trying to manage two manually aligned efi partitions. This way looks promising but I discovered a blocking bug (https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1059169).

While waiting for then resolution i discovered this in the SUSE "Storage Administration Guide" 

"
For UEFI machines, you need to set up a dedicated /boot/efi partition. It needs to be VFAT-formatted, and may reside on the RAID 1 device to prevent booting problems in case the physical disk with /boot/efi fail
"
(https://www.suse.com/documentation/sles-12/stor_admin/data/sec_raidroot_require.html)

In opensuse guides I have not found anything similar. I did a test and this configuration has worked fine for me! 

So if this is the official and supported way to have EFI partition redundancy in opensuse i think it should be documented, if this is not the way (and there are some doubts on it, especially when opensuse is not the only os installed, see my forum thread) the documentation should clearly say what is the best solution (and hopefully someone should think to solve the bug i mentioned before if that way the better one).
Comment 1 Frank Sundermeyer 2018-05-18 13:51:12 UTC 
The openSUSE Leap 15 Start Up Guide will contain the following:

    <varlistentry>
     <term>Custom Partitioning on UEFI Machines</term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       A UEFI machine <emphasis>requires</emphasis> an EFI system partition
       that must be mounted to <filename>/boot/efi</filename>. This partition
       must be formatted with the <literal>FAT32</literal> file system.
      </para>
      <para>
       If an EFI system partition is already present on your system (for
       example from a previous Windows installation) use it by mounting it to
       <filename>/boot/efi</filename> without formatting it.
      </para>
      <para>
       If no EFI system partition is present on your UEFI machine, make sure to
       create it. The EFI system partition must be a physical partition, RAID,
       LVM and other technologies are not supported. It needs to be formatted
       with the FAT32 file system.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
Comment 2 Frank Sundermeyer 2018-05-18 13:55:52 UTC 
Sorry, the last paragraph correctly reads like this:


      <para>
       If no EFI system partition is present on your UEFI machine, make sure to
       create it. The EFI system partition must be a physical partition or RAID
       1. Other RAID levels, LVM and other technologies are not supported. It
       needs to be formatted with the FAT32 file system.
      </para>