Changes to /etc/fstab in 10.3
jamesromeongmail.com
long device names. Why? This is a real pain when there is a problem
during boot and you are asked to fsck them manually. With no cut and
paste, entering this 50-digit names. Is there a way to get back to the
nice alias? When I set the system up, I specified / on /dev/sda1, for
example, and my data2 partition used to work on /dev/sdc1.
Thanks,
Jim
#cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_WDC_WD2000JB-00WD-WMAEH1167032-
part1 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_WDC_WD2000JB-00WD-WMAEH1167032-part2 /
home reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_WDC_WD600BB-75CWD-WMA9S1163194-part1
swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /oldroot ext3
acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/sdb3 /oldhome ext3
acl,user_xattr 1 2
proc /proc proc
defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs
noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs
noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs
noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts
mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto
noauto,user,sync 0 0
#/dev/sdc1 /data2 reiserfs
acl,user_attr 1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ieee1394-00d04b5a1b01bbd2:000430:0000-part1 /
data2 reiserfs defaults 1 2
Leslie Danks
> In 10.3, my Reiser and swap partitions are now mounted with these big
> long device names. Why? This is a real pain when there is a problem
> during boot and you are asked to fsck them manually. With no cut and
> paste, entering this 50-digit names. Is there a way to get back to the
> nice alias? When I set the system up, I specified / on /dev/sda1, for
> example, and my data2 partition used to work on /dev/sdc1.
You can do it, but you have to be careful. The long names they now use
identify the hard disks unambiguously. The reason for doing this (I assume)
is that the labelling system for hard disks has changed. I have 2 hard
disks in my system which under 10.2 were labelled hda (an ATA drive) and
sda (a SATA drive). These are now labelled sda (formerly hda) and sdb
(formerly sda). If you look in the directory /dev/disk/by-id you can see
how the long names (which are links to the different partitions) map to the
actual devices (aka short labels such as sda1 etc.) I have replaced long
labels with these device labels in my fstab and everything works OK. I
presume you can also use the same device labels with fsck but I have not
tried it. Also, this relabelling may be particular to my individual set-up
(although I noticed Houghi mentioned a somewhat scary relabelling of his
hard disks in an earlier post).
At the moment I am just using the SATA drive to install with the ATA drive
for backups. Under 10.2 I had:
sda1 as a small partition for GRUB
sda3 as swap
sda6 as /
sda7 as /home
sda8 as a place for shared data
After upgrading to 10.3 I have:
sdb1 as a small partition for GRUB
sdb2 as /
sdb5 as /home
sdb6 with oldroot (not mounted automatically)
sdb7 with oldhome (not mounted automatically)
sdb8 as a place for shared data
(As mentioned above, current sdb is former sda)
This is (the relevant part of) my menu.conf file for GRUB:
#############################################
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Nov 17 19:05:38 2004
# Modified by LJD on 6.10.2007
color white/blue black/light-gray
default 1
timeout 10
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 10.2 from sda6 (menu on sda1)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6 vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda3
splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 10.3
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_SAMSUNG_SP1614CS01XJ10XA55259-part2
vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sdb3 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd
####################################################
I have not changed the long label in the boot option for 10.3. Note that the
SATA drive is *still* hd0 as far as GRUB is concerned, which is why I don't
want mess with it...
Someone who knows more than I do might be able to explain why an ATA drive
has an scsi-type label.
[...]
HTH
--
Les
Rajko M.
> jamesromeongmail.com wrote:
>
>> In 10.3, my Reiser and swap partitions are now mounted with these big
>> long device names. Why? This is a real pain when there is a problem
>> during boot and you are asked to fsck them manually. With no cut and
>> paste, entering this 50-digit names. Is there a way to get back to the
>> nice alias? When I set the system up, I specified / on /dev/sda1, for
>> example, and my data2 partition used to work on /dev/sdc1.
You can address drive the old way for any purpose. The device /dev/sda1
still exist and long name links to device name.
> You can do it, but you have to be careful. The long names they now use
> identify the hard disks unambiguously.
...
The new libata is using scsi style naming.
Why libata?
There was long explanation on opensuse mail lists, but all boils down to
that it is better solution.
Why long names?
It is unique identification, which is not so important for built in drives,
but it is for USB drives that get first free letter in /dev/sdX scheme when
they are recognized. With new naming it doesn't matter if drive was
attached first or second, it will be always mounted on proper mount point.
Before (SUSE 10.0) it was impossible to use automatic mount and be sure
that external drive 1 is always mounted, for instance on /archive and
external drive 2 as /backup. One that has 2 drives had to check device
names first and than manually mount on appropriate mount point.
--
Regards,
Rajko.
John Bowling
They did something else that I don't like. IDE drives are now labeled as
sd.. just like Sata drives.
I have one system with just 1 IDE drive. It's labeled as sda. And another
system has one IDE and one Sata. So which one is sda and which is sdb?
There is no logic to that change. If I did the install, I know to begin
with. What if someone else did the install, or a couple of years later I
need to update it? Short of pulling the system apart physically to check
drive model and size, there is no way of identifying the drives.
A total illogical change simply for the sake of change?
Mark South
>
> They did something else that I don't like. IDE drives are now labeled as
> sd.. just like Sata drives.
"They" in this case being the kernel developers. Suse is simply following
their recommendations.
> I have one system with just 1 IDE drive. It's labeled as sda. And
> another system has one IDE and one Sata. So which one is sda and which
> is sdb? There is no logic to that change. ....
> A total illogical change simply for the sake of change?
A change to allow all drives to use the same API and driver library,
allowing the kernel devs to spend more time on fixing other stuff and not
maintaining deprecated old code.
Some people would think they are getting pretty good value for money.
Rajko M.
...
> They did something else that I don't like. IDE drives are now labeled as
> sd.. just like Sata drives.
Everthing begun with SCSI drives, than came USB, than SATA, and now PATA.
Though for short time, production will cease very soon.
> I have one system with just 1 IDE drive. It's labeled as sda. And
> another
> system has one IDE and one Sata. So which one is sda and which is sdb?
First drive is /dev/sda, second /dev/sdb.
Now, what is importance of knowing which drive is SATA and which is PATA?
Do you load drivers by hand?
For system they are storage devices, for you just directories in directory
tree. Is that drive SCSI, USB, SATA, PATA, NAS is completely irrelevant for
user.
> There is no logic to that change. If I did the install, I know to begin
> with. What if someone else did the install, or a couple of years later I
> need to update it?
In a few years, there will be no hard disk drives, and many other components
as they are today, so don't worry about update.
> Short of pulling the system apart physically to check
> drive model and size, there is no way of identifying the drives.
If you know for:
/sbin/hwinfo --disk
than you can save opening the case, which is still far from "pulling the
system apart".
> A total illogical change simply for the sake of change?
That depends how one define illogical.
PATA was only hard disk with name different from /dev/sdX.
The joke is that now when this is finally fixed, SATA as cheaper and faster
alternative is replacing PATA.
--
Regards,
Rajko.
John Bowling
> John Bowling wrote:
>
> ...
>> They did something else that I don't like. IDE drives are now labeled as
>> sd.. just like Sata drives.
>
> Everthing begun with SCSI drives, than came USB, than SATA, and now PATA.
> Though for short time, production will cease very soon.
>
>> I have one system with just 1 IDE drive. It's labeled as sda. And
>> another
>> system has one IDE and one Sata. So which one is sda and which is sdb?
>
> First drive is /dev/sda, second /dev/sdb.
> Now, what is importance of knowing which drive is SATA and which is PATA?
> Do you load drivers by hand?
No, but when I have a drive failing or want to add a drive, I need to know
that the partition containing xyz is on a specific physical drive - now I
don't have any idea.
> For system they are storage devices, for you just directories in directory
> tree. Is that drive SCSI, USB, SATA, PATA, NAS is completely irrelevant
> for user.
>
>> There is no logic to that change. If I did the install, I know to begin
>> with. What if someone else did the install, or a couple of years later I
>> need to update it?
>
> In a few years, there will be no hard disk drives, and many other
> components as they are today, so don't worry about update.
>
The problem is current - when we have eliminated hard drives by other
devices [probably 5 years after they are declared obsolete], they can then
do it different, as expected.
>> Short of pulling the system apart physically to check
>> drive model and size, there is no way of identifying the drives.
>
> If you know for:
> /sbin/hwinfo --disk
> than you can save opening the case, which is still far from "pulling the
> system apart".
>
>> A total illogical change simply for the sake of change?
>
> That depends how one define illogical.
> PATA was only hard disk with name different from /dev/sdX.
> The joke is that now when this is finally fixed, SATA as cheaper and
> faster alternative is replacing PATA.
>
Yes, and on one of my systems, my sata interface chip was not supported
until 10.3.
And I am still having discrepancies on how usb devices load. I still have
times that inserting one does not follow the now 'standard' procedure.
And speaking of legacy I would love to eliminate:
I also have to copy data a few times a week from an old win system (an
ancient -1999- laptop with win only software) that only has floppy, and the
floppy functionality on 10.3 requires that you click the icon under
MyComputer have it eject so another can be inserted. That icon never has
an eject option. Until I can replace the old system (wine will not work
properly with this software), I'm stuck with floppys.
And brand new mother boards that can only have the BIOS flashed by floppy?
That's going to take 10 years to resolve.
birre
> jamesromeongmail.com wrote:
>>....
>> #cat /etc/fstab
>> /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_WDC_WD2000JB-00WD-WMAEH1167032-
>> part1 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
...
>
> They did something else that I don't like. IDE drives are now labeled as
> sd.. just like Sata drives.
>
> I have one system with just 1 IDE drive. It's labeled as sda. And another
> system has one IDE and one Sata. So which one is sda and which is sdb?
> There is no logic to that change. If I did the install, I know to begin
> with. What if someone else did the install, or a couple of years later I
> need to update it? Short of pulling the system apart physically to check
> drive model and size, there is no way of identifying the drives.
>
> A total illogical change simply for the sake of change?
>
They are just skipping /dev/hdx , and replacing it with scsi for all.
Now, if you have 2 SATA up and running and then plugin one IDE disk, what
will be /dev/sda ?
There is the reason to identify the disks with device unique numbers.
If you like the old way, just say so when you install, with the option tab
in partitioning , or use the partition tool later, or just fix fstab by hand,
but if you add a new disk, it can mess up.
Those horrible device names is nothing unique for linux or opensuse, they have
like this on Sun also in their raid tools, instead of the old c0t0d0s0,
it's just that the time is soon over for manual configuration I guess :-)
/bb
birre
> Rajko M. wrote:
>
>
> No, but when I have a drive failing or want to add a drive, I need to know
> that the partition containing xyz is on a specific physical drive - now I
> don't have any idea.
>
So, you look at the disk, and see the print 'sda' :-)
Or do you remember the order of them, just by remembering that the old and
rusty one was the first.
Now you just look at the label on the disk and look in fstab.
From there you can match a device like *WDC_WD2000JB-00WD-WMAEH1167032-*
with a "specific physical drive" , and not as before, checking address jumpers,
follow cables, and guessing other things.
Now you can add and remove drives as you like, without risk that sdx is sdy
or you boot with a usb stick, and your array disk will be renumbered.
Yast can also change to mount by label, if you prefer that,
so you just label the partitions as root , videos , home and so on,
but as other has discovered, it fail when you plug in a new disk that has
a filesystem with the same label.
I'm happy with this, I still run backup to TAPE, but the reason is I got all
tapes for free, a 100GB tape cost more then a 500GB disk today, and a tape
exchanger cost more then all computers + printers + monitors in the house.
So, if we start to use disks for backup, it should be nice to have a system that
is safer then just just a label name.
If I look around, I can find many tape named tape01 or tape001, and even
barcode series in the same number range.
But I have never seen 2 disks with the same vendor and serial number.
/bb