On 05/05/2012 09:07 AM, davidMbrooke wrote: > On Fri, 2012-05-04 at 20:09 +0000, Dillabough, Dave wrote: >> Hi fellow LEAFers. >> >> I am trying to run up a new router prototype using the current 4.2.1rc1 >> software as a first step in replacing my aging fleet of routers. My existing >> routers are used in branch offices in remote locations where IT help is >> usually not available so failures are dealt with by swapping in a new box >> using whatever local talent is available so the process must be very simple >> and non technical. The existing routers all use a CF card to boot from which >> makes swapping a router quite easy as the configuration moves with the CF >> card. I do not have monitors and keyboards on these systems. They are just >> black boxes that hang on the wall. As most new motherboards do not have an >> IDE interface I am thinking of switching to use a USB flash drive to boot >> instead. I have run into a boot issue thoughand am not sure of the best way >> forward so I am looking for some advice. >> >> The issue is that the routers also have 2 mirrored SATA hard drives in them. >> The hard drives and the USB drive are all recognized as SCSI (sdx) devices >> but not in a consistent way. For example the first hard drive as sda, the >> USB drive as sdb and the second hard drive as sdc. I could live with this >> and edit syslinux.cfg and leaf.cfg to point to sdb except that if a hard >> drive fails this order changes and I cannot reboot the router again without >> re-editing these files. Is there a way around this? If I could get the USB >> drive to consistently show up as sda that would be fine. Is there a way to >> use some sort of alias or dynamic assignment? This was not an issue with >> the CF cards as they used the hdx interface which was static. >> >> Thanks for any thoughts or idea, >> >> Dave > Hi Dave, > > My thoughts on possible options to investigate: > > - Force the USB subsystem to load "early" and therefore ensure that > the USB drive is always /dev/sda. You can list modules on the kernel > boot line as e.g. KMODULES=module1,module2 and those always get loaded > before other modules. Depending on how the SCSI sub-system processes the > SATA drives that *might* do the trick. > > - Other distributions work around a similar problem by referring to > the root disk by UUID or LABEL rather than by device name. We could look > at changing the /init script to accept something like > PKGPATH=LABEL=LEAFUSB:vfat where "LEAFUSB" is the DOS filesystem label > of your USB disk. > > david > > Hi,
What about a CF to sata adapter One example is http://www.dealextreme.com/p/thin-compact-flash-cf-to-sata-adapter-8466 Thin Compact Flash CF to SATA Adapter 13 USD Then you have some control of the order. Best would be to have a disk referenced with UUID solution. /Per ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leaf-user mailing list: leaf-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user Support Request -- http://leaf-project.org/
