I work for a major educational system that utilizes Ubuntu Server (14.04, 16.04 LTS) instances on the Amazon Web Services cloud for critical infrastructure. This bug has come up a few times, where an admin has a typo or other error in /etc/fstab, pertaining to a non-OS filesystem (like an EFS data volume), and as a result, the system fails to boot. On a physical machine, this wouldn't be a big deal: press "S" to skip that mountpoint, and keep booting; or if that doesn't work, boot from live media and fix fstab. However, a cloud instance doesn't grant you those options: it hangs forever, and you have no physical keyboard, USB port, or optical drive with which to workaround the problem.
I normally wouldn't suggest a certain priority on a bug, but this is a severe liability for anyone running Ubuntu in a cloud computing environment. Therefore, I must respectfully request that this bug be elevated to "Major" or "Critical" status. Thank-you. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1463120 Title: Failure to boot if fstab disk mounts fail Status in linux package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: I found this on my main 15.04 desktop but have reproduced it in a VM: 1. Install Ubuntu 15.04 (I included updates and non-free but I doubt that matters). 2. Add a bogus entry to /etc/fstab, eg: /dev/sdd1 /mnt/sdd1 ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 0 Note that /mnd/sdd1 exists but /dev/sdd1 does not 3. Reboot Expected: Failure to mount /dev/sdd1 reported and option to boot without mounting it Actual: System appears to hang, although it will eventually present a root terminal (with no indication of the cause of the problem). It appears to hang prior to switching graphical mode, with the result that any warnings/errors that are present on all boots but invisible because the screen clears before they're seen become visible for the first time incorrectly suggesting they are the cause of the problem. Removing (or commenting out) the problematic entries and rebooting allows the system to boot. HOWEVER: The grub boot menu now appears and any pre-existing menu timeout and default action seems to have been lost; it's now necessary to select a boot option on each boot. This may be a separate bug (or feature?). My actual case: I have external drives permanently connected via USB, however the USB card appears to have failed hence the drives are not accessible. With no clues (and being unfamiliar to systemd) working out why the system wouldn't boot was a tough job. --- ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1.1 Architecture: amd64 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC0: mark 1382 F.... pulseaudio DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04 HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=76b7b79b-0cdd-4605-bc58-381fad8fa67f InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-08 (4 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422) IwConfig: eth0 no wireless extensions. lo no wireless extensions. Lsusb: Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub MachineType: innotek GmbH VirtualBox Package: linux (not installed) ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_GB:en TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcFB: ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-20-generic root=UUID=53f2fcea-e84c-4736-ac69-f34305a63432 ro quiet splash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-20.20-generic 3.19.8 PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory not accessible: Permission denied No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon. RelatedPackageVersions: linux-restricted-modules-3.19.0-20-generic N/A linux-backports-modules-3.19.0-20-generic N/A linux-firmware 1.143.1 RfKill: Tags: vivid UdevLog: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/log/udev' Uname: Linux 3.19.0-20-generic x86_64 UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) UserGroups: _MarkForUpload: True dmi.bios.date: 12/01/2006 dmi.bios.vendor: innotek GmbH dmi.bios.version: VirtualBox dmi.board.name: VirtualBox dmi.board.vendor: Oracle Corporation dmi.board.version: 1.2 dmi.chassis.type: 1 dmi.chassis.vendor: Oracle Corporation dmi.modalias: dmi:bvninnotekGmbH:bvrVirtualBox:bd12/01/2006:svninnotekGmbH:pnVirtualBox:pvr1.2:rvnOracleCorporation:rnVirtualBox:rvr1.2:cvnOracleCorporation:ct1:cvr: dmi.product.name: VirtualBox dmi.product.version: 1.2 dmi.sys.vendor: innotek GmbH To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1463120/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp