[Ubuntu 20.04 s390] Failed to install os from CD

[bugproxy]

Failed to install os from CD

---Installation Media---
ubuntu-20.04-live-server-s390x.iso

---Machine type ---
model: 8561 - T01

---Steps---
Login to HMC
Load CD via 'Load from Removable media or Serer'
Select FTP
After loaded successfully

Get following message in Operating System Messages and installation failed:

ln: /tmp/mountroot-fail-hooks.d//scripts/init-premount/lvm2: No such file or dir
ectory

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

It's currently in discussion how to proceed on that ...

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

Would of course be good t improve the notification why it can't install.
See also LP 1875309 - "[UBUNTU 20.04] Add notification in case subiquity got booted on s390x w/o a parmfile in place"
For more instructions on how to install please also see:
https://ubuntu-on-big-iron.blogspot.com/2020/03/glimpse-at-subiquity.html

[Michael Hudson-Doyle (mwhudson)]

FWIW the "ln: /tmp/mountroot-fail-hooks.d//scripts/init-premount/lvm2: No such file or directory" message is harmless.

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

Yeah, "ln: /tmp/mountroot-fail-hooks.d//scripts/init-premount/lvm2: No such file or directory" is harmless.
But an installation without a proper parmfile in place stops roughly with that message, so it's a bit misleading and may point to a wrong direction.
Ideally this (harmless) message should be suppressed, and in case a parmfile is missing (or broken/insufficient) a message should indicate this - if that makes sense.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

"""
Get following message in Operating System Messages and installation failed:

ln: /tmp/mountroot-fail-hooks.d//scripts/init-premount/lvm2: No such file or dir
ectory
"""

Is it actually the last message?

Normally, we go looking / waiting for physical media to appear, and eventually should print an error message that no installation media was found.

Can you wait longer, and refresh the Operating systems messages screen to see if you eventually receive the error message?

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-05-06 09:26 EDT-------
Just gave it a try - did a FTP load using the default .ins file in the ISO.

The only message that shows up at first indeed is
ln: /tmp/mountroot-fail-hooks.d//scripts/init-premount/lvm2: No such file or directory

Then there's no output for about 06:20 and then there's this:
BusyBox v1.30.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.30.1-4ubuntu6) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs) [6n
Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

So yeah - if one waits long enough, there will be a hint that something went wrong. However that's still not a great out-of-box experience for customers who are used to this exact same method just working ever since 16.04.

While the error message is technically correct, without additional documentation the user will still not know how to get things working from there.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

The message about "Unable to find a medium containing a live file system" should appear after 60 seconds time out.

I wonder, if that message is not displayed, due to Operating Systems Messages window failing to refresh up to date messages.

If and when, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/casper/+bug/1854513 is implemented, instead of showing this "Unable to find a medium containing a live file system" we will instead trigger "configure manual networking & attempt manual network boot" experience.

But I wonder, if the 60s delay, will still be inadequate. I wonder if we should be checking for auto-zdev devices, and if all of them got activated, realize that it is pointless to wait for 60s on s390x, because no devices will be hotplugged (or are slow to appear) which may have the .iso DD'ed onto them.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-05-20 07:53 EDT-------
@Canonical, which solution will be provided for this situation?

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

It is largely like mentioned an described in comment #7.
The issue reported here, will be gone if LP 1854513 is solved and implemented.
With having LP 1854513 completed, there will be no need anymore for handing over network configuration data per parmfile,
hence the message discussed here becomes obsolete and instead a way to manually configure networking will pop-up instead.
However, the implementation of LP 1854513 is not trivial and will require some time and effort, but it is reflected in the plan.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

The work to implement interactive network setup & boot, without paramfiles is in progress.

It will be available for 20.04.1.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

This is now available in groovy daily-live isos.

This is change in other os components rather than subiquity itself. Hence opening tasks against the other packages that we had to fix up. Cause we have fixes in busybox, initramfs-tools, lvm2, casper to make this to work.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-06-17 05:38 EDT-------
I just tried with groovy-live-server-s390x.iso from 2020-06-16. I get the "Attempt interactive netboot from a URL?" prompt and things seemed to be going fine at first. But it seems that the handling of subnets in the IP configuration is broken - giving the IP address in CIDR notation didn't result in the right netmask and there was no explicit prompt for a netmask which left me with an invalid subnet mask for my environment. It just seems to default to a netmask of 255.255.255.0 (/24).

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

"giving the IP address in CIDR notation" is not currently supported.

I feel like I must ditch the linux kernel cmdline ip= format rules, which is the only format supported by klibc ipconfig util in the initrd, and instead use `ip` command to setup static IP configuration.

Specifically, that will allows to support CIDR notation.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-06-17 07:41 EDT-------
Either that or add a dedicated prompt for the subnet mask. Or let me ask another way: is there any way at the moment to enter a subnet mask at the IP configuration prompt and I just don't know about the correct format?

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

@dominik

I understand your request. I will work on getting that enabled.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-08-27 02:54 EDT-------
@Canonical: Any news here?

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

Please take the latest Ubuntu Server Live image 20.04.1:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/ubuntu/releases/20.04.1/release/ubuntu-20.04.1-live-server-s390x.iso

With the recent changes in the casper component of the installer (LP 1854513 and LP 1884933) this is should be fixed now - but the minimum levels are 20.04.1 or 20.10.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-09-17 03:47 EDT-------
Just tried with ubuntu-20.04.1-live-server-s390x.iso and can confirm that it's now possible to enter a subnet mask which enables network installation without a customized parmfile in our environment.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2020-09-17 03:53 EDT-------
IBM Bugzilla status-> closed, Verified by IBM

[Frank Heimes (fheimes)]

Thank you Dominik for testing and confirming!