I have an image that was built with a HW raid controller. I want to use that image to restoredisk to a server with a Intel VROC (raid on CPU) controller. This is a BIOS raid that represents itself as a SW md(126) raid.
-Source = Clonezilla Image from server with disks in a HW raid config
-Destination = Server with 4x1TB drives in a VROC raid10 config.
So far, Debian sees the raid 10 devices, See Capture.PNG
But Clonezilla is only discovering the 4x1TB drives, Capture1.PNG
Is this an issue with Clonezilla and VROC support?
Or is this an issue of trying to clone a HW raided image onto SW Raided server?
Maybe it's an issue... RAID is complicated, so Clonezilla does not support it well.
You still can give it a try. Just remember to backup important data before you use Clonezilla.
Steven
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Thanks for the response Steven, I agree RAID is made more complicated than it needs to be. Manufacturers put their own spin on things that "might" challenge "raid standards". Case in point . Here's intel's description of VROC:
Intel® VROC utilizes Intel® VMD to aggregate NVMe* SSDs allowing bootable RAID. Intel® VROC also has attributes like software RAID. For instance, it uses some of the CPU cores to calculate the RAID logic. Because of this combination of software and silicon, Intel® VROC is called a hybrid RAID solution.
So VROC is a hybrid Raid. Looks like another "different" (dare i say non-standard?) raid widget that appears to need special handling.
I have tried to clone the image many times with the following clonezilla revisions:
3.1.2-22
3.1.2-9
2.7.3-19
All with the same results below:
The underlying Debian OS sees the md126. md126 is assigned as raid 10 to each disk. I can manually partition the md126 device. - That's Good.
However, Clonezilla GUI does not see, scan or discover the md126 as a disk option to clone.
Clonezilla just sees the 4 individual 1TB drives sda-sdd
Your attention to this is much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Jim
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Steven, I will keep that in mind the next time I deal with this.
I do have an update and my issue resolved for now.
I recreated the image from a system that was already booted and configured with the VROC hybrid raid1 configuration... When cloning that image, clonezilla would see and present the md126 as an option to image on the md126 device just fine.
Quick Summary(maybe ;) )
Note: the images below were based off same Windows Server release.
1st image sourced from server with HW raid controller - clonezilla failed to see/present md126 as destination.
2nd image sourced from server with VROC hybrid raid1 - clonezilla successfully presented md126 as destination.
Repeating myself again.....
The image that was taken from a system with HW raid controller would "NOT" clone to a system with a VROC hybrid config. The md126 would not be presented as a destination option to clone to.
The image that was taken from a system with VROC hybrid raid1 "would" clone perfectly to a system configured with a VROC raid1 (md126) destination.
I hope that makes sense...
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I'm trying to clone/restore image for VROC volume, too.
Here is my flow to create VROC volume in ubuntu version of clonezilla live OS:
$ yes | mdadm --create /dev/md/imsm0 /dev/sd{a,b} --raid-devices=2 --metadata=imsm
$ mdadm --create /dev/md/md0 /dev/md/imsm0 --raid-devices=2 --level=1
After that, I can install ubuntu server 22.04 on md126 and boot to ubuntu live OS again.
Based on output of lsblk command, I can ensure my OS is installed properly to md device.
root@X12-4N-30-14:/home/user# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0 7:0 0 464.1M 1 loop /usr/lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
/run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
sda 8:0 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 1G 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 2G 0 part
├─sda3 8:3 0 444.1G 0 part
├─md126 9:126 0 447.1G 0 raid1
│ ├─md126p1 259:3 0 1G 0 part
│ ├─md126p2 259:4 0 2G 0 part
│ └─md126p3 259:5 0 444.1G 0 part
└─md127 9:127 0 0B 0 md
sdb 8:16 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 1G 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 0 2G 0 part
├─sdb3 8:19 0 444.1G 0 part
├─md126 9:126 0 447.1G 0 raid1
│ ├─md126p1 259:3 0 1G 0 part
│ ├─md126p2 259:4 0 2G 0 part
│ └─md126p3 259:5 0 444.1G 0 part
└─md127 9:127 0 0B 0 md
sr0 11:0 1 553.1M 0 rom
sr1 11:1 1 376K 0 rom
mtdblock0 31:0 0 32M 1 disk
The cloning command showed on clonezilla UI is:
ocs-sr -q2 -c -j2 -z1p -i 0 -sfsck -senc -p choose savedisk ubuntu22.04-vroc-test sda sdb
But I get errors when executing cloning procedure (See the attachment)
Could you guide me on how to correctly perform clone/restore for a VROC device?
Thank you very much.
Your Clonezilla live version is old. I suggest you try the latest stable one (e.g., 3.1.3-11) first, and if the issue remains, please report it. https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php
Steven
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have an image that was built with a HW raid controller. I want to use that image to restoredisk to a server with a Intel VROC (raid on CPU) controller. This is a BIOS raid that represents itself as a SW md(126) raid.
-Source = Clonezilla Image from server with disks in a HW raid config
-Destination = Server with 4x1TB drives in a VROC raid10 config.
So far, Debian sees the raid 10 devices, See Capture.PNG
But Clonezilla is only discovering the 4x1TB drives, Capture1.PNG
Is this an issue with Clonezilla and VROC support?
Or is this an issue of trying to clone a HW raided image onto SW Raided server?
Maybe it's an issue... RAID is complicated, so Clonezilla does not support it well.
You still can give it a try. Just remember to backup important data before you use Clonezilla.
Steven
Thanks for the response Steven, I agree RAID is made more complicated than it needs to be. Manufacturers put their own spin on things that "might" challenge "raid standards". Case in point . Here's intel's description of VROC:
Intel® VROC utilizes Intel® VMD to aggregate NVMe* SSDs allowing bootable RAID. Intel® VROC also has attributes like software RAID. For instance, it uses some of the CPU cores to calculate the RAID logic. Because of this combination of software and silicon, Intel® VROC is called a hybrid RAID solution.
So VROC is a hybrid Raid. Looks like another "different" (dare i say non-standard?) raid widget that appears to need special handling.
I have tried to clone the image many times with the following clonezilla revisions:
3.1.2-22
3.1.2-9
2.7.3-19
All with the same results below:
The underlying Debian OS sees the md126. md126 is assigned as raid 10 to each disk. I can manually partition the md126 device. - That's Good.
However, Clonezilla GUI does not see, scan or discover the md126 as a disk option to clone.
Clonezilla just sees the 4 individual 1TB drives sda-sdd
Your attention to this is much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Jim
The issue looks like it's for TUI.
However, you can try to force to use command line prompt to do that. For example,
https://clonezilla.org//clonezilla-live/doc/02_Restore_disk_image/images/ocs-10-5-img-restore-command-prompt.png
the green command is you can try. Just replace the image and destination device in the ocs-sr command.
Steven
Steven, I will keep that in mind the next time I deal with this.
I do have an update and my issue resolved for now.
I recreated the image from a system that was already booted and configured with the VROC hybrid raid1 configuration... When cloning that image, clonezilla would see and present the md126 as an option to image on the md126 device just fine.
Quick Summary(maybe ;) )
Note: the images below were based off same Windows Server release.
1st image sourced from server with HW raid controller - clonezilla failed to see/present md126 as destination.
2nd image sourced from server with VROC hybrid raid1 - clonezilla successfully presented md126 as destination.
Repeating myself again.....
The image that was taken from a system with HW raid controller would "NOT" clone to a system with a VROC hybrid config. The md126 would not be presented as a destination option to clone to.
The image that was taken from a system with VROC hybrid raid1 "would" clone perfectly to a system configured with a VROC raid1 (md126) destination.
I hope that makes sense...
OK, great. Thanks for sharing that.
Steven
Hi Jim and Steven,
I'm trying to clone/restore image for VROC volume, too.
Here is my flow to create VROC volume in ubuntu version of clonezilla live OS:
$ yes | mdadm --create /dev/md/imsm0 /dev/sd{a,b} --raid-devices=2 --metadata=imsm
$ mdadm --create /dev/md/md0 /dev/md/imsm0 --raid-devices=2 --level=1
After that, I can install ubuntu server 22.04 on md126 and boot to ubuntu live OS again.
Based on output of lsblk command, I can ensure my OS is installed properly to md device.
root@X12-4N-30-14:/home/user# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0 7:0 0 464.1M 1 loop /usr/lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
/run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
sda 8:0 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 1G 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 2G 0 part
├─sda3 8:3 0 444.1G 0 part
├─md126 9:126 0 447.1G 0 raid1
│ ├─md126p1 259:3 0 1G 0 part
│ ├─md126p2 259:4 0 2G 0 part
│ └─md126p3 259:5 0 444.1G 0 part
└─md127 9:127 0 0B 0 md
sdb 8:16 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 1G 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 0 2G 0 part
├─sdb3 8:19 0 444.1G 0 part
├─md126 9:126 0 447.1G 0 raid1
│ ├─md126p1 259:3 0 1G 0 part
│ ├─md126p2 259:4 0 2G 0 part
│ └─md126p3 259:5 0 444.1G 0 part
└─md127 9:127 0 0B 0 md
sr0 11:0 1 553.1M 0 rom
sr1 11:1 1 376K 0 rom
mtdblock0 31:0 0 32M 1 disk
The cloning command showed on clonezilla UI is:
ocs-sr -q2 -c -j2 -z1p -i 0 -sfsck -senc -p choose savedisk ubuntu22.04-vroc-test sda sdb
But I get errors when executing cloning procedure (See the attachment)
Could you guide me on how to correctly perform clone/restore for a VROC device?
Thank you very much.
Last edit: Ray Jhang 2024-07-09
Your Clonezilla live version is old. I suggest you try the latest stable one (e.g., 3.1.3-11) first, and if the issue remains, please report it.
https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php
Steven