Brent L. Bates wrote:
>      I've been searching Google for answers and can't find any, so I decided
> to check here.
>
>      I'm trying to do a clean install of SL 5.4.  I'm booting from an SL 5.4
> x86_64 DVD.  When I get to the point of custom partitioning my drives,
> Anaconda makes a mess of things.  I have 4 drives and I want 4 partions on
> each drive.  The first partion will be `/boot', next `/', then `/data', and
> finally a swap partion.  As I create each partition on each drive, Anaconda
> will suddenly rearrange the order of the partions.  When I go onto another
> drive, the order may be different than the last drive I just partitioned.
>  When I try to do the 4th and last partition, I get an `Extended' 4th partion
> (which is empty) and a real 5th partition, instead of a simple single
> partition.
>
>      In the end, what I want is the first partition on each drive combined
> into a software RAID 1 and be `/boot'.  The next 2 sets will be software RAID
> 0's and `/' & `/data'.  The final partitions will be 4 separate swap
> partitions that the OS will take care of.
>
>      I've tried creating all the partitions on one drive and then moving onto
> the next one and the next one, but it scrambles things up.  I've tried
> creating the first partition on each drive, then combining them into the RAID
> 1 md0 device, and specifying the files system type, and mount point `/boot'.
>  Next I go onto the next partition, which I've tried as a software RAID 0
> partition and swap at various times.  This one usually works, but not always.
>  When I get to the 3rd partition, then it will suddenly rearrange the
> partitions on that drive.  I've even seen it suddenly create a swap partition
> on a different drive than what I'm actually working on.
>
>      I've done this with earlier versions of SL, but I don't remember having
> this much trouble with Anaconda randomly rearranging things and creating an
> extra unneeded partion.  Any insights would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

I've noticed anaconda likes to try and be smarter than you.  Quite 
annoying.  You can probably solve this by specifying things explicitly 
in a kickstart file, pre-partitioning the disk using fdisk/sfdisk, or 
fiddling with the "force primary partition" check box and the order you 
specify the partitions in anaconda.  I've worked in the reverse order 
over the years, manually tricking anaconda, then forcing an sfdisk dump 
in, and finally resorted to tailoring a kickstart to do my bidding 
because disk sizes aren't constant for me.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Mr. Mark V. Stodola
Digital Systems Engineer

National Electrostatics Corp.
P.O. Box 620310
Middleton, WI 53562-0310 USA
Phone: (608) 831-7600
Fax: (608) 831-9591