[XENSERVER] Just broken our Ubuntu VM running on XenServer

[FragglePete]

Doh!

 

I have a Ubuntu Server running on one of my XenServers; has been happily for a couple of years now. It's used for nothing critical, we use it to play with .php and webstuff, but I did have Limesurvey installed on it and we do currently have a survey running, anyways.....

 

I just let the thing do a distribution upgrade and now it's broke. Thankfully I took a copy of all the SQL Databases and www directories before hand; should have done a snapshot first but never mind....

 

Anyway, error occures on trying to start the VM. Along the lines of: Unable to find partition containing kernel

 

Seems that a few peeps have had this issue, and using the Xen Console using xe-editbootloader with the -p 1 switch fixes it for most people, but I get the error: Unable to find a valid bootloader config file in:

/boot/grub/menu.lst /grub/menu.lst

 

Not sure what to do at this point! Help appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Pete

[andy_b]

I did the same thing today :/

 

I used: xe-edit-bootloader -n "VMNAME" -p 1 and then was able to comment the submenu stuff out to get a booting system.

 

I seem to remember reading that if -p 1 didn't work try -p 0 as potentially grub could be on either of these partitions, dependant on how it was installed.

[FragglePete]

I did the same thing today :/

 

I used: xe-edit-bootloader -n "VMNAME" -p 1 and then was able to comment the submenu stuff out to get a booting system.

 

I seem to remember reading that if -p 1 didn't work try -p 0 as potentially grub could be on either of these partitions, dependant on how it was installed.

 

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately no joy with that either; device /dev/xvda0 not found.

 

It can't seem to find the menu.lst file so until I tell it where it is, I'm stuffed.

 

Pete

Edited November 12, 2012 by FragglePete

[jinnantonnixx]

You can rebuild grub with:

sudo update-grub

[CyberNerd]

It can't seem to find the menu.lst file so until I tell it where it is, I'm stuffed.

 

The menu.lst is from a grub 1 boot loader and Ubuntu now uses grub2 so the menu.lst file doesn't exist.

I'm still using grub1 (on redhat) so can't help much more than that. Some reading material here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

GRUB 2 bootloader - Full tutorial

[FragglePete]

The menu.lst is from a grub 1 boot loader and Ubuntu now uses grub2 so the menu.lst file doesn't exist.

I'm still using grub1 (on redhat) so can't help much more than that. Some reading material here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

GRUB 2 bootloader - Full tutorial

 

Ah. Ok, now uses a /boot/grub/grub.cfg which I can get up on the Xen Console with xe-edit-bootloader... but, what to change... if anything. Sitting outside normal comfort zone now.

 

Pete

[andy_b]

I just commented out the whole submenu "Previous Linux versions" { ... } section in grub.cfg and it worked.

[FragglePete]

I just commented out the whole submenu "Previous Linux versions" { ... } section in grub.cfg and it worked.

 

Just tried that, no joy.

 

Pete

[Guest Guest]

If you took a copy of www and sql then just provision a new server. That way it's a nice fresh clean install. IMO unless theres a specific reason not to I always build from fresh when something goes funny - you never know what else it lurking round the corner... Edited November 12, 2012 by Guest

[SYNACK]

Can you actually see the files, I had many issues with Linux just dropping its filesystem and needing a full chkdsk type disk scan from the install cd to get it going again.

[twin--turbo]

build a fresh system and mount the old disks and shift the data over.

 

Rob

[FragglePete]

If you took a copy of www and sql then just provision a new server. That way it's a nice fresh clean install. IMO unless theres a specific reason not to I always build from fresh when something goes funny - you never know what else it lurking round the corner...

 

Yeah, it's an option which I'm geared up to do. It was just a bit of a pain getting Ubuntu working correctly on a XenServer in the first place but a nice fresh box always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

 

Pete

[twin--turbo]

I hate XEN when it comes to linux. Much prefer vMware..

 

In fact I prefer vMware full stop, we have a mix of both though.

 

Rob

[FragglePete]

I hate XEN when it comes to linux. Much prefer vMware..

 

In fact I prefer vMware full stop, we have a mix of both though.

 

Rob

 

It is a bit quirky when it comes to Linux it has to be said, which is odd being a *nix based system itself. Handles our Windows Servers nicely (have three hosts running a total of 12 VMs, all local storage). I guess its attraction for us it was free. I need to look at others though just to get myself up to speed.

 

Pete

[twin--turbo]

Yes you would think XEN would handle Linux easily, it was the P2V and the "Tools" that kept giving me trouble.

 

 

Just counted 53 Servers on Xen

 

ESXi is free too although we have a mix of ESXi and ESX (we have a licence from a few years back) there's about 10 servers at present on them.

 

Rob