salmi@dicome.UUCP (john salmi) (07/23/86)
help!
1) decided to have a backup root filesystem, 'just in case'
2) i ran /etc/newfs on /dev/ra2a
3) dump(8)'ed /dev/ra0a (root) to tape, then restore -r'ed the
tape to /dev/ra2a
4) attempt to boot from /dev/ra2a
5) system gets to the point of single user mode prompt, and gets
a ``panic: iinit''
5.1) scenario included here...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ultrix V1.2 System #1
real mem = 12578816
avail mem = 10298368
using 264 buffers containing 1257472 bytes of memory
VAX 11/785, serial no. 2565, hardware level = 17
mcr0 (MS780-E) at address 0x20002000, 12Mbytes, internal interleave
uba0 at address 0x20006000
uda0 at uba0 csr 172150 vec 774, ipl 15
ra0 at uda0 slave 0
sc0 at uba0 csr 176700 vec 254, ipl 15
up0 at sc0 slave 0
dhu0 at uba0 csr 160440 vec 300, ipl 15
dhu1 at uba0 csr 160460 vec 310, ipl 15
dhu2 at uba0 csr 160500 vec 320, ipl 15
lp0 at uba0 csr 177514 vec 200, ipl 14
uba1 at address 0x20008000
uda1 at uba1 csr 172150 vec 774, ipl 15
ra1 at uda1 slave 1
ra2 at uda1 slave 2
fx0 at uba1 csr 177170 vec 264, ipl 15
rx0 at fx0 slave 0
rx1 at fx0 slave 1
dz0 at uba1 csr 160100 vec 310, ipl 15
dz1 at uba1 csr 160110 vec 320, ipl 15
de0 at uba1 csr 174510 vec 120, ipl 15
mba0 at address 0x20010000
mt0 at mba0 drive 0
mu0 at mt0 slave 0
mba1 at address 0x20012000
hp0 at mba1 drive 0
panic: iinit
syncing disks... done
--------------------------------------------------------------
the machine tries to reboot itself, but keeps crashing. i am under
the impression that iinit initailizes the inodes table on the particular
partition/filesystem...
why would unix puke on the new root filesystem and not it's mother
filesystem? the partition (/dev/ra2a) is good, as i have had other stuff
on it and it worked fine.
i have been able to get nowhere with the dec phone support people.
i do need to have the backup system functioning. can anyone offer
any advice/comments? fred?
----
-john salmi - dicomed corporation
-software/systems administrator
-minneapolis, mn
-business - ihnp4!dicome!root
-pleasure - ihnp4!dicome!salmi
-612/885-3092tw@omssw2.UUCP (Thomas Walsh) (07/25/86)
i do the same thing on xenix systems, however there are compiled in values which tell iinit which filesystem is the root device (what controller, what device...) if these are unchanged (as you indicate), the kernel being booted off of the second drive reads the superblock off of the first drive and panics. i don't know the names of the #defines in bsd configuration files. in addition, in the /dev directory of the 'backup' root partition, the major and minor numbers of swap, root, and possibly other devices will need to point at the 'second' drive, or utilities which seek on these will behave strangely at best. ..reed!omssw1!omssw2!tw
ellis@ultra.dec.com (07/25/86)
Posted: 23 Jul 86 17:13:30 GMT dicome!salmi ran into trouble booting from a backup root filesystem. He copied /dev/ra0a to /dev/ra2a (via dump/restore), then attempted to boot from /dev/ra2a. The system printed out the message "panic: iinit" and immediately tried to reboot again, resulting in a loop. The key is that /vmunix (the file containing the executable kernel) has built into it configuration information telling it that certain files it requires to operate are mounted on /dev/ra0a. You can't simply reboot a working unix from /dev/ra2a without having /dev/ra0a around. You need to mount the disk pack with the backup root filesystem into the /dev/ra0a drive (or, instead of swapping packs, just swap the unit-number plugs on the drives if your drives allow this -- much easier). David Ellis Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA 617-486-6784 decwrl!rhea!ultra!ellis decvax!ultra::ellis