Provided by: fai-setup-storage_3.4.8ubuntu5_all 
NAME
setup-storage - automatically prepare storage devices
SYNOPSIS
setup-storage [-X] [-f filename] [-d] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
Using FAI disk_config files, setup-storage computes effective partition and volume sizes and executes the
necessary commands to configure storage devices. It manages disk drives as well as RAID and LVM volumes.
It handles all file systems supported by parted(8) as well as ntfs but is flexible enough to be extended
to further types as well. Once the storage devices are prepared, an appropriate fstab(5) file is
generated.
Without the -X parameter setup-storage runs in test-only mode and does not execute commands other than
writing disk labels to a blank disk.
The exit code of setup-storage is 0 if all operations were performed successfully and non-zero if an
error occurs.
USAGE
To enable the use of the new partioning tool setup-storage you have to set USE_SETUP_STORAGE=1 in the
according class file in configspace (like /srv/fai/config/class/FAIBASE.var for example).
OPTIONS
-X Really write the configuration to disk. Otherwise setup-storage runs in test-only mode.
-f filename
Normally setup-storage selects an appropriate configuration from $FAI/disk_config/ by picking the
first class from classes that has an existing file. If however -f is given the configuration in
filename is used.
-d Enable debugging output.
-h Display the synopsis and version info and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
setup-storage will use the following environment variables:
disklist
The disklist variable must contain a newline separated list of disk drives available in the
system. Their order matters as they may be referred to as disk1, etc. in disk_config.
debug If debug is set to a non-zero value all actions and details to track the operation of setup-
storage are printed to stderr.
FAI The location of the config space to find the disk_config directory.
classes
The list of FAI classes to determine the appropriate configuration to choose.
LOGDIR setup-storage generates disk_var.sh and fstab (see below) in this directory.
flag_initial
This variable determines if partitions should be preserved when they are tagged as to be
preserved. Normally set by the list of FAI flags (FAI_FLAGS).
FILES
If setup-storage executes successfully, an fstab(5) file matching the specified configuration is
generated as $LOGDIR/fstab. Furthermore the file $LOGDIR/disk_var.sh is generated. This file defines the
following variables, if not yet set: SWAPLIST, ROOT_PARTITION, BOOT_PARTITION (which is only set in case
this resides on a disk drive), and BOOT_DEVICE. The latter two describe the partition and disk/RAID/LVM
device hosting the mount point for /boot. If /boot has no extra mount point, / is used instead. You may
source $LOGDIR/disk_var.sh to get the variables set.
SYNTAX
This section describes the syntax of disk_config files
file ::= <lines> EOF
lines ::= EOL
/* empty lines or whitespace only */
| <comment> EOL
| <config> EOL
comment ::= #.*
config ::= disk_config lvm( <lvmoption>)*
| disk_config raid( <raidoption>)*
| disk_config cryptsetup( <cryptsetupoption>)*
| disk_config tmpfs
| disk_config end
| disk_config disk[[:digit:]]+( <option>)*
| disk_config [^[:space:]]+( <option>)*
/* fully qualified device-path or short form, like hda, whereby full
* path is assumed to be /dev/hda; may contain shell globbing such
* as /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-* */
| <volume>
lvmoption ::= /* empty */
| preserve_always:[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+(,[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- always */
| preserve_reinstall:[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+(,[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- unless the system is installed for the
first time */
| preserve_lazy:[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+(,[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- unless these don't exist yet */
| always_format:[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+(,[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+)*
/* run mkfs on the volumes, even if marked as preserve */
| resize:[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+(,[^/,\s\-]+-[^/,\s\-]+)*
/* attempt to resize partitions */
| fstabkey:(device|label|uuid)
/* when creating the fstab, the key used for defining the device
may be the device (/dev/xxx), a label given using -L, or the uuid
*/
raidoption ::= /* empty */
| preserve_always:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- always */
| preserve_reinstall:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- unless the system is installed for the
first time */
| preserve_lazy:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve volumes -- unless these don't exist yet */
| always_format:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* run mkfs on the volumes, even if marked as preserve */
| fstabkey:(device|label|uuid)
/* when creating the fstab the key used for defining the device
may be the device (/dev/xxx), a label given using -L, or the uuid
*/
cryptsetupoption ::= /* empty */
| randinit
/* initialise all encrypted partitions with random data */
option ::= /* empty */
| preserve_always:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve partitions -- always */
| preserve_reinstall:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve partitions -- unless the system is installed for the
first time */
| preserve_lazy:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* preserve partitions -- unless these don't exist yet */
| always_format:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* run mkfs on the partitions, even if marked as preserve */
| resize:[[:digit:]]+(,[[:digit:]]+)*
/* attempt to resize partitions */
| disklabel:(msdos|gpt|gpt-bios)
/* write a disklabel - default is msdos */
| bootable:[[:digit:]]+
/* mark a partition bootable, default is / */
| virtual
/* do not assume the disk to be a physical device, use with xen */
| fstabkey:(device|label|uuid)
/* when creating the fstab the key used for defining the device
may be the device (/dev/xxx), a label given using -L, or the uuid
*/
| sameas:(disk[[:digit:]]+|[^[:space:]]+)
/* Indicate that this disk will use the same scheme
as the given device. The referenced device must be
defined before the device using this option. Use only
with identical hardware.
*/
| align-at:([[:digit:]]+[kKMGTPiB]*)
/* Align partitions at multiples of the given block size (unit
defaults to MiB, if omitted). Such an alignment, e.g., 4K, might be
important for proper performance of RAID arrays which use a logical
block size other than the sector size of the underlying disks. It
must, however, always be a multiple of this sector size.
*/
volume ::= <type> <mountpoint> <size> <filesystem> <mount_options> <fs_options>
| vg <name> <size> <fs_options>
/* lvm vg */
| tmpfs <mountpoint> <tmpfs_size> <mount_options>
/* tmpfs volume */
type ::= primary
/* for physical disks only */
| logical
/* for physical disks only */
| raid[0156]
/* raid level */
| luks
/* encrypted partition using LUKS */
| tmp
/* encrypted partition for /tmp usage, will be
recreated with a random key at each boot and
reformatted as ext2 */
| swap
/* encrypted partition for swap space usage, will
be recreated with a random key at each boot and
reformatted as swap space */
| [^/[:space:]]+-[^/[:space:]]+
/* lvm logical volume: vg name and lv name*/
mountpoint ::= (-|swap|/[^[:space:]]*)
/* do not mount, mount as swap, or mount at fully qualified path */
name ::= [^/[:space:]]+
/* lvm volume group name */
sizespec ::= RAM:[[:digit:]]+%|[[:digit:]]+[kKMGTP%iB]*
/* size in kilo (KiB), mega (default, MiB), giga (GiB), tera (TiB),
* petabytes (PiB) or percentage of disk size or RAM size; integers
* only, no decimal numbers.
* In future releases KB, MB, GB, ... will be treated as 1000 instead
* of 1024 (KiB, MiB, GiB, ...) multipliers */
size ::= <sizespec>(-(<sizespec>)?)?(:resize)?
/* size, possibly given as a range; physical partitions or lvm logical
* volumes only */
| -<sizespec>(:resize)?
/* size given as upper limit; physical partitions or lvm logical
* volumes only */
| [^,:[:space:]]+(:(spare|missing))*(,[^,:[:space:]]+(:(spare|missing))*)*
/* devices and options for a raid or lvm vg */
tmpfs_size ::= <sizespec>
/* tmpfs size */
mount_options ::= [^[:space:]]+
filesystem ::= -
| swap
| [^[:space:]]
/* mkfs.xxx must exist */
fs_options ::= (createopts=".*"|tuneopts=".*"|(pv|vg|lv|md)createopts=".*")*
/* options to append to mkfs.xxx and to the filesystem-specific
* tuning tool, pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate or mdadm */
MIGRATION FROM SETUP_HARDDISKS
The major differences to the prior configuration syntax are:
• The disk_config ... line allows for the keywords lvm and raid
• Options may need to be appended to the disk_config line
• The ";" is not used anymore, the options that were given there have now been split up
• The filesystem is now an explicit parameter; note that the order of filesystem/mount-options is
the same /etc/fstab as opposed to the previous format of disk_config.
• Any options to mkfs.xxx may be given using createopts="".
• The "preserveX" and "boot" options are one of the options now given on the disk_config line, using
preserve_reinstall, preserve_always, or preserve_lazy, and bootable. preserve_always is
equivalent to the previous preserveX option, whereas preserve_reinstall preserves the partition
unless "initial" is given as one of the FAI_FLAGS. preserve_lazy allows to preserve partitions
only if these exist already. Otherwise they are created.
• The "always_format" option overrides preserving filesystems (via one of the "preserveX" options),
like the "format" option in setup_harddisks.
• Support for LVM and RAID is completely new
• Resizing partitions and filesystems is supported
EXAMPLES
Simple configuration of /dev/hda
disk_config hda preserve_always:6,7 disklabel:msdos bootable:3
primary /boot 20-100 ext3 rw
primary swap 1000 swap sw
primary / 12000 ext3 rw createopts="-b 2048"
logical /tmp 1000 ext3 rw,nosuid
logical /usr 5000 ext3 rw
logical /var 10%- ext3 rw
logical /nobackup 0- xfs rw
• Preserve the 6th and the 7th partition. The disklabel is msdos which is the default for x86.
Furthermore the 3rd partition is made bootable.
• Create a primary partition /dev/hda1 with a size between 20 and 100 MiB and mount it read-write as
/boot; it is formatted using ext3 filesystem.
• /dev/hda2 will be a swap space of 1000 MiB
• /dev/hda3 should be formatted using ext3 filesystem; when calling mkfs.ext3 the option "-b 2048"
is appended.
• Create the logical partition /dev/hda5
• Make /dev/hda7 at least 10% of the disk size
• Use mkfs.xfs to format the partition 8
Create a softRAID
disk_config raid
raid1 / sda1,sdd1 ext2 rw,errors=remount-ro
raid0 - disk2.2,sdc1,sde1:spare:missing ext2 default
• Create a RAID-1 on /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdd1, format using mkfs.ext2 and mount it as /
• Create a RAID-0 on the second partition of the second disk, /dev/sdc1, and /dev/sde1 as a spare
partition. The latter may be missing.
Simple LVM example
disk_config sda bootable:1
primary /boot 500 ext3 rw
primary - 4096- - -
disk_config lvm
vg my_pv sda2
my_pv-_swap swap 2048 swap sw
my_pv-_root / 2048 ext3 rw
Crypt example
disk_config /dev/sdb
primary / 21750 ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro
primary /boot 250 ext3 defaults
logical - 4000 - -
logical - 2000 - -
logical - 10- - -
disk_config cryptsetup
swap swap /dev/sdb5 swap defaults
tmp /tmp /dev/sdb6 ext2 defaults
luks /local00 /dev/sdb7 ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro createopts="-m0"
tmpfs example
disk_config tmpfs
tmpfs /tmp RAM:20% defaults
tmpfs /scratch 3GiB defaults
• Mount a tmpfs on /tmp with a maximum size equal to 20% of the total amount of RAM in the machine.
This is equivalent to using size=20% in the tmpfs mount options.
• Mount a tmpfs on /scratch with a maximum size of 3 GiB.
External log device example
disk_config /dev/sda fstabkey:uuid bootable:2
primary / 20GiB ext3 defaults
primary /boot 250 ext2 defaults
primary swap 4GiB swap defaults
logical - 256 ext3_journal -
logical - 256 ext4_journal -
logical - 256 xfs_journal -
disk_config /dev/sdb fstabkey:uuid
primary /mnt/ext3 33% ext3:journal=/dev/sda5 defaults
primary /mnt/ext4 33% ext4:journal=/dev/sda6 defaults
primary /mnt/xfs 33% xfs:journal=/dev/sda7 defaults
• Mount an ext3 filesystem on /dev/sdb1 with an external journal on /dev/sda5
• Mount an ext4 filesystem on /dev/sdb2 with an external journal on /dev/sda6
• Mount an XFS filesystem on /dev/sdb3 using /dev/sda7 as the log device
CAVEATS
• Partition UUID cannot be obtained: In case a partition was previously used as part of a software
RAID volume and now is intended as swap space, udev fails when asked for a UUID. This happens
because mkswap does not overwrite the previous RAID superblock. You can remove it using mdadm
--zero-superblock <device>.
• Machine does not boot because not partition is marked as bootable: If the bootable option is not
specified, not partition will be marked as such. Modern BIOSes don't seem to require such markers
anymore, but for some systems it may still be necessary. Previous versions of setup-storage by
default marked the partition mounting / as bootable, but this is not a sane default for all cases.
If you want to be sure not boot failures happen because of a missing bootable marker, explicitly
set the bootable option. Of course, there are lots of other reasons why a system may fail to boot.
• Crypto support requires some site-specific changes: If you use cryptsetup stanza, a crypttab(5)
file and key files for all luks volumes will be created (unless you used the passphrase option).
The key files are left in /tmp/fai; you will want to copy these to some removable media. To make
encrypted root devices actually usable, you need to add busybox (and initramfs-tools) to your
package config.
• For backwards compatibility or other system-specific reasons an alignment to cylinder boundaries
may be necessary. Yet other systems will have other alignment constraints. setup-storage sets the
alignment as follows: If align-at is set, align accordingly. Otherwise, if any partition on the
particular disk is to be preserved, default to cylinder alignment. Else use sector alignment.
SEE ALSO
This program is part of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). The FAI homepage is http://fai-project.org.
Further documentation, including coding related information, is maintained in a wiki page at
http://wiki.fai-project.org/index.php/Setup-storage.
AUTHOR
FAI is courtesy of Thomas Lange <lange@informatik.uni-koeln.de>. Michael Tautschnig <mt@debian.org>
contributed the initial version of setup-storage to replace the previous setup-harddisks, with the help
of Christian Kern.
Debian/GNU Linux June 29, 2010 setup-storage(8)