Can't start server after update, vps says drive name changed?

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#1 Sun, 02/05/2012 - 08:41
christophera

Can't start server after update, vps says drive name changed?

I'm setting up a new virtual server over at vps.net.

I select the centos 6.0 template. I can set it up with virtualmin and all works fine - until I update.

If I update to centos 6.2, I can no longer reboot the vps. It will go down just fine, but won't start back up.

Vps.net support says the problem is the centos update. According to them, during the update "the name of disk on this vps changed to sda1"

They tell me to fix this, I need to:

  • Run your vps in Recovery mode
  • Enter it via console: log: root pas: recovery
  • proceed mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
  • cd /mnt/etc
  • vi fstab - there you should change letter "a" in sda1 to "e"
  • save changes
  • cd boot/grub
  • vi grub.conf
  • there you should change letter "a" in sda1 to "e"
  • save changes
  • cd ../
  • umount /dev/sdb1
  • via Dashboard proceed "Graceful reboot"

There are a couple of problems with that though. Starting with "mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt", which tells me I must include a 'file type', but I don't have any experience with mounting drives, I don't know what I need to do here.

But also, in fstab (in /etc, not /mnt/etc), I don't have an 'sda1'. I do have an /dev/xvda1 and an /dev/xvda2. I do have a reference to sdaa1 in grub.conf - but it is commented out with a #.

So I'm confused... to make it a bit more confusing, I've set up two other servers on different vps.net clouds. Both of those servers have the 'e' in fstab after the update, like this: /dev/xvde1 and an /dev/xvde2. Does that mean they were not change during the update? Would different clouds handle this different for some reason, or did I set them up differently without realizing it?

Appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this. It's definitively over my head,

Chris

Oh, I should also mention I tried rebooting through ssh, and through the vps.net vps panel (separate installs, since once rebooted, it never comes back up). Same result either way. I have also updated directly with 'yum update' via ssh, and on another install, through virtualmin. Same result either way.

Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:25
andreychek

Howdy,

Well, it sounds like you may need to be working with your VPS provider regarding all this. You probably need someone familiar with your setup to push you in the right direction.

However, since your original device name isn't actually /dev/sda, it's /dev//xvde -- that probably implies that the new device name isn't /dev/sdb.

So, you may need to work with your provider to determine what the new device name actually is.

One way to determine that on your own would be to run "dmesg", and look for where your disk is detected. It will say what device name it's actually using now.

-Eric

Sun, 02/05/2012 - 14:11 (Reply to #2)
christophera

Thank you Eric,

I think what I will do is start a new vps, test it with that, then update and test again to see if it really changes.

They said this issue only happens with centos 6. I'll check it out further though and report back,

Chris

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