[DRBD-user] Failed starting drbd after updating Fedora 30

[Eddie Chapman]

On 13/08/2019 07:12, Roland Kammerer wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 12, 2019 at 12:00:40PM +0200, Jamie wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've encountered quite a problem after updating my Fedora 30 and I hope
>> someone might've come across this problem as well because I couldn't really
>> find a lot of information online.
>>
>> I'm using the following:
>>
>>   * drbd.x86_64 - version 9.5.0-2.fc30
>>   * drbd-udev.x86_64 - version 9.5.0-2.fc30
>>   * drbd-utils.x86_64 - version 9.5.0-2.fc30
>>
>> After updating Fedora 30 from kernel version *5.1.19-300*.fc30.x86_64 to
>> kernel version *5.2.5-200*.fc30.x86_64 the drbd service won't even start
>> anymore, giving me the following output (names are anonymized):
> 
> This is just utils and udev and stuff, but not the actual kmod, right?
> The kmod comes from upstream, is that correct? (cat /proc/drbd).
> If so, this would explain it. Unfortunately in kernel DRBD broke between
> 5.1 and 5.2. There are already discussions how to fix it.
> 
> Regards, rck

Hi Roland,

I interpreted the package "drbd.x86_64 - version 9.5.0-2.fc30" as being 
the kernel module version 9.5, since what else is left after you've 
packages the utilities and udev scripts? There's only the kernel component.

But my curiosity got the better of me and, in fact, drbd.x86_64 isn't 
anything at all. It's just a metapackage containing just 2 files 
(COPYING and ChangeLog):

https://fedora.pkgs.org/30/fedora-x86_64/drbd-9.5.0-2.fc30.x86_64.rpm.html

The kernel module drbd.ko is in the 
kernel-core-5.0.9-301.fc30.x86_64.rpm package:

https://fedora.pkgs.org/30/fedora-x86_64/kernel-core-5.0.9-301.fc30.x86_64.rpm.html

So as the drbd kernel module is in the main kernel package then, yes, as 
you suspect it has to be drbd8, certainly, as drbd9 is not upstream yet. 
And yes I think you're right the OPs problem is likely the 5.0 to 5.1 
bug being discussed on the kernel.org stable list at the moment.

Surprises me, as Fedora is considered a fairly "bleeding edge" distro, 
that ironically as a user the default position is you end up running 
ancient drbd8. "Yes please, give me the very latest GCC 9, glibc 2.29, 
kernel 5.x, bash 5.0 .. and .. ok I'll take drbd8" :-) I know, joking 
aside, Fedora is just sticking with what comes with the upstream kernel, 
whatever that maybe.

But it is a strange position when you think about it. They're taking the 
utilities from Linbit and packaging them, so why not just take the 
kernel component directly from Linbit too? Then you get the current 
version 9 as well, which isn't even remotely "bleeding edge" by Fedora's 
standards.

To the OP, my personal suggestion: you've chosen Fedora with all its 
shiny new software versions (a good choice I think), so blacklist the 
bundled and ancient drbd.ko and install drbd9, go on, do it :-) 
Seriously, drbd9 is awesome, you'll never look back. It's very easy to 
install from source. In fact Linbit probably has rpm packages, so go 
ahead and uninstall completely the (also ancient by the looks of things) 
drbd utilities rpms, and install the utilities from Linbit too. As a 
bonus you will also resolve your current problem, which is a drbd8 only 
bug. Don't worry, you don't need to "re-do" all your data, you can use 
the existing metadata. Just follow whatever is in Linbit's docs about 
upgrading from 8 to 9.

Regards,
Eddie