CactiEZ-1.2.27 Install Failure

[mvonherr]

Trying out CactiEZ as a path to move away from CentOS 7. Install is failing, and I'm not sure if it's a mistake in my VM Setup, or something wrong with the particular ISO I downloaded.

Downloaded CactiEZ-1.2.27-Rocky-9-4.iso on 8/2/2024.
Setup ESXi 8 VM, selecting Rocky Linux settings.
On boot with the ISO, it starts up, but then goes into a long error loop in the Dracut-initqueue:

dracut-initqueue: timeout, still waiting for following initqueue hooks:
/lib/dracut/hooks/initqueu/finished/devexists-\x2fdev\x2front.sh: "[ -e "/dev/root" ]"
/lib/dracut/hooks/initqueue/finished/wait_for_disks.sh: "[ "$main_loop" -ge "10" ]"
/lib/dracut/hooks/initqueue/finished/wait_for_settle.sh: "[ -f /tmp/settle.don ]"
dracut-initqueue: starting timeout scripts
##### Anaconda installer erros begin ######
It seems that the boot has failed. Possible causes include
missing inst.stage2 or inst.rep boot parameters on the
kernel cmdline. Please verify that you have specified
inst.stage2 or inst.rep.
Please also note that the 'ins.' prefix is now mandator.
### Installer Errors encountered during boot: ###
Reason Unknown

After a few minutes, it exits to the emergency shell.

It does this with both the plain "install" and "test and install" boot options. Looking for advice on what I might have done wrong?

[TheWitness]

Oh, that's unfortunate. Was it bare metal or virtualized install?

[mvonherr]

Virtualized.
Vmware ESXi 8.0.3 if that matters.

[TheWitness]

So, it installed on KVM just fine. I guess we have to get the details from VMWare. I've asked @cigamit to chip in here if he can.

[bmfmancini]

Hey there

Can you share your vmware vm settings?
Disk type
Chipset etc

This will help us validate

Thanks!

[TheWitness]

Looks like it's a kernel bug. There is a workaround. But it's a kernel boot option.

[TheWitness]

I took a shot at fixing it based upon the feedback from others on the team. Re-download and try again.

[mvonherr]

While the new ISO is downloading:
ESXi 8.0.3
Chose "Compatible with ESXi 8.0 U2 and later"
Then chose "Rocky Linux (64-bit) for Guest OS.

That results in 1 CPU, 2 GB Memory, 16 GB Disk on AHCI SATA Controller.

Intel, Cascade Lake Cluster.

I'll update on how the revised ISO works as soon as I have a chance. Thank you for your help!

Hey there

Can you share your vmware vm settings?
Disk type
Chipset etc

This will help us validate

Thanks!

[mvonherr]

I took a shot at fixing it based upon the feedback from others on the team. Re-download and try again.

Downloading from the link at: http://www.cacti.net/info/downloads I get the same results unfortunately.

It wasn't obvious that was a different ISO at first, but I can see 8/4/24 dated files in the isolinux directory, so that seems correct.

[TheWitness]

Well definitely associated with a VMware device.

[mvonherr]

Sounds like at least for the moment, I'll need to pursue a different route.

I'll continue to monitor this thread, and am happy to try any ISO on our VMware system that you think might change the answer for me or others.

Thank you!.

[TheWitness]

Yea, KVM is pretty easy to setup. It has many of the features of VMWare, but not all of them. For must, it just works. It resembles VMWare Workstation. I can manage VM's on dozens of physical machines though using it.

[TheWitness]

The ISO creates the Disk Columns using XFS. Maybe VMWare has problems with XFS? Maybe EXT4 is better for VMWare?

[mvonherr]

Two tidbits to add.
1. In case it matters, I'm running this on an ESXi server, not VMware Workstation. That's the reason for not being able to use something like KVM.
2. I ran the standard RockyOS install in the same VM Setup. It installed just fine setting up with XFS. So at least on the surface, XFS shouldn't be the issue.

At this point, I think I have my immediate problem solved, using KnoAll's script to install Cacti on the bare RockyOS install.

I appreciate the help.

[TheWitness]

Okay, cool. This might be something new with 9.4 as we did not have this issue reported prior to 9.4.