my eXPeriences

Rocky linux and the VirtIO/LSI 53c895a drivers.

If you happen to be in trouble with Rocky Linux on Proxmox after changing the type of DISK controller, then you're not alone (although searching the web right now shows different, information is scare on the matter).

Symptoms are very simple, grub loads but the some partitions are not mounted (the root for example), the boot process is very slow, and you end up in the emergency shell.

Solving it is not as complicated as one might think, you need to load the right drivers into the kernel.

1.) Change the controller into the one which was used at install time (and worked until now), boot the system;
2.) Changing to LSI 53c895a? Go on, otherwise skip to 5;
3.) Install ELRepo config:
yum install elrepo-release4.) Install the driver/package for the LSI card (called kmod-sym53c8xx):
yum install kmod-sym53c8xx5.) See if your driver loads, modprobe sym53c8xx for the LSI, modprobe virtio for the VirtIO controllers. If it doesn't load you don't have something installed, don't continue while you haven't solved that!
6.) Back-up boot image:
cp /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img.backup 7.) Create a new file which will trigger the kernel to load the driver:
nano /etc/dracut.conf.d/iodriver.conf 8.) Add the driver(s) to the iodriver.conf file, for VirtIO:
add_drivers+="virtio virtio_ring virtio_pci virtio_scsi virtio_net virtio_balloon" while for the LSI:
add_drivers+="sym53c8xx" Save and exit.
9.) Rebuild the boot image:
cd /boot dracut -f -v 10.) Shut down, change the disk controller in Proxmox again to the desired one, and start the machine again, if you did it well, it might even work!

A big thanks to Jorge Eduardo Delgado S. for the bulk of this article, published on his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rocky-linux-virtio-drivers-jorge-eduardo-delgado-s--brmwe

Don't know what will come here, let's wait and see... But in the first instance it will be a login box (for myself):

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