zfs discuss - Mar 2008 - ZFS partition info makes my system not boot

I''m using the latest build of opensolaris express available from
opensolaris.org.

I had no problems with the install (its an AMD64 x2 3800+, 1gb
physical ram, 1 ide drive for the os and 4*250GB sata drives attached
to the motherboard - nforce based chipset).

I create a zfs pool on the 4 sata drives as a raidZ and the pool works
fine. If I reboot with any of the 4 drives connected the system hangs
right after all the drives are detected on the post screen. I need to
put them in a different system and zero them with dd in order to be
able to reconnect them to my server and still have the system boot
properly.

Any ideas on how I can get around this? It seems like the onboard
system itself is getting confused by the metadata ZFS is adding to the
drive. The system already has the latest available bios from the
manufacturer - I''m not using any hardware raid of any sort.

Thanks in advance!

- f

Frank Bottone wrote:
> I''m using the latest build of opensolaris express available from
> opensolaris.org.
> 
> I had no problems with the install (its an AMD64 x2 3800+, 1gb
> physical ram, 1 ide drive for the os and 4*250GB sata drives attached
> to the motherboard - nforce based chipset).
> 
> I create a zfs pool on the 4 sata drives as a raidZ and the pool works
> fine. If I reboot with any of the 4 drives connected the system hangs
> right after all the drives are detected on the post screen. I need to
> put them in a different system and zero them with dd in order to be
> able to reconnect them to my server and still have the system boot
> properly.
> 
> Any ideas on how I can get around this? It seems like the onboard
> system itself is getting confused by the metadata ZFS is adding to the
> drive. The system already has the latest available bios from the
> manufacturer - I''m not using any hardware raid of any sort.
> 
This is likely the BIOS getting confused by the EFI label on the
disks.  Since there''s no newer BIOS available there are two ways
around this problem: 1) put a normal label on the disk and
give zfs slice 2, or 2)  don''t have the BIOS do auto-detect on those
drives.  Many BIOSs let you select None for the disk type; this will
allow the system to boot.  Solaris has no problem finding the
drives even w/o the BIOSs help...

- Bart

-- 
Bart Smaalders			Solaris Kernel Performance
barts at cyber.eng.sun.com		http://blogs.sun.com/barts
"You will contribute more with mercurial than with thunderbird."

Frank Bottone wrote:
> I''m using the latest build of opensolaris express available from
> opensolaris.org.
>
> I had no problems with the install (its an AMD64 x2 3800+, 1gb
> physical ram, 1 ide drive for the os and 4*250GB sata drives attached
> to the motherboard - nforce based chipset).
>   
If you gave the whole disks to ZFS, then it will put an
EFI label on the disk.  Some BIOSes don''t understand
EFI labels.  Try a later BIOS, or change back to a
Sun style of label using the "-e" option to format.
 -- richard
> I create a zfs pool on the 4 sata drives as a raidZ and the pool works
> fine. If I reboot with any of the 4 drives connected the system hangs
> right after all the drives are detected on the post screen. I need to
> put them in a different system and zero them with dd in order to be
> able to reconnect them to my server and still have the system boot
> properly.
>
> Any ideas on how I can get around this? It seems like the onboard
> system itself is getting confused by the metadata ZFS is adding to the
> drive. The system already has the latest available bios from the
> manufacturer - I''m not using any hardware raid of any sort.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> - f
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

On Mar 11, 2008, at 4:58 PM, Bart Smaalders wrote:
> Frank Bottone wrote:
>> I''m using the latest build of opensolaris express available
from
>> opensolaris.org.
>>
>> I had no problems with the install (its an AMD64 x2 3800+, 1gb
>> physical ram, 1 ide drive for the os and 4*250GB sata drives attached
>> to the motherboard - nforce based chipset).
>>
>> I create a zfs pool on the 4 sata drives as a raidZ and the pool  
>> works
>> fine. If I reboot with any of the 4 drives connected the system hangs
>> right after all the drives are detected on the post screen. I need to
>> put them in a different system and zero them with dd in order to be
>> able to reconnect them to my server and still have the system boot
>> properly.
>>
>> Any ideas on how I can get around this? It seems like the onboard
>> system itself is getting confused by the metadata ZFS is adding to  
>> the
>> drive. The system already has the latest available bios from the
>> manufacturer - I''m not using any hardware raid of any sort.
>>
>
> This is likely the BIOS getting confused by the EFI label on the
> disks.  Since there''s no newer BIOS available there are two ways
> around this problem: 1) put a normal label on the disk and
> give zfs slice 2, or 2)  don''t have the BIOS do auto-detect on
those
> drives.  Many BIOSs let you select None for the disk type; this will
> allow the system to boot.  Solaris has no problem finding the
> drives even w/o the BIOSs help...
>
See if a BIOS update is available as well?
> - Bart
>
> -- 
> Bart Smaalders			Solaris Kernel Performance
> barts at cyber.eng.sun.com		http://blogs.sun.com/barts
> "You will contribute more with mercurial than with thunderbird."
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

I checked for the bios updates - there are none (its just a consumer
grade system). I will try disabling the drives in the bios - I did not
realize that Solaris would still see the drives with that set. That
would be the simplest method!

If not, I will try to partition and give a full slice to ZFS instead
of the drive. I''ll report back and let you guys know how it works -
thanks for the quick suggestions all!

- f

On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 5:40 PM, Andy Lubel <andy.lubel at gtsi.com>
wrote:
>
>
>  On Mar 11, 2008, at 4:58 PM, Bart Smaalders wrote:
>
>  > Frank Bottone wrote:
>  >> I''m using the latest build of opensolaris express
available from
>  >> opensolaris.org.
>  >>
>  >> I had no problems with the install (its an AMD64 x2 3800+, 1gb
>  >> physical ram, 1 ide drive for the os and 4*250GB sata drives
attached
>  >> to the motherboard - nforce based chipset).
>  >>
>  >> I create a zfs pool on the 4 sata drives as a raidZ and the pool
>  >> works
>  >> fine. If I reboot with any of the 4 drives connected the system
hangs
>  >> right after all the drives are detected on the post screen. I
need to
>  >> put them in a different system and zero them with dd in order to
be
>  >> able to reconnect them to my server and still have the system
boot
>  >> properly.
>  >>
>  >> Any ideas on how I can get around this? It seems like the onboard
>  >> system itself is getting confused by the metadata ZFS is adding
to
>  >> the
>  >> drive. The system already has the latest available bios from the
>  >> manufacturer - I''m not using any hardware raid of any
sort.
>  >>
>  >
>  > This is likely the BIOS getting confused by the EFI label on the
>  > disks.  Since there''s no newer BIOS available there are two
ways
>  > around this problem: 1) put a normal label on the disk and
>  > give zfs slice 2, or 2)  don''t have the BIOS do auto-detect
on those
>  > drives.  Many BIOSs let you select None for the disk type; this will
>  > allow the system to boot.  Solaris has no problem finding the
>  > drives even w/o the BIOSs help...
>  >
>
>  See if a BIOS update is available as well?
>
>
>  > - Bart
>  >
>  > --
>  > Bart Smaalders                        Solaris Kernel Performance
>  > barts at cyber.eng.sun.com               http://blogs.sun.com/barts
>  > "You will contribute more with mercurial than with
thunderbird."
>
>
> > _______________________________________________
>  > zfs-discuss mailing list
>  > zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
>  > http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>
>