Added new disks but FORMAT picks wrong disks

[christian]

Hi guys,

My first post! I recently installed NAS4Free after a rigorous evaluation of the alternatives. For my needs it is the best and I am very familiar with networks. Great work.

Found my first bug though running NAS4Free 9.1.0.1 (608). I have exactly the same issue as described in this post by cancerman:
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1184#p10870

History:
I added a 5x2TB ZFS vdev to my new system and put it in its own zpool
I then added a 5x3TB ZFS vdev to my system and put it in its own zpool

Each of the above had sequential /dev/ada numbers starting from ada0 to ada9

Then I added a StarTech 4 port SATA card (PEXSATA24E) and added 4x2TB.

With this card, the 4 new drives were inserted starting at ada0 to ada3 and all other devices were shifted up accordingly. This seemed to mess things up and the disk manage page showed issues with the Disk IDs being wrong. So I did a "Clear Config and Import Disks". This corrected the device IDs however when choosing format for the new disks it showed only the disks at the end of the ada ranage (ada10-ada13).

I then did a backup and checked the .xml file and noticed that the vdevs had the old ada numbers.

As a work around to get going, I have edited the .xml file, manually adjusted the vdevs to have the correct ada numbers and then did a restore. This has fixed my issue. But it seems there is a bug in the "Clear config and Import disks" function.

[al562]

Hi Christian,

What you have experienced is device shifting syndrome. While every effort is made by the developers to reduce the trauma, it may be impossible to eliminate 100% in all circumstances. Please file a detailed bug report and refer to this topic in it.

Your solution editing the config file manually is the correct one, good job .

Please also return to the latest NAS4Free version as 608 has problems - NAS4Free 9.1.0.1.608 Released (FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE)

Thanks,
Al

[christian]

Thanks al562. Bug report filed. I will also revert back the official latest load (tip appreciated) when I get back from my current trip.

I note in the device shifting FAQ entry that it refers to setting labels on the disks. Just perusing quickly through the web UI it is not obvious to me how labels are to be set and used. I assume it is not the description field as those get overwritten on a "clear config and Import disks". Or am I supposed to do this with glabel at the command line?

[al562]

Hi Christian,

I assume it is not the description field as those get overwritten on a "clear config and Import disks". Or am I supposed to do this with glabel at the command line?

Correct to both. I would recommend using the UFSID as described in the FreeBSD handbook. Your disks are probably already labeled, it's just a matter of ensuring you know which is which and that the config knows which is which.

Regards,
Al

[christian]

hmmm. Finally getting back to this. I think labeling may be too late. From what I can see I can't use UFSID on a ZFS file system (I'm all ZFS). From what I've read on glabel, this should be done before creating the zfs device otherwise zfs won't know it has lost the last sector.

So from what I can see, I'm going to have to redo the disks if I want to add labels. Is this correct or is there a better way?

[al562]

Hi Christian,

Is this correct or is there a better way?

You are correct. I am not sure there is a "better" way for you at this point. An alternate way may be to manually edit your configuration file (something we do not recommend because there are too many ways to mess it up). You should read ZFS pool setup changed after HDD add on NAS. That issue is very similar to yours and was finally solved by editing config. I think your situation is more complicated, but you should still be able to solve it in a similar way. Naturally, editing config is not optimal, but at this point I am not sure there is an easier/better path for you.

Let me know what you think,
Al

[christian]

Hi Al,

I'm not sure the issue is the same. I'm not afraid to edit the config file as in viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1184&p=12192#p12192. Had to do it there for similar reason as in the thread you pointed out. But in that case the ZFS pool is fine but the N4F config file is confused. I wanted to use labels to avoid issues in the future if the configs change (e.g. If I take one of my DAS boxes offline or have a disk failure).

In this thread's case, I don't believe the config file has any useful info that can allow me to adjust for my using the last sector. ZFS info is on the disk itself and if I write the last sector I think ZFS is going to be oblivious to the last sector unless I had labeled it first.

It's too bad we can't use the UUID as you can on linux. Or even have the N4F config file update based on uuid as it does seem to have that info in the config file.

[al562]

if I write the last sector I think ZFS is going to be oblivious to the last sector unless I had labeled it first.

I agree, I think we can only hope this gets better in future versions.

All the best,
Al