Attempting Clean Install of 11.2-U4.1

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Hi,

I recently received notification via e-mail and the UI that my 11.1-U7 boot pool was degraded. I have finally started the process of removing the old thumb drives and putting in new ones.

After shutting the system down, installed the boot image to a USB drive, booting, and selecting to install the OS to another thumbdrive, the process appears to have started the installation. However, the installation appears to have stopped at "da9p2 added". Image attached. It's been this way for 15-20 minutes at the moment, a lot longer than I'm expecting and, hence, a little anxious.

Do I keep waiting [USB drive being slow?] or do I need to backout, somehow, and start again? Or are my expectations on speed out of wack?

I have a backup of my 11.1-U7 configuration for when I get back in.

Thanks all.
 

Attachments

  • 20190609_155250.jpg
    20190609_155250.jpg
    329.8 KB · Views: 307

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
As if to make a liar of me, the system has just appended

Code:
Installing base-os (1 of 4)
..


to the screen. Maybe I just need to wait...
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Hi All,

A few hours later and although there has been some progress; system install now appears to have stopped at, what I'm interpreting as, the 100% mark of base-os (1 of 4). I'm not sure what to expect as I don't recall my original installation of FreeNAS taking anywhere near this long.

Any feedback, advice, reassurance appreciated.

System being installed on Toshiba 16Gb USB drives.
 

Attachments

  • 20190609_180445.jpg
    20190609_180445.jpg
    341.8 KB · Views: 318

Chris Moore

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
10,080

ThreeDee

Guru
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
698
I have had better "luck" installing from an install disc instead of USB thumb drive .. even when it did finish installing, I'd get weird other type of errors with my server while it was up and running ..it still seemed to do what I wanted ok despite the errors..

Installed from an ISO image burned to a disc and installation went fine and no more odd errors.

I also ended up installing on to an SSD drive connected via a USB to SATA cable ... that was more than several months ago and still running great
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Hi @Chris Moore ,
Thanks for your response. No, I considered taking the opportunity to upgrade from 11.1-U7 to 11.2-U4.1. If you're referring to my signature, I intentionally did not update it until the upgrade worked. It so happens that I have chosen to put the working thumb drive back into the server and have successfully rebooted into a working 11.1-U7 system. Now to fix once I have time from the family [or one night in the future].

I'm contemplating using a program like DiskGenius or EaseUS to make a perfect copy of the working boot USB to one of the three that I bought and recreating the mirror. And then upgrading from there when I'm comfortable.
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Hi @ThreeDee
Like Chris, thank for taking the time to let me know your experience :)
I might try your suggestion using my study computer to create the boot disk onto a RW and then onto a USB. See how it goes!
And SSD via USB to SATA. Will consider that as well :)
 

Chris Moore

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
10,080
I'm contemplating using a program like DiskGenius or EaseUS to make a perfect copy of the working boot USB to one of the three that I bought and recreating the mirror.
FreeNAS (ZFS) is more than capable of handling that for you. There is no need to involve another software package. You can remove a disk from an existing mirror with the split command, at the command line, here is a reference:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/819-5461/gjooc/index.html

As for adding a fresh drive to the boot pool to create a new mirror, that can be handled from the GUI and there are supposed to be instructions in the user manual for that.
There is also this video that might be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AxDtHEA-rM
 

tfran1990

Patron
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
Messages
293
just so i have a better understanding. lets say you have a mirror of 2 usb, why would you want to split the mirror just to leave both in the server? I could see maybe if you have 2 mirror usb and you want to replace them with a reliable ssd. In this case you would attach the ssd to the 2 USB drives then split the first usb off then the second until your left with only an ssd.

or maybe that would cause problems.....
 

Chris Moore

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
10,080
why would you want to split the mirror just to leave both in the server?
The idea is not that you leave both in the server. If your problem is that one of the USB sticks is going bad, you could separate them to test them individually. Then use the one that is working correctly as the source to recreate the mirror using a new USB memory stick.
In this case you would attach the ssd to the 2 USB drives then split the first usb off then the second until your left with only an ssd.
Why would you add the SSD to both USB modules to make a 3-way mirror? Just find the USB module, if there is one, that is working correctly and add the SSD as a mirror to it. Once the mirror is resilvered, split the USB from the SSD and remove the USB and test the SSD to ensure correct boot and operation of the server.
.
 

Chris Moore

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 2, 2015
Messages
10,080
just so i have a better understanding.
I think you misunderstood the entire reason for my suggestion of splitting the two boot devices.
or maybe that would cause problems.....
You can't keep the two in the system as it could cause problems with the system not knowing which to boot from.
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
FreeNAS (ZFS) is more than capable of handling that for you. There is no need to involve another software package. You can remove a disk from an existing mirror with the split command, at the command line, here is a reference:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/819-5461/gjooc/index.html

As for adding a fresh drive to the boot pool to create a new mirror, that can be handled from the GUI and there are supposed to be instructions in the user manual for that.
There is also this video that might be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AxDtHEA-rM

Hi @Chris Moore
Thanks for the heads up. I'll give it a go. I'm assuming that, as the bad USB wasn't put back in, the remaining pool should be the USB already in the drive.
I thought I read somewhere that the USB's need to be exactly the same size [same make and model recommended]. Is this still the case? The new USB's are Toshiba whilst the existing ones are Corsair... Whoops, not quite, from the 11.2 manual:

When adding another operating system device for a mirror, the new device must have at least the same capacity as the existing operating system device. Larger capacity devices can be added, but the mirror will only have the capacity of the smallest device. Different models of devices which advertise the same nominal size are not necessarily the same actual size. For this reason, adding another of the same model of operating system device is recommended.
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Hi @Chris Moore

Below is the output from zpool status freenas-boot

Code:
pool: freenas-boot
state: DEGRADED
status: One or more devices could not be opened.  Sufficient replicas exist for
    the pool to continue functioning in a degraded state.
action: Attach the missing device and online it using 'zpool online'.
   see: http://illumos.org/msg/ZFS-8000-2Q
  scan: scrub repaired 0 in 0 days 00:07:31 with 0 errors on Fri Jun 21 03:52:32 2019
config:

    NAME                     STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
    freenas-boot             DEGRADED     0     0     0
      mirror-0               DEGRADED     0     0     0
        5904751811053556043  UNAVAIL      0     0     0  was /dev/gptid/caf87b75-3fc6-11e6-a03d-0cc47a6a5a6c
        da8p2                DEGRADED     0     0     0  too many errors

errors: No known data errors


The UNAVAIL device is the USB drive I removed. I'm assuming da8p2 is DEGRADED as the faulty USB wasn't returned. I've checked the USB with DIsGenius who had no issues with it.

When I test the split with
Code:
 zpool split -n freenas-boot freenas-boot2
I get
Code:
would create 'freenas-boot2' with the following layout:

    freenas-boot2
      da8p2


However, the actual command I get
Code:
Unable to split freenas-boot: invalid argument for this pool operation


The internet seems to be pretty silent on this issue. Can you assist?
I'm currently assuming I need to "remove" the UNAVAIL USB to continue.
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
ACtually... I just noticed the "REPLACE" button in the GUI. *slaps forehead*
Trying that right now...
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Code:
Boot Volume Condition: DEGRADED One or more devices is currently being resilvered. The pool will continue to function, possibly in a degraded state.

Assuming the DEGRADED status will, hopefully, disappear once resilvering is finished :)
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
I just checked what I think/thought was the bad usb. It turned up ok in DiskGenius. However, the system was able to boot using the other USB drive. Does this sound right?
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Below is the output from the revised zpool status freenas-boot after replacing a usb drive via the GUI
Code:
  pool: freenas-boot
 state: DEGRADED
status: One or more devices has experienced an unrecoverable error.  An
    attempt was made to correct the error.  Applications are unaffected.
action: Determine if the device needs to be replaced, and clear the errors
    using 'zpool clear' or replace the device with 'zpool replace'.
   see: http://illumos.org/msg/ZFS-8000-9P
  scan: resilvered 9.43G in 0 days 01:46:11 with 0 errors on Thu Jun 27 19:58:30 2019
config:

    NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
    freenas-boot  DEGRADED     0     0     0
      mirror-0  DEGRADED     0     0     0
        da9p2   ONLINE       0     0     0
        da8p2   DEGRADED     0     0     0  too many errors

errors: No known data errors


What do I make from this:
  1. I accidentally put the wrong USB drive [da8p2] back in? But, if that's the case, how did the system boot?
  2. Is the new da9p2 USB drive full of errors as well? If da8p2 is degraded then it seems logical that da9p2 would have the identical errors. But, then, wouldn't it be "degraded" as well?
  3. Do I need to start clean with 11.2-U5?
  4. Should I continue to replace the other usb drive or will that be a comedy of errors?
  5. If I zpool clear, will any errors show up again or will it be tricked into thinking the errors are normal due to da9p2 being a mirror?
  6. Is there a way to check [e.g. inbuilt checksum] that the drive data is ok?
 

wraith

Contributor
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
102
Was able to resolve this as follows:
  1. Installed 11.2-U5 installation onto a CD-ROM disc;
  2. Using my study computer, installed 11.2-U5 onto a USB drive;
  3. Shut down the FN system, removed the existing USB drives, and put in the new 11.2-U5 drive.
  4. Booted
  5. Uploaded saved config file and allowed the system to do its reboot thing
 

ThreeDee

Guru
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
698
Was able to resolve this as follows:
  1. Installed 11.2-U5 installation onto a CD-ROM disc;
  2. Using my study computer, installed 11.2-U5 onto a USB drive;
  3. Shut down the FN system, removed the existing USB drives, and put in the new 11.2-U5 drive.
  4. Booted
  5. Uploaded saved config file and allowed the system to do its reboot thing
That's generally how I do my installs .. seems to work error free installing off of a burned iso to disc as opposed to trying to make a USB installer with Rufus or other programs
 
Top