Recovery problem after Upgrades

[JRG]

Too bad there isn't a forum called "Recovery Problems When Things Go Wrong"!

Background

I set up a FreeNAS server just over 4 months ago. It ran fine. The installation is fairly simple as the server is simply to support my wife and I sharing and updating files (and it provided a convenient extra backup of files on our personal computers).

We were away on vacation for several weeks. When we got back, I caught up on some FreeNAS chores. The sequence may be important to knowing the solution, if any, to my problem.

One of the mirrored OS USB sticks failed (and, despite knowing better, I put off fixing this as the system was otherwise running fine). So this was the first chore to handle. Other than physically unplugging and plugging in USB sticks, all actions were taken using the GUI web interface (I really like this headless approach).

1. I'm pretty sure I set the offending device off-line (substitute the proper term, disabled, or whatever) at some stage.

2. After getting back, I simply unplugged the offending USB stick.

3. Obtained 2 new USB Sticks (32 GB) of a different brand, which I think are more reliable.

4. Plugged one in and got FreeNAS to mirror to it. After rebooting and checking, both the good boot USB (i.e. from the original 2) showed up, as well as the new one -- both ONLINE. The failed USB also showed up, but I was able to delete/remove it.

5. Rebooted again (after aborting doing so several times because of resilvering in progress messages) -- Perfect!

6. Now unplugged the functioning boot USB from the original 2 and essentially repeated the process.

7. After resilvering was complete, and after using the server for a day, I applied the pending Updates.

The Problem

The updates appeared to be going alright, and eventually I got the rebooting message. Then I waited for the GUI to come up. After over an hour, I attempted to invoke the GUI again, but could not connect. So I powered off the server and powered up again. No luck, still not responding.

I attached a monitor to the server. The server was failing to boot from either of the USB sticks (the message indicated the SSD was a FreeNAS data drive).

Making Things Worse?

I attempted, unsuccessfully, to make the USB sticks bootable again. [Aside: I would have assumed the mirroring/resilvering of the boot drives would have resulted in bootable USB sticks. Is this not true?]. So I downloaded the FreeNAS installation ISO (same release, 9.10.2) and created a bootable USB stick using one of the new USB sticks (with the other still plugged in). The update failed.

So, I gave up.

Current Situation

I reformatted both USB sticks (gpt and Fat32). Created a bootable FreeNAS DVD. Booted from that and did a fresh install using the 2 USB sticks.

That worked fine. I can get into the GUI. However, I cannot figure out how to "reattach" (import?) the pools on the SSD (obviously a zfs).

Can Anyone Give Me Any Pointers?

I want to recover my data if at all possible. I have no exported anything. My worse case scenario is to wipe the SSD and start over again (I have copies of data, but a few days out-of-date).

Recovering the data is important as, if I can do so, my confidence in FreeNAS will go up considerably.

I don't think it makes any difference but the hardware is: Intense PC (i5); 16GB; Samsung SSD 840 Pro 512GB; 2 Samsung 32GB USB sticks.

 

[joeschmuck]

So if you do the folowing...

1) FreeNAS GUI -> Storage -> View Disks, do you see any or all of your drives listed ? (note: you need all your drives listed to make this thing work, minus the USB boot drives)
If no then your SSD is not being recognized.
If yes then go to the next step.

2) FreeNAS GUI -> Storage -> Import Volume -> On step 2 does it list any pool?
If yes, select it and import it, follow the screens.
If not then you have likely some big problems.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

For future reference, if you backup your configuration regularly, then you can do a clean install and upload your saved configuration to recover from boot device failure. So, make a habit of backing up the configuration any time you make changes to the system.

 

[Stux]

How did you mirror the boot drive?

There is s script to email a copy of the config to you on a regular basis.

Was your pool encrypted?

 

[JRG]

Joeschmuck: Nothing other than the boot drive. I'm guessing this means wiping the SSD (by choosing it for a pool).

Stux: When I did a fresh install, I had both USB sticks plugged in. I chose both during the install process. I think (but would not swear) that I did the same thing with the original install. I copied your email-config script and will read through it — I'll consider it once I've got my server back up and running,

 

[nojohnny101]

Your initial problem of it not booting was likely due to the wrong device being selected by the BIOS to boot from. I have seen this behavior when I have changed USB sticks before, the BIOS gets confused and tries booting from a NAS disk, hence the message you got.

It's all water under the bridge now, but for future reference.