Upgrade to 11.2 from 11.1 issues

[Bill McCormick]

I've been trying to upgrade from 11.1 to 11.2 for since about U2 I've been using the web UI to manage the upgrade process, and the fist issue was a blank console screen after booting the new version. I think this was some issue with UEFI vs. BIOS boot modes, and after installing "fresh" and forcing a BIOS boot, I now have a console screen.

The other issue Is more difficult: Under 11.1U7, my pool was relatively error free (only occasional errors with a different single disk/year). However under 11.2U5, my pool is having considerable many more errors; and it's usually with more than 1 disk. Eventually, over the course of some number of days, the system will become unresponsive until I reboot it ... which is always a little nerve-racking since the only to to that is with a hard-power off.

The fact that I can go back to 11.1U7 and not have the same level of problems makes me think this is NOT a hardware problem?

Is this perhaps a known issue? What diagnostics and log files can I run to help me figure this out.

 

[Ericloewe]

It could a weird interaction between firmware and driver for your LSI SAS 9341 (which you should have listed explicitly in your post, signatures do not show up easily on mobile).

Is it in IT mode? mrsas mode?

You'll want to use IT mode, if possible. You'll also need to update the firmware on the controller to whatever the latest version is.

 

[Bill McCormick]

I've not heard the IT mode term before, so researching that, I see it's the same as JBOD; so I'm pretty darned sure that's what I have but I can't remember how to tell for sure. I think it's a LSI BIOS setting, but I can't look at the moment. Is there some way FreeNAS should be able to tell me?

It's been sometime (over a year probably) since I updated FW, so in the course of putting that in the queue, Ii notice that there is a FreeBSD drivrer as well; do i need to much with that too?

OT: How can I put my system config in every post automatically without using the SIG?

 

[Ericloewe]

Is there some way FreeNAS should be able to tell me?

The sas3ircu application should tell you which mode is being used. Note that IT mode requires different firmware. The RAID firmware does allow for direct attach disks via the mrsas driver, but this is less tested and likely slower.

It's been sometime (over a year probably) since I updated FW, so in the course of putting that in the queue, Ii notice that there is a FreeBSD drivrer as well; do i need to much with that too?

The driver is included with FreeNAS and cannot be changed. It is kept up to date by the devs.

OT: How can I put my system config in every post automatically without using the SIG?

You can't, but why would you want to, unless you're asking for hardware-related help in every post? The signature is fine for most situations, it's just best to not rely on it when asking for help to make things easier for anyone reading the thread.

 

[Bill McCormick]

The LSI firmware update has solved the problem, so thank you for the advice.

Some problems I encountered along the way:
1. Poor self documentation on exactly which LSI card I was using: Some time ago I updated to a SAS9300-8i; dmesg pointed the way here, but in the meantime Broadcom/Avargo/LSI has a number of similar products and at least 2 different methods of FW update depending on the product.

2. There is a storcli/storcli64 (the successor of the MegaCLI) which is not what I wanted; and sas3flash, which is what I wanted. The former has a number of different arch builds - but thankfully none of them will work on incorrect hardware - while the latter seems to only run under DOS or Windows. Getting a USB for DOS/Windows these days can be it's own little project, but that all led me to AIO boot which was a great find.

 

[Ericloewe]

while the latter seems to only run under DOS or Windows. Getting a USB for DOS/Windows these days can be it's ow

Nope. It's available everywhere and the prime platform is UEFI. FreeNAS includes it, but some of the more dangerous operations are only available for DOS and UEFI. Standard firmware flashing works, but be careful not to have the pool imported while doing so.