vdevs

[gentoo9ball]

5 1TB drive raidz + a single striped 320GB drive.

I would like to replace one of the 1TB drives with a 3TB and then replace the 320 Drive with that 1TB drive. I understand that I can upgrade in the raidz, but I don't know about replacing the single drive. Can this be done? How?

Code:

[root@freenas] ~# zpool status
        NAME                                            STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        Storage                                         ONLINE       0     0     0
          raidz1-0                                      ONLINE       0     0     0
            gptid/ef254493-******  ONLINE       0     0     0
            gptid/ef685840-******  ONLINE       0     0     0
            gptid/efacd36b-******  ONLINE       0     0     0
            gptid/eff0b6c3-******  ONLINE       0     0     0
            gptid/f038471c-******  ONLINE       0     0     0
          gptid/901e8e24-******    ONLINE       0     0     0

 

[cyberjock]

Don't get me wrong, but I think you have a single-disk-failure-will-cost-you-all-data scenario. Review my guide(link in my sig). I think you'll see where your mistake is.

It looks like you added the gtpid=901e8e24* as a single disk. If that disk fails you will lose the entire pool.


Also, why not just replace the 320GB with the 3TB? It doesn't matter which disk is first, last, or whatever to a zpool. In fact I've seen that if you select da0 through da4 the actual order seemed to be da2, da4, da3, da0.

 

[gentoo9ball]

Thanks for a quick reply noob! Yes I believe you are correct. I made that mistake prior to going through the powerpoint on your guide and I am not sure how to fix it... that being said, replacing the 320 with the 3tb would be fine. How can I fix this situation?

I'm out of SATA ports for now. I've been shopping around and it seems that to get more with only 1 PCIe 2.0, I'll need a RocketRaid 2740 (20bay server case).

 

[cyberjock]

You can't fix the issue. The only way to fix it is to delete the zpool and recreate it. :(

Now you know why I talked about that EXACT scenario in my guide. You can't just run a few commands and fix it.

All you need is a PCIe SATA/RAID card(that can run in JBOD) mode. If you search around the forums lots of people talk about models that work well with FreeNAS.

 

[bollar]

Ick.

This can't be fixed without reinitializing the entire array and starting over. If you had another port, you could mirror that gtpid 901e8e24* disk and that will return redundancy to the array and buy you time as you figure out how you want to proceed. If you're not confident in the quality of your backups, I'd make figuring out how to get another port integrated into your setup a priority.

 

[gentoo9ball]

I've been looking at the RocketRaid 2740 or 2720SGL. I'd like to setup another array of 5 3TB WD Reds. My motherboard only has 1 PCIe 2.0x16 slot, and I've got a 20bay server case. The setup is kind of pricey and I might have to get a new PSU to do it... 450w enermax now.

Suggestions? What is a minimal upgrade I can do now in order to get this full build (with no data loss) after I save up a bit?

 

[cyberjock]

If you have no backup you are really in a bind. You'll have to create a new zpool and copy the contents to the new zpool. If you have a backup then just delete the zpool and recreate it with the disks you already have. You can even do the hard drive switching to 3TB during the zpool creation.

Otherwise you'll have to go shopping for a controller that will do what you want. I don't recommend Highpoint at this time.. I have a stickied thread on Highpoint controllers and there are potential issues with their controllers. I haven't tested a 2740 but if its anything like their other controllers I wouldn't trust them. In particular, I believe SMART tests will be impossible with all Highpoint controllers. :(

Keep in mind while you figure out how to proceed that if your 1 disk fails you will lose the entire zpool. So if you have any really important data on the zpool I'd start looking at doing a backup very soon. There are plenty of examples in the forum(several in just December) where people have made this mistake and paid for it with losing their data.

 

[gentoo9ball]

Okay, I've heard that about HighPoint... How about LSI: 9201-16i?

 

[bollar]

I use the LSI 9207-8i and I'm satisfied with it. You will want to flash the card to IT mode, which is a finicky undocumented procedure if you have an EFI-compatible motherboard. Otherwise, FreeBSD has good support for LSI cards and IMO, it's a safe choice.

 

[gentoo9ball]

That just went a bit over my head. I have a MSI-G45M Digital Motherboard. It was my old desktop. What is IT Mode and how would I know if it is EFI compatible?

 

[gentoo9ball]

Okay, so IT Mode, got it now. The LSISAS2116 controller on this card appears to be a straight-up HBA, non-raid. But what is this about EFI?

 

[bollar]

IT mode disables the card's onboard raid functions, which will allow ZFS to manage the drives. The board probably ships with IR firmware, which does include raid. The IT drivers can be downloaded from LSI. You probably don't have an EFI motherboard if you're asking the question.

IR = integrated raid
IT = initiator-target

Unfortunately closely named acronyms...

 

[bollar]

Okay, so IT Mode, got it now. The LSISAS2116 controller on this card appears to be a straight-up HBA, non-raid. But what is this about EFI?

Yes, it appears that LSI cards with external connectors come with IT and those with internal connectors come with IR.

 

[gentoo9ball]

Here we go... thanks for the help today everyone.