From owner-freebsd-geom@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 27 23:49:37 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BAEF016A403 for ; Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:49:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rick@kiwi-computer.com) Received: from kiwi-computer.com (keira.kiwi-computer.com [63.224.10.3]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 600AD13C480 for ; Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:49:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rick@kiwi-computer.com) Received: (qmail 91459 invoked by uid 2001); 27 Dec 2006 23:27:12 -0000 Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:27:12 -0600 From: "Rick C. Petty" To: "R. B. Riddick" Message-ID: <20061227232712.GA90336@keira.kiwi-computer.com> References: <4592AAA9.70008@fluffles.net> <20061227181812.86067.qmail@web30310.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20061227181812.86067.qmail@web30310.mail.mud.yahoo.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i Cc: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org Subject: Re: gmirror issues (fdisk?, disklabel?, newfs?) X-BeenThere: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: rick-freebsd@kiwi-computer.com List-Id: GEOM-specific discussions and implementations List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 23:49:37 -0000 On Wed, Dec 27, 2006 at 10:18:12AM -0800, R. B. Riddick wrote: > > On R6.1 it works like it should: I've seen just the opposite behavior, in 6.2-R. Once geom_mirror is loaded, I can't use bsdlabel or fdisk: # boot0cfg -B ad1 boot0cfg: /dev/ad1: Geom not found boot0cfg: write_mbr: /dev/ad1: No such file or directory # ls /dev/ad* /dev/ad0 /dev/ad2 /dev/ad2s1a /dev/ad2s1c /dev/ad2s1e /dev/ad2s1g /dev/ad1 /dev/ad2s1 /dev/ad2s1b /dev/ad2s1d /dev/ad2s1f # gmirror status Name Status Components mirror/gm0 COMPLETE ad0 ad1 I have the same problem with "fdisk -B". Once geom opens the device, none of the fdisk/bsdlabel/boot0cfg tools work anymore. However, I wouldn't expect them to, but this also fails: # boot0cfg -B /dev/mirror/gm0 boot0cfg: /dev/mirror/gm0: Geom not found boot0cfg: /dev/mirror/gm0: ioctl DIOCSMBR: Operation not permitted So, once you enable any geom layer, you no longer have write access to the boot blocks or otherwise. This has been broken ever since GEOM was introduced in 5.0. I've been bitten many times by this in: gmirror, gvinum, gpt, glabel, etc. What's worse is that these modules don't have a way to "untaste". If you load the module, all providers get tasted and there's no way back. I got burned last week when gmirror decided to flip out and it whacked ad1. The system panicked on every boot. The only remedy was to boot a 5.5-R media (IIRC) and do "gmirror clear ad1" *before* geom_mirror was loaded. IIRC, 6.0, 6.1, and all the other 5.x media I had didn't work. What a PITA! It would be nice if the tools had a "load but don't taste" command, an "untaste" command, and a "taste" command. Until then, it all just feels so incomplete, like it was hacked together. -- Rick C. Petty