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Date:      Thu, 17 Nov 2016 14:59:36 -0600
From:      Brandon J. Wandersee <brandon.wandersee@gmail.com>
To:        Baho Utot <baho-utot@columbus.rr.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Ok How do I boot this monster?
Message-ID:  <86eg29x1on.fsf@WorkBox.homestead.org>
In-Reply-To: <575baf45-b23d-163f-79b0-213a6ba51c91@columbus.rr.com>
References:  <07218d20-34a5-171b-f6a8-de3c271733cc@columbus.rr.com> <alpine.BSF.2.20.1611171215010.67199@wonkity.com> <575baf45-b23d-163f-79b0-213a6ba51c91@columbus.rr.com>

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Baho Utot writes:

> On 11/17/16 14:19, Warren Block wrote:
>> On Thu, 17 Nov 2016, Baho Utot wrote:
>>
>>> Can this also boot the raidz?
>>
>> No, boot0 is MBR-only.  The easiest way I see to do this is to install 
>> gptzfsboot bootcode to the ZFS drives and choose one of them from the 
>> BIOS boot menu.  Grub can multi-boot GPT also, although it needs a 
>> small partition of its own.
>
> I think the bsdinstall puts that code onto the zfs drives already or am 
> I miss informed?

I believe it should in its unadulterated state. But then you hacked the
installer, introducing a new variable.

> Would creating the raidz on MBR partitions be an answer?

It would be *an* answer, but I'm not sure I would consider it *the*
answer. It would basically place an expiration date on your new install,
since it would depend on older hardware to keep functioning. A more
recent motherboard would not be able to read the drives without legacy
BIOS support, so you might not be able to just transplant the disks into
a new machine when the time came.

I would recommend just using gpart(8) to install the correct bootcode
(/boot/gptzfsboot) as Warren suggested. The trouble, though, is
that---unless I'm mistaken---that bootcode requires a dedicated
partition. Configuring the system to boot would require 128k partitions
to be created at the start of each disk to hold the bootcode, and that
would mean either manually partitioning the drives (which is the typical
way of installing to a custom ZFS setup) or writing more code into your
custom bsdinstall.

-- 
::  Brandon J. Wandersee
::  brandon.wandersee@gmail.com
::  --------------------------------------------------
::  'The best design is as little design as possible.'
::  --- Dieter Rams ----------------------------------



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