From owner-freebsd-geom@FreeBSD.ORG Sun May 27 14:35:09 2007 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 6544F16A475 for ; Sun, 27 May 2007 14:35:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from afields@ncf.ca) Received: from saruman.ncf.ca (saruman.ncf.ca [134.117.136.37]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A67113C48A for ; Sun, 27 May 2007 14:35:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from afields@ncf.ca) Received: from ncf.ca (mail [134.117.136.45]) by saruman.ncf.ca (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 Patch 2 (built Jul 14 2004)) with ESMTP id <0JIP00LLSCEKAF@saruman.ncf.ca> for freebsd-geom@freebsd.org; Sun, 27 May 2007 09:35:08 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [74.104.133.87] by saruman.ncf.ca (mshttpd); Sun, 27 May 2007 09:35:08 -0400 Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 09:35:08 -0400 From: Allan Fields To: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org Message-id: <38bbc5392a4a.392a4a38bbc5@ncf.ca> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.2 Patch 2 (built Jul 14 2004) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-language: en Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-disposition: inline X-Accept-Language: en Priority: normal Subject: slice entries + stripe/mirror X-BeenThere: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: GEOM-specific discussions and implementations List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 14:35:09 -0000 Last night I ran into a few issues. Slice entries such as both /dev/ad12bs1 and /dev/ad12cs1 when I've created a FreeBSD slice/partition on provider /dev/ad12 and previously had /dev/ad12s1[bcd] proper seem error prone. As a work around I've simply updated /etc/fstab to use /dev/ad{8,10,12,14}b as swap. E.g. gstripe is using consumers /dev/ad{8,10}d which previously were showing up as /dev/ad{8,10}s1d. The change occurred when I did geom_{stripe,mirror}_load="YES" in loader.conf. I've seen this behaviour for a while now since early 5.x and am still seeing it in 6.2-RELEASE. It drives the rc scripts bonkers because they can't find the correct device entries anymore, so files like /etc/fstab and /etc/rc.conf have to be updated. Anytime device entries like /dev/ad0bs1 start to appear, as a sysadmin/user you might question why. ("Can't FreeBSD get it the right way around?", etc.) The other issue is related to mirrors and setting geom_mirror_load="YES" in /boot/loader.conf. I had a dormant or erroneous mirror entry gm0 on provider ad0 which is my boot disk. (Did I even put that there?) While this wasn't an issue when I was configurting mirrors manually, I started the system up to find a new gm0 mirror that I had obviously forgotten about now existed, and worse, it auto-activated it in addition to the other mirror devices removing the dev entries for ad0s1[a-g] but thankfully keeping the disklabel and creating mirror/gm0s1[a-g]. Just a thought.. The question with on-disk meta-data/auto that can possibly do funky things to disks if they are plugged in on the wrong channel, etc. is a concern. Are there cases where it is possible for an admin to inadvertently screw their geom config and/or destroy volumes? Maybe the user should be (default, optional) prompted first before a stripe or raid starts to rebuild at boot time? Prompt user first: I do know is possible with eli password prompt at boot for instance. As long as it "just works", there isn't any issue, but what border-line cases exist, I'd like to know. Thanks.. Allan Fields