Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 19:17:29 +0100 From: Doug Rabson <dfr@rabson.org> To: Randy Bush <randy@psg.com> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ZFSBoot try and bsdlabel bootstrap code Message-ID: <CF254FFC-DD9A-4B7F-8CB3-6406C2D0F843@rabson.org> In-Reply-To: <m2hbzpwgll.wl%randy@psg.com> References: <367b2c980811191412h5e0af470k165b37edc2fc5853@mail.gmail.com> <16C31872-6A83-4FAB-AC85-213D604CDDE4@rabson.org> <m2hbzpwgll.wl%randy@psg.com>
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On 13 May 2009, at 09:29, Randy Bush wrote: > next week, i have to do a system install on a 24tb array which has no > cdrom. i want to use raidz2. the new issues to me are > o install from usb stick > o installing on a new zfs > o boot from zfs > > i have a couple of systems where i did a small bootable gmirror > partition on the first two drives, and then gave the rest of the > drives, > and other whole drives, to zfs. i could do that this time too, i > guess. but i wondered if i could do an install which was pure zfs. > > i have been collecting email on the subject for six months. so now i > have some clues and some confusion. is there a zfs capable loader? > > i will be doing this a jet-lagged. is there a recipe? There is basic support in the FreeBSD-current tree which covers booting from simple disks, mirrors and collections of mirrors. I have patches for raidz and raidz2 but they really aren't ready for prime time (they work in small test cases but not for larger real-world arrays). What you could do to allow the installation of ZFS boot code in the future is use GPT to partition the drives and create a small boot partition. Something like this: # gpt create -f da0 # gpt boot -b /boot/pmbr -g /boot/gptzfsboot da0 # gpt add -t freebsd-zfs da0 The bootstrap code in /boot/gptzfsboot doesn't currently support raidz or raidz2 but initialising the array this way will make it easier to install a functioning bootstrap at a later date.
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