Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:49:20 +0200 From: Miroslav Lachman <000.fbsd@quip.cz> To: "azathanai@icloud.com" <azathanai@icloud.com>, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> Cc: "freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org" <freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: Question of installing over SAS controller and USB flash Message-ID: <84c06802-a6d9-fa5d-8dab-9ebe18074321@quip.cz> In-Reply-To: <AM6PR02MB4471FE504225A2FBAF35DDA4A5CCA@AM6PR02MB4471.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> References: <AM6PR02MB4471B8EABD99C690DE9B9F49A5CDA@AM6PR02MB4471.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> <CANCZdfrz1KZGavcCCpSUjpWUVN2Vem5XBWEzOii6yd=dUxTNJw@mail.gmail.com> <AM6PR02MB4471FE504225A2FBAF35DDA4A5CCA@AM6PR02MB4471.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com>
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On 11/10/2023 14:02, azathanai@icloud.com wrote: > Hey Warner, > the box is very featureLESS (an old Xyratex HS-1235T box, as far as I > researched it). > T2029_QR v1.3.ai (hackspace.org.uk) > <https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/w/images/b/b2/HS-1235T-ATX_Quick_Reference_Sheet.pdf>; > (5) Xyratex 0944037-03 Motherboard Mystery SOLVED : homelab (reddit.com) > <https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/8loge6/xyratex_094403703_motherboard_mystery_solved/>; > > Through the POST process and the BIOS there is no option to get into the > SAS controller and enable its BIOS. I would love to install FreeBSD > directly on the drives and not to deal with the flash card, but I > suppose the lack of controller BIOS is the reason the box comes with > reader and card directly. [..] This depends on at what stage the computer starts to see the disk behind the SAS controller. I had an old HP server that only saw one disk out of four in the BIOS, so it couldn't boot from RAIDZ, but it was enough to make a 10GB partition on each disk as a 4 way ZFS mirror, boot from that and use the rest of each disk for the main RAIDZ storage (4x 8TB). Maybe it would have been enough to use a USB flash drive for the freebsd-boot partition in GPT scheme and then continue boot from the disks on the SAS controller. gpart create -s GPT da0 gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr da0 gpart add -b 40 -s 512 -t freebsd-boot da0 gpart bootcode -p /boot/zfsgptboot -i 1 da0 As long as the computer boots from the installer CD, FreeBSD with RAIDZ can be installed on the disks behind the SAS controller without any modification, only the USB flash drive must provide the boot. If the USB flash drive must also contain a UFS /boot partition, then copy an image that can be downloaded from the web as a "mini-memstick" to the USB flash drive https://www.freebsd.org/releases/13.2R/announce/ (use dd according to the instructions) Or again, create a complete installation from the FreeBSD installer on the USB flash drive. But the installation to big drives with RAIDZ should be done normally from the FreeBSD installer. No modifications needed. Kind regards Miroslav Lachman
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