Re: vinum software raid as boot drive

From: David Kelly (dkelly_at_HiWAAY.net)
Date: 09/21/04

  • Next message: Giorgos Keramidas: "Re: reload rc.conf during boot process" 
    Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 08:24:44 -0500
To: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog@freebsd.org>

    On Sep 20, 2004, at 8:52 PM, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:

    >> We could not find stated exactly anywhere, but we are presuming the
    >> description file that you use with vinum create becomes
    >> /etc/vinum.conf
    >
    > Well, you need to call it that. The name isn't critical, but it's a
    > good choice.

    I use vinum only for a data volume. I've seen /etc/vinum.conf mentioned
    in the handbook and other documentation but didn't understand its use.
    Was under the impression that recent vinum stored this information in
    the headers on the drives? That it found its drives by reading the
    volume types off BSD partitions.

    Vinum in 5.2.1 often fails to remember its configuration on boot. But
    sometimes remembers on a cold boot. Would "vinum printconfig >
    /etc/vinum.conf" help?

    >> When we execute vinum create it appears to work fine. The Devices are
    >> created in /dev/vinum/ and we can do a fsck -n -t ufs /dev/vinum/root
    >> which outputs no errors
    >>
    >> The problem is when we reboot the devices in /dev/vinum are destroyed
    >> (
    >> presume this is normal behaviour ) but they are not created on boot.
    >
    > Take a look at http://www.vinumvm.org/vinum/how-to-debug.html. It
    > might help; otherwise supply the information asked for there.

    This is a problem I too have been having since 5.2.1, which was the
    first time I used vinum. Was only out of desperation, "Its broken,
    everything is lost, did something wrong, lets start over" that I re-ran
    "vinum stripe -v /dev/ad4s1d /dev/ad6s1d" and then on a lark rather
    than newfs I ran fsck and found my /dev/vinum/vinum0 intact!

    Sometimes vinum finds its configuration and boots. Then something
    changed and vinum behaved on 3 boots in a row. Had composed a lengthy
    email in answer to Greg's debugging checklist above. Was tricked into
    deleting it unsent. I think Beastie's last name might be Murphy.

    Upgraded to 5.3-BETA and developed a new problem: vinum causes a kernel
    panic when started from the rc scripts.
    http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=71824

    I suspect the issues are related because I always lose vinum
    configuration after a panic, but usually do not if I let the mount fail
    during boot (for lack of "vinum_start=YES" in /etc/rc.conf) and drop me
    into single user. Then "vinum start" and "exit" typed manually usually
    brings the system up. Drops me into single user again if vinum lost its
    configuration. 

    --
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net
========================================================================
Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
  • Next message: Giorgos Keramidas: "Re: reload rc.conf during boot process"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: clearing Vinum configurations
      ... the configuration currently read into memory, and NOT clear the Vinum ... On another box, again 4.8-RELEASE only with IDE instead of SCSI drives, ... plexes on an uninitialized drive and as such, ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: Vinum Subdisk Crashed - How To Repair?
      ... >> as I don't have a backup. ... > This should go away if you stop and restart Vinum. ... Disabling configuration updates ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: clearing Vinum configurations
      ... > a Vinum configuration. ... After creating a configuration, Vinum stores the ... > configuration on the drive or drives and resetconfig does not clear ... The second sector on the disk is protected. ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: vinum question
      ... >> at boot time. ... So, your vinum config may be correct, but it seems to be not ... or the drives haven't spun up and aren't ready in time for vinum. ...
      (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)
    • Vinum Help Needed
      ... I'm running Vinum on a 4.9 system with 3 drives. ... The second and third drive are mirrored, using Vinum, ... and contain most of the system's data (1 volume, 1 plex per drive, 1 subdisk ... When I boot now I get a "bad super block: ...
      (freebsd-questions)