[OpenIndiana-discuss] Zfs import fails

[Edward Ned Harvey (openindiana)]

> From: Ram Chander [mailto:ramquick at gmail.com]
> 
> I had a  zpool thats exported on another system and when i try to import,
> it fails. Any idea how to recover ?

Start by proving there isn't some other problem.  Import the pool again on the same system that did the export.  Assuming you can successfully import, capture a "zpool status" and then export again and get back to your new system...

Show us the zpool status for the pool while it's functional in the old system.

Your error message said missing device.  ("one or more devices currently unavailable").  Make sure you "devfsadm -Cv" on the new system, and make sure the new disks are all appearing.

Your pool isn't based on partitions or slices, is it?  If so, you'll have to specify the devices manually.  (I think it's zpool import -d)

What type of disk controllers do you have in the new & old systems?  Many HBA's will occupy some space for their config & meta data on the drives, transparently to the OS.  This makes the drives incompatible with other systems, other than similar compatible HBA's.

Ideally, you'll have simple braindead SATA/SAS controllers on both the source and destination machines.  Because they won't add any custom data to the drives; they just present the drive to the OS, simple as that.