[OpenIndiana-discuss] OI new user questions

Sat Dec 5 17:42:14 UTC 2020

On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 10:02 AM Kalle Anka via openindiana-discuss <
openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org> wrote:

> I am a long time Solaris user that tried out Linux for a couple of years,
> namely Ubuntu LTS. Alas, the Ubuntu updates caused numerous problems, in
> some cases causing a reinstall.

I've been running Ubuntu on the same machine since 18.10, updating to each
release in-place, with no issues. Currently on 20.10. An excellent
Debian(-based) OS stability primer is here
<https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian>. If you follow that and ask
questions at AskUbuntu and Reddit you shouldn't have showstopper problems.

> At the end I switched to Ubuntu 2020.10 hoping it would be more stable. It
> was not.
>
> Another problem is that OpenZFS v0.8.4 renders Solaris 11.3 disks unusable.

Disappointing, but not unexpected given that Solaris ZFS and OpenZFS are 2
different and independent ZFS implementations.

> Try this:
> -Create a ZFS disk in Solaris 11.3 (using zpool version 28, and zfs
> version 5)
> -Import the disk into Ubuntu 2020.10 using OpenZFS v0.8.4
> -Copy data to the zpool using Linux zfs send recv
> -Import the zpool back into Solaris 11.3 - This will fail. Solaris says
> the disk is UNAVAIL and I need to use a backup to restore data.
> So if you use OpenZFS to import a zpool, chances are you cannot import the
> disk back into Solaris.
>
> Because of all these problems I have now tried the OpenIndiana 2020.10
> LiveDVD and I liked it. The splash screen says it is OI "2020.04". It maybe
> should be changed to "2020.10"? Before I migrate off Linux to OI, I have
> some questions I hope I can get help with?
> 1) I boot Win10 which is installed using UEFI. According the OI manual, OI
> does not support UEFI.
>
> http://docs.openindiana.org/handbook/getting-started/#booting-the-hipster-installer
>
> So I should not install BIOS OI and UEFI W10 for dualbooting on the same
> disk. I learned this the hard way. I had a Win10 and Solaris 11.2 dual
> booting install, on the same disk using BIOS, i.e. MBR disk. Then an W10
> update silently changed the disk to UEFI (GPT disk), and Solaris 11.2 was
> still on MBR. So I could boot W10, but not boot Solaris. It took me a long
> time to figure out why Solaris would not boot. I had to reinstall Solaris
> using UEFI.
>
I think dual booting creates far more problems than it solves, and avoid it
my personal setups. I definitely do not think having dual booting an MBR
and UEFI OS is a good idea.

>
> To solve my problem of BIOS os and UEFI os, I wonder if this might work: I
> remove all disks except one, and install Win10 using UEFI. Then I remove
> all disks, and insert another disk to which I install BIOS OpenIndiana.
> Then I insert all disks, and when I boot my PC, I choose which OS to boot
> from the disk boot menu by pressing F11. Do you think this could be a way
> to have both BIOS OpenIndiana and UEFI Win10 on my PC, but on different
> disks? I have read that you should not install BIOS and UEFI oses on the
> same PC,

Sounds like you just answered your own question :P

even on the different disks - but I dont know why. I cannot find
> information on this. But if I choose the different disks to boot in the
> boot menu, this could work? Anyone know?
>
Such a setup is neither robust nor reliable, nor were PC BIOSes engineered
or tested for it. You're welcome to try it, but you'll be in unsupported
waters.

>
> (BTW, I have a WARNING! If you boot Win10 install usb and only look at the
> different disks in your PC, i.e. check the sizes of the disks, and then
> exit without doing anything - this will mess up your ZFS disks. W10 install
> software will mess up disks that are not NTFS. ZFS is something new, so
> Win10 install software will overwrite the ZFS disks even scanning the ZFS
> disks. If you do get your ZFS disks messed up this way, I have heard that
> you can try to import the zpool and scrub it, and it might solve this mess.
> Another way to solve this problem, is to remove all non ntfs disks from
> your system before installing Win10).
>
See my previous warning about dual booting. I would never expose a ZFS disk
to Windows and generally do not expose disks to OSes that lack 1st party
support the filesystems on them. It's easy and affordable enough to get a
used, good condition Core 2nd gen or later x86-64 desktop on my end that
dual booting just isn't something I have to futz with.

>
> 2) Does OI support Sunray? (Solaris 11.4 does not support Sunray)
>
> 3) Graphics. I have a Geforce GTX 1070 Ti. On a UEFI installed Solaris
> 11.3, it is not possible to install the latest Nvidia 1070 Ti driver
> because the driver explicitly requires a BIOS Solaris installation. To
> install GTX 1070 Ti, you must install Solaris 11.3 as BIOS, and not UEFI.
> If you have UEFI, there are no GTX 1070 Ti driver at all. You need to use
> VESA driver.
>
> The GTX 1070 Ti driver is certified for Solaris, but can the GTX 1070 Ti
> driver be installed on OI, as OI is a Solarish derivative?

I wouldn't expect that to be the case as Solaris and Illumos have diverged
significantly since Illumos continued OpenSolaris.

> This is the latest Nvidia driver:
> https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/127153/en-us
>
> 4) In the event that OI supports UEFI, I can install both Win10 and OI on
> my system without problems. However, in that case I stuck with the VESA OI
> driver. Because Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti driver only installs on BIOS Solaris. To
> solve this problem, can I still install OI as BIOS, and Win10 as UEFI as
> outlined in point 1) above? And this would give me Nvidia driver for GTX
> 1070 Ti?
>
See previous dual booting warning.

>
> 5) I hope there is a mpt sas driver, because there was one in Solaris
> 11.3. Can anyone confirm? I have this LSI2008 SAS card for my JBOD raidz3 I
> would like to use.
>
Don't know.

>
> 6) Virtualbox, does it work fine on OI? Is it problematic?
>
I don't use it, but I've seen some threads about it. Search the threads on
TopicBox.

>
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