[OpenIndiana-discuss] Partitions for co-exist NAS drive

Sat May 1 14:19:24 UTC 2021

The text-install disk doesn't install X. I think the 2 text installers may not be the same, but have not verified that. They *should* be.

You can do all the stuff with format(1m) in single user mode. I use the GUI installer because I want the GUI and it is more convenient to have the MATE terminals.

I have an issue raised about the spurious 2 TB limit message. It's just that, a spurious message. It caused me a *lot* of confusion.

Reg

     On Saturday, May 1, 2021, 09:00:05 AM CDT, Michelle <michelle at msknight.com> wrote:  

 Thanks. I'll give that a go.

I'm using the text installer 2020.10 and on that, I can't create a
Solaris partition greater than 2tb.

I've got the GUI live image here somewhere.

Michelle.

On Sat, 2021-05-01 at 13:50 +0000, Reginald Beardsley via openindiana-
discuss wrote:
>  What release are you trying to install? I last did this using
> 2021.04.05, but I can easily verify the behavior with 2020.10.
> 
> I *strongly* recommend that you put all the disks you plan to use in
> the machine and run the text-installer from the Live Desktop. Select
> F2 on the first screen. When you get to the disk list, select all the
> disks. Make sure you don't have a USB stick plugged in. I wiped out
> mine by accident. Selecting multiple disks triggers the appearance of
> options to create a mirror, RAIDZ1 or RAIDZ2 depending on whether you
> have 2, 3 or 4 disks. Just make sure you select an EFI label, not MBR
> 
> Let it wipe out the partitions and create the 250 MB slice and the
> rest of disk slice. That *is* the best practice today. The mirrored
> root pool slice is a bodge for releases which can't boot from RAIDZ.
> 
> If for some reason you want to do something different this is the
> step by step recipe. It will give you exactly whatever you set up
> with format(1m). Because the F5 option is expecting to be used on an
> existing bootable pool it doesn't create dump and swap, so you have
> to do that by hand. The absence of /reconfigure was what beat me up
> for a week before I figured it out quite by accident.
> 
> All this is done in a terminal window after doing "sudo /bin/su" as
> jack.
> 
> > format -e
> # select disk
> > fdisk
> # create Solaris partition for entire drive and commit to disk
> > partition
> # create the desired slices 
> > label
> # write an EFI label
> > quit
> > verify
> > quit
> 
> You should now have a Sun EFI label with 9 slices. 8 is set by
> format(1m) and can't be changed. The other two should be the ones you
> created. You will need to do this for each disk and then check using
> prtvtoc(1m) that they all match. The disks don't need to match, but
> the slice sizes should.
> 
> I should note that format(1m) will not allow deleting a slice by
> setting the start and end to 0 easily. I have managed to do it, but
> I'm not sure what the correct incantation is. It gives "0 is out of
> range" messages most of the time.
> 
> In the first text installer screen chose F5, in the 2nd screen select
> the slice you want to use. Continue with the install. When It
> completes reboot to single user.
> 
> zfs create -V <size> rpool/dump rpool
> zfs create -V <size> rpool/swap rpool
> dumpadm -d /dev/zvol/dsk/rpool/dump
> swap -a /dev/zvol/dsk/rpool/swap
> touch /reconfigure
> init 6
> 
> Reg    On Saturday, May 1, 2021, 08:16:07 AM CDT, Michelle <
> michelle at msknight.com> wrote:  
>  
>  OK - I give in.
> 
> I've tried various combinations and I just can't get this into a
> configuration where I can get things installed.
> 
> I need a step by step guide please, because I'm lost. I don't know
> what
> options to choose in the installer to not avoid it wanting to wipe
> whatever combinations of partitions I've set.
> 
> Michelle.
> 
> 
> On Sat, 2021-05-01 at 15:42 +0300, Toomas Soome via openindiana-
> discuss 
> wrote:
> > > On 1. May 2021, at 15:30, Michelle <michelle at msknight.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > That's where I'm becoming unstuck.
> > > 
> > > A Solaris 2 partition will only see the first 2Tb.
> > > 
> > > There hangs my first problem.
> > > 
> > > If I try and create any other partition it gives me the warning
> > > about
> > > the 2TB limit and if I then try and create the EFI partition, it
> > > won't
> > > co-exist with anything and wants to wipe the whole disk again.
> > > 
> > > Michelle.
> > 
> > MBR and GPT can not co-exist. On this disk, you need GPT and this
> > means, MBR partitions will be removed.
> > 
> > Rgds,
> > Toomas
> > 
> > > > On Sat, 2021-05-01 at 12:21 +0000, Reginald Beardsley via
> > > > openindiana-
> > > > discuss wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > I just went through several iterations of this, and like you
> > > > the
> > > > last
> > > > time I had done it was long ago. The following is based on
> > > > 2021.04.05.
> > > > 
> > > > Large disks require an EFI or GPT label. The gparted program
> > > > creates
> > > > 128 slices which is a bit much. format(1m) will also write an
> > > > EFI
> > > > label which is usable with large disks.
> > > > 
> > > > > format -e
> > > > # select disk
> > > > > fdisk
> > > > # create Solaris partition for entire drive and commit to disk
> > > > > partition
> > > > # create the desired slices and write an EFI label
> > > > > quit
> > > > > verify
> > > > > quit
> > > > 
> > > > You should now have a Sun EFI label with 9 slices. 8 is set by
> > > > format(1m) and can't be changed. The other two should be the
> > > > ones
> > > > you
> > > > created.
> > > > 
> > > > In the first text installer screen chose F5, in the 2nd screen
> > > > select
> > > > the slice you want to use. Continue with the install. When It
> > > > completes reboot to single user.
> > > > 
> > > > zfs create -V <size> rpool/dump rpool
> > > > zfs create -V <size> rpool/swap rpool
> > > > dumpadm -d /dev/zvol/dsk/rpool/dump
> > > > swap -a /dev/zvol/dsk/rpool/swap
> > > > touch /reconfigure
> > > > init 6
> > > > 
> > > > You should now come up with rpool in the 100 GB slice.
> > > > 
> > > > That said, we can boot from RAIDZ now. The text-install on the
> > > > Desktop live image will let you create a mirror, RAIDZ1 or
> > > > RAIDZ2
> > > > and
> > > > will take care of all the label stuff. Despite the statement
> > > > that
> > > > it
> > > > will only use 2 TB, it in fact uses the entire disk.
> > > > 
> > > > It creates a 250 MB s0 slice and the rest of the disk in s1.
> > > > The
> > > > 250
> > > > MB slice is labeled "System", but I've not seen any explanation
> > > > of
> > > > it. I've also created RAIDZ2 pools by hand and used F5 to
> > > > install
> > > > into them. F5 appears to be intended to install into a new BE
> > > > in
> > > > an
> > > > existing pool, hence the need to set up dump and swap by hand.
> > > > 
> > > > Ultimately I decided I didn't care about 1 GB of unused space
> > > > in
> > > > 16
> > > > TB of space. So I just went with the text-install created
> > > > RAIDZ2
> > > > pool. The reconfigure on the first boot after the install is
> > > > critical
> > > > to getting 2021.04.05 up properly.
> > > > 
> > > > Reg
> > > >    On Saturday, May 1, 2021, 02:57:23 AM CDT, Michelle <
> > > > michelle at msknight.com> wrote:  
> > > > 
> > > > OK - I appear to be well out of touch.
> > > > 
> > > > I booted the installer and went into prompt.
> > > > 
> > > > Used format (only 1 x 6TB drive in the machine at this point)
> > > > to
> > > > create
> > > > a new Solaris 2 partition table and then fdisk'd an all free
> > > > hog
> > > > to
> > > > partition 1, giving partition 0 100gig. 
> > > > 
> > > > I noticed that it must have gone on for 40 odd partitions, and
> > > > also
> > > > there was none of the usual backup and reserved partitions for
> > > > 2,
> > > > 8
> > > > and
> > > > 9 as I saw before.
> > > > 
> > > > On installation of OI, I selected the drive and got the
> > > > warning...
> > > > "you have chosen a gpt labelled disk. installing onto a gpt
> > > > labelled
> > > > disk will cause the loss of all existing data"
> > > > 
> > > > Out of interest I continued through and got the options for
> > > > whole
> > > > disk
> > > > or partition (MBR) ... the second of which gave me a 2Tb
> > > > Solaris
> > > > 2
> > > > partition in the list.
> > > > 
> > > > I did try F5 to change partition, but it just took me straight
> > > > back
> > > > to
> > > > the installation menu at the start again.
> > > > 
> > > > Things have obviously moved on and I haven't kept pace.
> > > > 
> > > > I now have to work out how to do this on a gpt drive.
> > > > 
> > > > If anyone has any notes, I'd be grateful.
> > > > 
> > > > Michelle.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > > On Sat, 2021-05-01 at 08:31 +0100, Michelle wrote:
> > > > > Well, I looked over my notes and the last time I did this was
> > > > > in
> > > > > 2014.
> > > > > 
> > > > > My preference has always been to run OI on its own drive and
> > > > > have
> > > > > the
> > > > > main ZFS tank as a "whole drive" basis. However, thanks to
> > > > > the
> > > > > QNAP,
> > > > > that's changed.
> > > > > 
> > > > > In 2014 I did a test. I took two 40gig drives and did the
> > > > > partitions
> > > > > as
> > > > > an all free hog on partition 0 ... I was simply testing the
> > > > > ability
> > > > > to
> > > > > configure rpool on two drives and have both active, so if one
> > > > > failed
> > > > > the other would keep running the OS.
> > > > > 
> > > > > My immediate thought is to have 100gig for the OS on
> > > > > partition
> > > > > 0
> > > > > and
> > > > > the rest on partition 1. Also, turn on auto expand for the
> > > > > tank
> > > > > pool
> > > > > and off for the rpool.
> > > > > 
> > > > > That's my gut feel.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Anyone got any advice to offer please, before I commit finger
> > > > > to
> > > > > keyboard?
> > > > > 
> > > > > Michelle.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > > openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org
> > > > > https://openindiana.org/mailman/listinfo/openindiana-discuss
> > > > 
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