From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 20:14:50 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8E62B20C for ; Wed, 28 May 2014 20:14:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail.magehandbook.com (173-8-4-45-WashingtonDC.hfc.comcastbusiness.net [173.8.4.45]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 652B12130 for ; Wed, 28 May 2014 20:14:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [192.168.1.50] (Mac-Pro.magehandbook.com [192.168.1.50]) by mail.magehandbook.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3gf33L0pvrzSR for ; Wed, 28 May 2014 16:06:53 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 16:06:53 -0400 From: Daniel Staal To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: info needed-upgrade 8.1 to 10.0 with zfs root Message-ID: <7E1C18B855365A0BDF61BE6A@[192.168.1.50]> In-Reply-To: <20140528172837.M69748@brightstar.bomgardner.net> References: <20140528164735.M32229@brightstar.bomgardner.net> <7f96848c4393882b8dccab09173bc4c1@mail.feld.me> <20140528172837.M69748@brightstar.bomgardner.net> X-Mailer: Mulberry/4.0.8 (Mac OS X) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 20:14:50 -0000 --As of May 28, 2014 12:35:58 PM -0500, Gene is alleged to have said: > What's "stamp bootloaders"? Does that have to do with booting from a zfs > root? > > My main concern is the root on ZFS. I want to make sure I can boot this > puppy when all is said and done! --As for the rest, it is mine. 'Stamp bootloaders' is the part that makes sure you can boot when done. ;) There have been upgrades to the ZFS filesystem between 8 and 10. You can run without upgrading the filesystem to the newer version, but you'll lose features. (Among other things.) Basically, the newer versions of the file system software can read the older disks, but you can't use newer disks with the older software. So, it's not much of a problem - just load the newer OS, and it reads everything fine. Upgrading the disks can be done on the fly. With one exception: If you are using ZFS as root, the bootloader has to have the new version of ZFS to read new disks. Since you can upgrade on the fly, it's quite possible to use a system for months with the newer filesystem on disk, and then find yourself unable to reboot because the bootloader can't read it. So: Make sure you update the bootloader. ;) ZFS will remind you of this - and give instructions - when you update it on the disks, and you can update ahead of time using the same formula you used to put the bootloader on in the first place if you want. Mark had you updating at each stage - it's not necessary in theory (you can do it last thing - everything will should fine with the older disk format), but it's probably a good idea. Daniel T. Staal --------------------------------------------------------------- This email copyright the author. Unless otherwise noted, you are expressly allowed to retransmit, quote, or otherwise use the contents for non-commercial purposes. This copyright will expire 5 years after the author's death, or in 30 years, whichever is longer, unless such a period is in excess of local copyright law. ---------------------------------------------------------------