From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 23 23:16:44 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 08DC11065670 for ; Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:16:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB3B38FC15 for ; Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:16:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id q0NNGgIF093007 for ; Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:16:42 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5/Submit) with ESMTP id q0NNGgUZ093004 for ; Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:16:42 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:16:42 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Message-ID: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.7 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:16:43 -0700 (MST) Subject: Handbook RAID1 example X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:16:44 -0000 Multiple users on the forums have reported problems with existing gmirror(8) mirrors being unbootable after upgrading to FreeBSD 9: http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=28895 The workaround is to set kern.geom.part.check_integrity="0" in /boot/loader.conf. The example from the RAID1 chapter of the Handbook isn't helping: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/geom-mirror.html The procedure overrides the safety and uses the last block of a drive, regardless of whether it was already allocated to a partition. During boot, the GEOM system sees the error and stops: GEOM_MIRROR: Device mirror/gm0 launched (2/2). GEOM_PART: partition 1 has end offset beyond last LBA: 1250263727 > 1250263726 GEOM_PART: integrity check failed (mirror/gm0, MBR) To be fair, that example allows (allowed) the user to set up a mirror of their existing disk complete with whatever partitioning existed. And it still ought to work if the last block was not part of a partition. That Handbook chapter could be updated without a huge change by removing the instructions to turn off the safety (so it will error out if the user tries it on an allocated last block). Then add a note or warning along the lines of "The procedure shown can only be used if the last block of the drive has not been already allocated to a partition. If the last block has been included in a partition, back up, repartion leaving at least one unused block at the end of the drive, create the mirror, and restore."