Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:29:26 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> To: =?ISO-8859-15?Q?Jos=E9_Mar=EDa_Alcaide?= <jose@we.lc.ehu.es> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BIOS booting from disks > 2TB Message-ID: <alpine.BSF.2.11.1411191024540.55133@wonkity.com> In-Reply-To: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es> References: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es>
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On Wed, 19 Nov 2014, José María Alcaide wrote: > On Nov 19, 2014, at 8:06 AM, Pokala, Ravi wrote: > >> When you perform your installation, just make sure to select the GPT >> option for partitioning. The installer (either `bsdinstall' (for stock >> FreeBSD), or `pc-sysinstall' (for PC-BSD / FreeNAS)) should create both >> primary (near start-of-disk) and backup (at end-of-disk) GPT tables, and >> install the appropriate bootstrap code in the proper locations. >> > > Yes, bsdinstall flawlessly creates both primary and backup GPT tables > even using disks > 2 TB, by virtue of the FreeBSD kernel. The problem > arises at the first stages of booting, when gptboot tries to compare > the primary and backup tables *using the BIOS disk services*, which > are not able to reach anything after the 2 TB limit. As a consequence > gptboot fails, stating that it did not find the GPT backup table. Maybe kern.geom.part.check_integrity=0 will allow it to boot. However, this sounds like a bug in gptboot. Maybe not easy to fix, but increasingly important as disks > 2TB become common. From owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 20 06:57:43 2014 Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG> Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D1E3EE06 for <freebsd-fs@freebsd.org>; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:57:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from cu01176a.smtpx.saremail.com (cu01176a.smtpx.saremail.com [195.16.150.151]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8E10E86F for <freebsd-fs@freebsd.org>; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:57:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [172.16.2.2] (izaro.sarenet.es [192.148.167.11]) by proxypop03.sare.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 1A14A9DDF86; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:57:33 +0100 (CET) Subject: Re: BIOS booting from disks > 2TB Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1283) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 From: Borja Marcos <borjam@sarenet.es> In-Reply-To: <alpine.BSF.2.11.1411191024540.55133@wonkity.com> Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:53:14 +0100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <FF60956B-BF1F-4A1A-840E-489C549304EF@sarenet.es> References: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es> <alpine.BSF.2.11.1411191024540.55133@wonkity.com> To: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1283) Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems <freebsd-fs.freebsd.org> List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/options/freebsd-fs>, <mailto:freebsd-fs-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-fs/>; List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-fs@freebsd.org> List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-fs-request@freebsd.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-fs>, <mailto:freebsd-fs-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe> X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:57:43 -0000 On Nov 19, 2014, at 6:29 PM, Warren Block wrote: > On Wed, 19 Nov 2014, Jos=E9 Mar=EDa Alcaide wrote: >=20 >> On Nov 19, 2014, at 8:06 AM, Pokala, Ravi wrote: >>=20 >>> When you perform your installation, just make sure to select the GPT >>> option for partitioning. The installer (either `bsdinstall' (for = stock >>> FreeBSD), or `pc-sysinstall' (for PC-BSD / FreeNAS)) should create = both >>> primary (near start-of-disk) and backup (at end-of-disk) GPT tables, = and >>> install the appropriate bootstrap code in the proper locations. >>>=20 >>=20 >> Yes, bsdinstall flawlessly creates both primary and backup GPT tables = even using disks > 2 TB, by virtue of the FreeBSD kernel. The problem = arises at the first stages of booting, when gptboot tries to compare the = primary and backup tables *using the BIOS disk services*, which are not = able to reach anything after the 2 TB limit. As a consequence gptboot = fails, stating that it did not find the GPT backup table. >=20 > Maybe kern.geom.part.check_integrity=3D0 will allow it to boot. = However, this sounds like a bug in gptboot. Maybe not easy to fix, but = increasingly important as disks > 2TB become common. I did a manual install on a 3 TB disk, creating a small partition for = the OS, around 4 GB. The booot sequence was: Attempting Boot =46rom Hard Drive (C:) gptboot: invalid backup GPT header BTX loader 1.00 BTW version is 1.02 Consoles: internal video/keyboard BIOS drive C: is disk0 BIOS 614kB/3961744kB available memory FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1 (root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org...) Can't work out which disk we are booting from. Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to disk0: can't load 'kernel' And that's it. It would be nice indeed if FreeBSD could boot from >2TB = disks on BIOS machines. What I wonder is, is this just some brain dead bug in this machine (HP = Proliant Microserver Gen8 with the latest BIOS version) or a widespread problem? It's not a pressing issue for myself, as anyway I intended to boot from = a memstick and use the disks just for a ZFS pool, but anyone trying to set up a ZFS on root boot will = run into problems. Borja.
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