Disks

zpool: FAULTED – too many errors

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This server, knew has had an intermittent problem related to CAM status: SCSI Status Error messages. There is a FreeBSD Forums post about it. On Sunday, the problem returned, and this time it degraded the zpool. I collected the information in this gist and I will list the relevant portions below. I had enabled smartd testing and I received this email late on Sunday: Despite the promise of more information in the logs, […]

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using smartd to automatically run tests on your drives

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NOTE: I am not convinced of the value of doing these tests on a regular basis. smartd and smartctl are two utility programs included with the smartmontools package. On FreeBSD, smartmontools is installed via the sysutils/smartmontools port. Those programs can “control and monitor storage systems using the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System (SMART) built into most modern ATA/SATA, SCSI/SAS and NVMe disks. In many cases, these utilities will provide advanced warning of

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R710 – getting the drives ready

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I recently installed 6 SSDs into an R710. In this post, I will describe what I did to the empty SSDs before I started using them. short test I ran a short test on each one of the drives. I already had smartctl. $ sudo smartctl -t short /dev/da0 smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-p1 amd64] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF OFFLINE IMMEDIATE AND SELF-TEST

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Converting a Dell R710 into a ZFS-based FreeBSD 11.1 tape library bacula-sd

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If you’ve read even a little of what I’ve written, the following points will not come as a surprise: I like FreeBSD I’m a fan of backups I use Bacula I like ZFS I have tape libraries In this post, I will cover all of the above and more. Photos will be included. New gear Full disclosure: the following links contain my Amazon referrer code. On the left is the ICY DOCK 2.5″

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Moving boot from one zpool to another

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I’ve been having boot issues with a server containing 20 HDD, all behind HBAs. I have decided to start booting off SSDs. In that previous blog post, there was much speculation about where to mount the new drives, etc. In the meantime, I came up with a solution which did not involve magnets and used a pair of INTEL 730 SSDs I had in another chassis. Let’s start with how I configured those

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Moving from zroot from one zpool to another

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Please also see Moving boot from one zpool to another and Adding a zroot pool to an existing system. On my 20x HDD system at home (also known as knew), I am having a recurring problem with booting. This is also the same system mentioned in my FreeBSD Forums thread about some CAM errors. Side note: I now think those CAM errors may be temperature related.  EDIT: 2018-12-29: They were not temperature related.

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Booting off the new 5TB drives

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This is about FreeBSD 11.1 on my knew server. I recently replaced the 3TB drives with 5TB drives. Along the way, it didn’t boot, the swap was adjusted, I got concerned about power, and there was a brief CAM status: SCSI Status Error scare. Then today, the planned reboot, I started asking questions on Reddit and on Twitter. The booting issue BIOS cannot boot from drives which present only 4096-byte sectors. This is

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