Boot USB listed as Boot Pool membership "N/A "

[NumberSix]

Hi Everyone.
This is my first post to the forum so 'Hello Gang!'

New as I am to the forum, I am also pretty new to TrueNAS, having been playing with a small test install using bits of old kit ahead of deciding whether I should switch to TrueNAS as my main Home NAS setup. I'm not terribly familiar with Linux systems, coming from Windows, so I tend to rely 99% on the GUI. That's a little background on me and my aims, so I hope someone can help with my problem.

I am booting from a 32Gb USB 3 stick, and everything seems fine. Except for one nagging detail. When I look at Storage/Discs, I see two items listed there; the HDD listed as being in pool 'Volume1' (which is what I called it), and the USB stick or 'da0' listed as being in pool 'N/A'. Now, from various videos I've watched on Youtube, it seems this should be listed as 'Boot Pool'. So, despite everything 'apparently' working fine, this discrepency worries me. What am I not seeing at this stage that could kill me later?

If I go to System/Boot, I see two entries & I'm not sure what they signify. One is named 'default' and has 1014.50 KiB free. The other is named 'True-NAS Boot' with 1.16Gb free - and is also marked as "Now/Reboot". I'm guessing this latter item is my USB disk. Feeling my way here I think I need to 'Add' this to my boot Pool. I hit 'Actions/Boot Pool Status' and see '/dev/da0p2' listed. Still guessing this is the USB that needs to be formally added to the Boot Pool, I select 'Attach'. Then I'm asked for a 'Member Disk' to attach, but the pull down is empty of options/candidates. Dead end. So much for my attempts to get the USB listed as something other than N/A.

I'm sure I did ten kinds of wrong things here so I humbly ask for your support. Can this be fixed, or indeed, is the "N/A" listing not actually a problem at all?
Thanks for your time and thoughts on this.

 

[sretalla]

When I look at Storage/Discs, I see two items listed there; the HDD listed as being in pool 'Volume1' (which is what I called it), and the USB stick or 'da0' listed as being in pool 'N/A'. Now, from various videos I've watched on Youtube, it seems this should be listed as 'Boot Pool'. So, despite everything 'apparently' working fine, this discrepency worries me. What am I not seeing at this stage that could kill me later?

That's normal for the current version, don't worry about it.

Still guessing this is the USB that needs to be formally added to the Boot Pool, I select 'Attach'. Then I'm asked for a 'Member Disk' to attach, but the pull down is empty of options/candidates. Dead end. So much for my attempts to get the USB listed as something other than N/A.

That function is there to attach a second... or additional disk (in mirror) to the boot pool. It's not going to do anything useful in your case.

is the "N/A" listing not actually a problem at all?

Exactly. Don't worry.

 

[NumberSix]

Sretella!
Thank you SO MUCH for your reply! So all my beginners anxiety is really just from noticing (and vastly over-interpreting!) the significance of a 'loose end' in the coding of the current version then? I really am immensely grateful to you. I just purchased twin Ironwolf 8Tb discs to convert this test machine into the real deal. All the time I have been concerned that there might be a ticking time bomb with the Boot Pool status not registering as I expected. It's god to now it was really nothing.

You spoke of mirroring the boot pool; actually I have a 2nd USB stick on order and when it arrives I planned to mirror the existing one and then store it away as a backup boot USB for the machine. I wondered if perhaps the clone will get it's status as 'Boot Pool' correctly awarded? Either way, like you said, it's not really an issue.

Thanks again Sretella! Very much appreciated.

 

[NumberSix]

* Sretalla. Spelling - sorry.
The forum won't let me edit / correct the original, hence this additional 'P.S.' posting.

 

[sretalla]

I wondered if perhaps the clone will get it's status as 'Boot Pool' correctly awarded?

I don't think so in the current version. I'm not sure it's even on the list to be "fixed" or how high it would be on such a list.

Don't worry about it. Those disks won't appear as options to use for replacing other drives.