FreeNAS 9.3.1 - problem installing in UEFI (GPT) mode

[izajasz]

Hello everyone. I 've built a server machine made for FreNAS OS .
Machine specs:
Supermicro X11SAE-F motherboard
Intel Xeon 1225 v5 CPU
2x16GB Samsung DDR4 ECC memory
Samsung SSD 128GB PCIE M.2 MZVPV128HDGM-00000
4x WD RED 4TB HDD

Now , the plan is to install FreeNAS onto M.2 PCIE Samsung SSD, the installer recognizes Nvme driver and SSD , the OS installs fine, but than it cannot boot from this SSD. Now i know that in order to have the OS boot from Nvme SSD i need to install the OS in native UEFI mode but the problem is when i switch boot modes to UEFI in BIOS setup , the motherboard doesnt list the DVD . I tried to make bootable pendrive in UEFI(GPT) mode but it didnt recognize it either. So now, the question is - how to make FreeNAS 9.3.1 bootable USB in UEFI (GPT) mode.

 

[Mirfster]

X11 is pretty new, thus there are issues to work around from what I gather.

Try checking these threads:
Skylake, xHCI and UPS: compatibility on FreeNAS 9.3?
xHCI, Skylake, Supermicro X11 rant

 

[izajasz]

Thanks for the input. I ve read that post and it gives some usefull info. Please tell me how to make a proper UEFI (GPT) Install USB with 9.3.1 ? What is the official FreeNAS procedure ? By the way , shouldnt it boot from DVD in UEFI mode ?

 

[Yatti420]

Check out YUMI or RUFUS those tools may be able to help.. As a side note does your mother board support IPMI?? Just use this if so!! No more disk drives in your lifetime :) It's so easy I just point the IPMI virtual drive to Freenas image and up it comes..

 

[izajasz]

Well i tried USB stick made with rufus , no success , but maybe this is the problem with Skylake and xHCI which mirfster posted . Anyway , Rufus set to GPT UEFI should work ? And yes, this mobo supports IPMI. Thanks for suggestions. Any more info will be awesome. In the meantime I'll try with those.

EDIT: Im curious tho, why FreeNAS doesn't boot in UEFI mode from DVD...

 

[izajasz]

I made USB stick in GPT UEFI mode using rufus and when chosen with F11 boot menu it hangs for some time and than goes to EFI shell. Does FreeNAS 9.3 support UEFI boot ? I am confused right now.

EDIT: Just now i made a DVD with FreeNAS 10 and no success with UEFI booting it. When tried tomake USB stick with rufus it said that the image is not GPT UEFI compatible. With 9.3 iso id doesnt show that warning so please someone enlighten me how to make it install in full uefi mode ...

 

[Mirfster]

To be honest, using the Samsung SSD 128GB PCIE M.2 MZVPV128HDGM-00000 for a FreeNas boot device is basically a waste of ~96 GBs. At most you would need/want is a 32 GB drive for the OS. Even with that it is a lot and has plenty of head room. Perhaps, you would be better off using an older SSD or throwing in an older USB 2.0 card and attaching internal USB Stick(s) [If you are mirroring the boot devices] to that.

Then maybe you would use the 128 GB for jails or another purpose where the size and speed would be of more benefit. I do understand the desire to "make it work" with the drive though...

 

[izajasz]

Its because the owner of the machine wants more free SATA ports for upgrades , hence the M.2 solution. This was the initial idea but still it would be nice to get it working. But Your suggestion is good too. Im going to try to change the cocenption.

 

[Rand]

There are various guides around for getting Windows to boot from an NVMe drive, maybe one can be adapted? (contained some unintuitive hints like installing without UEFI and then switching or the other way round) - if you have not tried that yet;)

But I agree with @Mirfster regarding it not making the most sense;)

 

[izajasz]

I was looking into Windows guides but the key point to boot from Nvme is to have native UEFI boot working which is not with FreeNAS ... I tried FreeNAS 10 alpha and this time when making USB with rufus i got the message that the iso is not UEFI compatible which i was not getting from 9.3 iso but oddly i got v10 to boot from Nvme into grub recovery... So it seems that 9.3 iso is uefi boot capable but when i insert CD it doesnt list it in boot menu nor does it boot, when i make GPT UEFI pendrive with rufus from 9.3 iso , it hangs... I ve attached some photos. In the one called v9.3 gpart there is "Gpart...... invalid argument" line . Please tell me if its significant or not .

 

[Rand]

I assume you have the latest bios installed (1.0a), have played around with CSM Support etc?

The gpart error implies that the partition manager is not able to handle the created nvme (nvd0) device properly ...
Similar experiences have been posted before: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/installation-of-freenas-9-3-onto-intel-nvme-ssd.30900/

Edit: Hm on the other hand its created right after that - weird.

 

[izajasz]

Yes, im on latest BIOS possible, i am on the other line with supermicro as 1 of my first suspects was CSM but i cannot disable it - i get an error which statest that im in legacy GPU mode even tho every ROM is set to EFI along with UEFI boot... About the gpart error - really weird indeed .... Do You know what that could imply ?

EDIT: I ve updated IPMI firmware too, it probably doesnt matter with this issue but still ....

 

[Rand]

How about doing a regular installation and cloning to the NVMe drive?

 

[indy]

Does FreeNAS 9.3 support UEFI boot ?

https://wiki.freebsd.org/UEFI
The page states "UEFI boot support is available in FreeBSD 10.1 and later".

 

[izajasz]

Thanks , both of You. Rand - It wont work, the cause is lack of UEFI support. As far as i kno, the only way of booting from NVME is to install in UEFI mode so the PCIE UEFI driver launches, otherwise booting from Nvme is not supported. indy - yes, i know , i stumbled across this info some time ago but when trying to install FreeNas 10 alpha , during making usb stick rufus says the iso is not uefi compatible and the furthest where i got is to make grub recovery load from Nvme....

 

[izajasz]

I ve decided to use the Nvme for jails and to boot from 2 mirrored usb sticks. I ve tried to install on usb sticks - i bought 2 usb sticks but the installer doesnt recognize them... Anyone has any advices ? It becomes frustrating.

 

[Mirfster]

I ve tried to install on usb sticks - i bought 2 usb sticks but the installer doesnt recognize them.

I think this is a known issue with Supermicro X11 and USB 3.0. You are kind of on the cutting edge so there are some "issues". Maybe those who have a X11 board will chime in...

 

[Rand]

Sorry but thats a known X11 (Skylake) Problem - only xhci mode in that platform and that means no USB Boot at the moment.

 

[Ericloewe]

It should also be pointed out that FreeNAS 9.3 boots from legacy BIOS, not UEFI.

Let's sum some things up:

• FreeNAS 9.3 will not boot from UEFI.
  
• FreeNAS should boot from NVMe just fine, since NVMe is supported. If this doesn't work, file a bug report.
• If the above somehow still is a problem, for whatever reason, switch to an AHCI PCI-e M.2 device. PCI-e does not imply NVMe and AHCI is most certainly supported by FreeNAS 9.3.
  
• USB booting is an absolute no-go at the moment. Wait for FreeNAS 10.
• Supermicro X11 boards (as well as any other Skylake boards) still need to mature before most of us can recommend them. Avoid them for now, unless you have a specific need for them (many home users will be fine with 32GB or even 16GB of RAM for quite a long time),