Installation Fails on SSD, can't share on RAID

[HarryStottle]

Another newbie.

Bought a cheap HP Proliant DL360p Gen8 with a couple of 1.8Tb drives I've configured as RAID 1.

My preference was to install Novell onto it but I had accepted that was infeasible because HP no longer supports Novell and I'd spent a couple of years trying to find the relevant drivers for a Proliant without success. (I support a number of ageing Novell servers all of whom need upgraded hardware)

But I was determined to avoid Windows Server at all costs (even though it's for a bunch of Windoze workstations to connect to as a file server) so I thought I'd give Linux a try, even though I'm a newbie on that as well. I managed to get the basic stuff installed, with a GUI to make life easier, but the peripheral setup of Shares, protocols, groups, users and getting Samba configured to allow windows connections has proved far too much of a hassle and one of the guys on Experts Exchange suggested, that given that I only needed a basic file server, I might try TrueNAS. So here I am. Just as much a TrueNAS newbie as with Linux but, I'm assured, this should be a lot easier.

In reading about TrueNAS, I came across refs to installing to and booting from an SSD and using the RAID purely for the file storage. Looked like a good idea, and I have a number of spare SSDs available, so I installed an SSD into the Server, created a bootable installation USB stick (using Rufus) and proceeded to install TrueNAS.

It gave me the choice of installing to the RAID (DA0) 1.6Tb or the SSD (DA2) 256Mb. I chose the SSD, entered username and password.

It warned me that the installation would wipe the drive and that I wouldn't be able to share any data on the system drive. That was exactly what I wanted so to consented to that and let it proceed.

It failed with the message
gmirror: [looked like the display cut off the first letter or 2] No Such Device: swap
dd: /dev/da2: Read-only file system
The TrueNAS installation on DA2 has failed, Press Enter to Continue...

My first guess was that the SSD I'd selected still had the Windows 10 OS that had been on it before I reclaimed it from the defunct PC. So I removed the drive, put it in a caddy attached to one of my workstations, removed existing partitions and reformatted the drive.

No change.

2nd guess, it didn't like formatted drives. Cleared it again, left it unformatted.

No change.

3rd guess. bad SSD.

Selected another 256, repeated all the steps above. Got the same results

4th guess. another bad SSD? unlikely but I unwrapped a brand new 500Mb SSD and tried that.

This time got a new clue. It still reported DA2 as 256 Mb, so perhaps it just isn't reading the disk correctly, or perhaps, if you intend to boot from an SSD in a Proliant with 6 drive bays, it has to be in a specific bay and mine wasn't.

And I had another thought about the last line of the failure message. There was, of course no such folder on the SSD, but the RAID drive DID still contain my final attempt at the Linux system and perhaps that /Dev folder was the one TrueNAS needed to overwrite and couldn't.

So I wiped the existing Array and set it up as a fresh naked RAID (still RAID 1).

Still no change.

Last desperate attempt, forget the SSD, I'll install it on the RAID and sacrifice a bit of storage space

But when I chose that, I got exactly the same warning as when I chose the SSD. i.e. it would wipe everything (fine) and I wouldn't be able to share data on it (definitely NOT fine!)

That's me out of ideas.

Suggestions?

 

[Ericloewe]

couple of 1.8Tb drives I've configured as RAID 1.

Yeah, no. Hardware RAID is a serious no-go.

You didn't specify, but it sure sounds like you're using HP's semi-proprietary RAID controllers, which are known to be especially sucky, which would go a long way in explaining why basic disk operations seem to be breaking left and right.

 

[HarryStottle]

Ah, thanks for that insight.

And if I disable the HP RAID, will TrueNAS offer me the option to set up its own RAID control?

 

[Ericloewe]

Short answer is yes, long answer is that you probably need a supported SAS controller to replace the current one.

As for the ZFS part of the equation, here's a shameless plug: https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/introduction-to-zfs.111/

 

[HarryStottle]

yup, you're spot on. Well that's kiboshed the "no hardware raid" option for probably a week. The guys who sold me the Proliant have just explained that the built in HP420 Controller is "Raid Only" (no passthrough without a major hack, not recommended) so I need to buy a different controller which they're about to quote me for (presumably the one you're talking about) and I'll have to get the customer to agree. Bah humbug!

I accept the shameless plug, but doesn't TrueNAS offer its own RAID solution (hopefully for free)?

 

[Ericloewe]

TrueNAS offer its own RAID solution (hopefully for free)?

Well, yes, it's ZFS, that's why I linked the document,

 

[Davvo]

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer

We realize that new users have a lot to learn when they come to FreeNAS. There's a certain amount of confusion added to discussions when users pick random/approximate terms to describe things. I've spent a lot of time quietly trying to...

www.truenas.com

There is no RAID with ZFS, we got RAIDZ.

 

[Ericloewe]

Unless they're mirrors or DRAID. "RAIDZ" is equivalent to the set {RAIDZ1; RAIDZ2; RAIDZ3}

 

[Davvo]

Unless they're mirrors or DRAID. "RAIDZ" is equivalent to the set {RAIDZ1; RAIDZ2; RAIDZ3}

We still have no RAID.

 

[Ericloewe]

RAID is a concept, not a specific implementation. It's pointless to say that mirrors aren't RAID, or that RAIDZ isn't RAID. We don't call RAIDZ1 RAID 5 because they're different, but RAID is indeed in the name.
Yes, nomenclature matters, and it helps everyone if things get their correct names, but saying that ZFS has no RAID is dubious and highly misleading.

 

[Davvo]

RAIDZ and mirrors are totally different than [hardware] RAID in their implementation, thus I'd argue that there is no place for [hardware] RAID on ZFS.
Anyway, between the two resources linked the OP is good.

 

[jlpellet]

Another newbie.
...
Suggestions?

As a rule, when dealing with hardware for the 1st time with TrueNAS, I pull thearray drive power or sata cables so the the only drive the install can see are the desired boot drives. While rare, I've seen TrueNAS install get confused. Also, realize the data drives will need to be wiped no later than pool creation (should be able to do so within the gui but may need to force the pool creation - gui option).

Good luck,
John

 

[HarryStottle]

OK Chaps

New controller arrived. Fitted. Seems to be working.

As a result I was able to follow the instructions on this page

and all the way down that page, everything worked as advertised.

Thanks to the new controller, I could see the 2x1.8 Tb drives separately, as well as my target 240Gb SSD system drive

I was able to install TrueNAS on the SSD but on the eventual post installation reboot, instead of presenting the screen promised (see under the Heading "Fire up TrueNAS" in the link above)

I was presented with:

I have no idea how to react to that. I have repeated the installation a couple of times just to ensure I didn't misconstrue or veer from any of the instructions. Results consistent.

Suggestions please

 

[Ericloewe]

How's the boot disk attached? Same SAS controller as the other disks?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

This is the TrueNAS CORE section of the forum. TN CORE does not use grub. Did you install TN SCALE?

 

[jgreco]

This is the TrueNAS CORE section of the forum. TN CORE does not use grub. Did you install TN SCALE?

It says FreeBSD a few images above. I'd guess that a previous Linux installation is interfering and that maybe the boot device is set up incorrectly.

Also, to circle around to the RAID controller issue,

What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

 

[Ericloewe]

It says FreeBSD a few images above.

Might that just be lifted from the manual and never updated for Scale's manual? Confirmation from @HarryStottle would be good.

 

[HarryStottle]

@Patrick M. Hausen "This is the TrueNAS CORE section of the forum. TN CORE does not use grub. Did you install TN SCALE?"

not entirely sure how I can answer that question. So far as I recall, I downloaded the iso from https://www.truenas.com/download-truenas-core/
so I believe it should be the Core. However, see below, re the possibility I have some left over remnants of previous linux installation.

@Ericloewe "How's the boot disk attached? Same SAS controller as the other disks?"

Yes

@jgreco "It says FreeBSD a few images above. I'd guess that a previous Linux installation is interfering"

entirely plausible.

Thought I'd completely eliminated all traces of the previous Linux install, by deleting the partitions in the RAID controller, before I replaced it, but I did notice - with astonishment - on my first attempted RE installation of trueNAS. (after I'd missed the F11 prompt to go to the boot menu, so it tried to fire up from (an) HDD) that it spontaneously started reinstalling the OpenSuse linux OS that I'd been wrestling with for a couple of weeks before being gently nudged in the direction of TrueNAS.

Not sure how I can scrub the disks in a system with no OS installed. I could remove the drives, put them in a caddy and perform a partition wipe under Windoze, but I'm not sure if that would do the trick.

Suggestions? I'm inclined to remove all the drives, Wipe the SSD in my caddy, put that one back in, on its own and attempt a new installation where it can't possible read anything from another drive. But, I would like confirmation that, if I do that, I can then put the other drives back in, before booting the newly installed TrueNAS system and be confident that TrueNAS will still be able to recognise the newly installed drives so I start working with those. Can't imagine why it wouldn't but it would be good to have that expectation confirmed.

@Ericloewe "Confirmation from @HarryStottle would be good."

glad you raised that. Gives me an excuse to rant about forum software. You would have received an earlier response had I been able to log in yesterday evening. But the site refused my login - claiming I'd used the wrong password. As I suspect most of you use digital password wallets like I do (Keepass) you'll know how ludicrous that response is. I don't even know, or need to know, what my password is. I just click the button and it's entered for me, using precisely the same credentials that got me in about this time yesterday. I got locked out for excess attempts. Clearly some kind of problem in the system, which we're all used to. What really pissed me off though, is that I had no (visible) way to contact the forum admins to report the problem - BECAUSE YOU NEED TO BE LOGGED IN TO REPORT PROBLEMS LIKE NOT BEING ABLE TO LOGIN!!!.

Tried again just now with similar nonsense response but had the sense, this time, only to try twice before clicking "forgotten your password" and then resetting it to what it already was. After which it let me in. They (ALL forums) really need to change that "Forgotten your password?" to something less inflammatory, like "Password Failing?" which covers all eventualities without suggesting premature dementia.
/rant off

 

[Ericloewe]

Not sure how I can scrub the disks in a system with no OS installed. I could remove the drives, put them in a caddy and perform a partition wipe under Windoze, but I'm not sure if that would do the trick.

Depends on what you're comfortable with. With a Linux LiveCD, for instance, the instructions to deploy a new root on ZFS system have a few steps to ensure disks are truly empty, e.g.: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-d...22.04 Root on ZFS.html#step-2-disk-formatting
You can accomplish the same from the TrueNAS install environment, but I'm not sure what tools are and are not included.

You would have received an earlier response had I been able to log in yesterday evening. But the site refused my login - claiming I'd used the wrong password. As I suspect most of you use digital password wallets like I do (Keepass) you'll know how ludicrous that response is. I don't even know, or need to know, what my password is. I just click the button and it's entered for me, using precisely the same credentials that got me in about this time yesterday.

That's weird and the first I've heard of any such issues. Might the auto-typing have gotten mixed up by something else? It's happened to me occasionally, though never with the sort of persistence that would lead to excessive bad login attempts.

What really pissed me off though, is that I had no (visible) way to contact the forum admins to report the problem - BECAUSE YOU NEED TO BE LOGGED IN TO REPORT PROBLEMS LIKE NOT BEING ABLE TO LOGIN!!!.

There is a support email address, though it really should be visibly posted. @wsoteros, any thoughts on adding this to the login pages?

 

[HarryStottle]

I used Aomei's partition assistant to delete the partitions on the SSD and wipe the drive with zeroes. Short of wire brush and dettol, that's about as clean as we could reasonably demand. Spose I could have gone for a DoD wipe but I'm not trying to avoid an NSA inspection!

Anyway, it worked. What I did discover is that there are two further steps which happen between reboot and the success screen which displays the web interface ip, viz:

which surprised me 'cos I didn't think TrueNAS was based on OpenSuse.

On selecting "Boot from Hard Disk" it was followed by another menu which defaults to "Boot TrueNAS" which it did before I could capture it

nanycase, I managed to get access via the web interface and started exploring the options. Set up the first group and first user just to get a feel for the interface. Then I went looking for how to configure the two drives into the TrueNAS RAID system and could find mention of Pools etc but nothing obvious telling me how to create the RAID.

Is there an idiot guide to that? Is it something I should perform from that "preboot menu" above (eg the Installation option)

and, after that, twould be useful to have another idiot guide to we set up automated connections from windoze workstations to the new filestore.