Installing FreeNAS to USB, are they all the same?

[diskdiddler]

This is probably a really basic question but I'm not sure if anyone has asked it before.

If I install FreeNAS to a USB key on my laptop (2xUSB keys, one to install, one blank as destination)

Will that key work, flawlessly on any system?
Is anything customised for the network card, CPU, etc?

I've never known the answer to this, I'm having a hell of an awkward time, installing FreeNAS on my new system to a USB key unfortunately.

 

[diskdiddler]

Bonus question, is there ANY advantage to UEFI mode vs classic Legacy BIOS mode? My old system is BIOS not UEFI, my new system is capable of either.

 

[Chris Moore]

This is probably a really basic question but I'm not sure if anyone has asked it before.

If I install FreeNAS to a USB key on my laptop (2xUSB keys, one to install, one blank as destination)

Will that key work, flawlessly on any system?
Is anything customised for the network card, CPU, etc?

I've never known the answer to this, I'm having a hell of an awkward time, installing FreeNAS on my new system to a USB key unfortunately.

It's just me, I suppose, but I can't help wondering why it is you want install to a USB key at all. That really isn't the best way to go about it.

Your new system, I thought you bought a Supermicro system that has IPMI. Through IPMI you should be able to mount the ISO and boot from the ISO without ever needing to create an installation USB key.

Yes you can create a bootable USB key on another system and boot your FreeNAS from it. FreeNAS detects hardware on boot, so you don't have to worry about it being customized, with the exception of your network configuration. You may have to go in at the console and reset your IP address or something to that effect because it's going to pick up a different network adapter in your actual FreeNAS server.

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[Chris Moore]

Bonus question, is there ANY advantage to UEFI mode vs classic Legacy BIOS mode? My old system is BIOS not UEFI, my new system is capable of either.

I don't think that there is any advantage and I use "legacy" instead of UEFI.

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[diskdiddler]

It's just me, I suppose, but I can't help wondering why it is you want install to a USB key at all. That really isn't the best way to go about it.

Please not again, it's worked flawlessly for me, for 4 years.
Saves me SATA slots

Your new system, I thought you bought a Supermicro system that has IPMI. Through IPMI you should be able to mount the ISO and boot from the ISO without ever needing to create an installation USB key.

The IPMI menu is atrocious, it's so bad. I've put the ISO on my old FN server and 2 Windows machines, in nice, simple paths, I'll be damned if I can figure out how to mount it in the menu. I simply can't.

Yes you can create a bootable USB key on another system and boot your FreeNAS from it. FreeNAS detects hardware on boot, so you don't have to worry about it being customized, with the exception of your network configuration. You may have to go in at the console and reset your IP address or something to that effect because it's going to pick up a different network adapter in your actual FreeNAS server.

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That's brilliant, thanks.

The new SuperMicro board is acting terribly with USB devices in BIOS mode. The internal slot is recognising then not recognising a key, the menu refuses to show me legacy bios boot options anyhow.

I think I'm going to make a new key, in my laptop, via UEFI and try that. The best I got is the FreeNAS installer to load up and then it refuses to show the second USB key as an install option,..........

 

[diskdiddler]

I don't think that there is any advantage and I use "legacy" instead of UEFI.

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This literally gives me 0 USB keys to boot from sadly - they just aren't detected when I hit the F11 menu :/ (Sandisk ones, work... kinda ok in UEFI mode)

 

[diskdiddler]

By the way, if anyone can help with using the SuperMicro ipmi mounting tool, maybe some screenshots and advice, isI'd appreciate it.

Outright wouldn't work for me, fiddled for an hour and gave up

 

[Chris Moore]

By the way, if anyone can help with using the SuperMicro ipmi mounting tool, maybe some screenshots and advice, isI'd appreciate it.

Outright wouldn't work for me, fiddled for an hour and gave up

Were you using the one in the Java virtual console? That works for me, the one from the Web page never did, for me.

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[diskdiddler]

Dumb question, how does one access the java specific version?
https://192.168.0.103/cgi/url_redirect.cgi?url_name=mainmenu
That's what I'm using.

I'm pretty sure, I'm using the HTML5 version, I don't see java.


"
Press the button to launch the iKVM HTML5 and manage the server remotely.




"

 

[Chris Moore]

Press the button to launch the iKVM HTML5 and manage the server remotely

On the X10 boards I have at work, the HTML5 remote control is not able to mount an ISO remotely. It just is not a feature of the interface. The Java console is able to remotely mount an ISO and the system can boot from it. I made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv_ikws7A0

 

[diskdiddler]

On the X10 boards I have at work, the HTML5 remote control is not able to mount an ISO remotely. It just is not a feature of the interface. The Java console is able to remotely mount an ISO and the system can boot from it. I made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv_ikws7A0

I'll check and try this shortly, thanks Chris.

Tell me, you know your stuff, in an entirely unrelated note, this job.

https://redmine.ixsystems.com/issues/54249#note-4

That doesn't seem right to me? Is that possible? I didn't think the Super micro boards did raid?

 

[Chris Moore]

That doesn't seem right to me? Is that possible? I didn't think the Super micro boards did raid?

Yes, some of the boards have an integrated 'fake RAID' controller built into the SATA controller.

 

[diskdiddler]

Yes, some of the boards have an integrated 'fake RAID' controller built into the SATA controller.

I have the 8C denverton board with all 12 ports.

I didn't see such an option on mine, but maybe it's there
.
Therefore, based on that guys reply, I suspect it's highly possible, importing my 6 disks - had I tried, would've also corrupted / failed for disk 0 ?

 

[Chris Moore]

Hardware ports don't always relate to ada numbers in FreeNAS. You could have drives connected to port 4, 5 & 6, but FreeNAS enumerates them 1, 2 & 3. You never know, and it doesn't really matter. If a disk isn't showing up, or isn't working properly, I would try connecting it in a different hardware location. ZFS doesn't care what port it is on, as long as the drive is reachable. I have moved drives from SATA controllers to SAS controllers and back, even from BSD (FreeNAS) to Linux and back. Drives are not even enumerated the same way in Linux, but ZFS still works. If a drive is not detected, look at all the possibilities, even possible that the drive may be defective. There was a user here one time that spent weeks troubleshooting only to find that some of the power leads from the brand new power supply they bought for their build were defective and the drives that were not working were simply not getting power, or getting 5 volt and not 12 volt or something crazy, so they didn't work correctly. Some of the new drives will actually refuse to power up if 3.3 volt is present on the power connector, depends on the model drive, so you have got to look at every option.

 

[diskdiddler]

Hardware ports don't always relate to ada numbers in FreeNAS. You could have drives connected to port 4, 5 & 6, but FreeNAS enumerates them 1, 2 & 3. You never know, and it doesn't really matter. If a disk isn't showing up, or isn't working properly, I would try connecting it in a different hardware location.

I specifically ensured I plugged the disks in the same order that the board sees them, to ensure it's all consistent and no confusion.
My main gripe with that job is that the disk (I believe) is somewhat faulty, but FreeNAS is spitting out a poor error message when attempting to build a pool with it included.

When I submitted it, they claim the cause of this is actually the port being in RAID mode.
This is a concern, because if they are correct, that means any disk, on that port, may have issues building a pool.
(and therefore, when I finally am comfortable migrating my disks from N54L to new SuperMicro, I could lose a disk)

ZFS doesn't care what port it is on, as long as the drive is reachable. I have moved drives from SATA controllers to SAS controllers and back, even from BSD (FreeNAS) to Linux and back. Drives are not even enumerated the same way in Linux, but ZFS still works. If a drive is not detected, look at all the possibilities, even possible that the drive may be defective.

Sorry it's unclear, drive is entirely visible at all times, yet if you build a pool with it, there's a nasty failure, as if it's a FreeNAS bug.

 

[Chris Moore]

the disk (I believe) is somewhat faulty,

If you think the disk may be faulty, and this is just about testing the new hardware, you should try a different disk. I have seen disk errors cause pool creation errors. It is also possible that, if it isn't a new disk, it could have been used in some previous configuration that may have left a residual configuration on the disk. It might help to do a full disk wipe. Did you run the hard drive burn-in script against this disk?

Github repository for FreeNAS scripts, including disk burnin
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...for-freenas-scripts-including-disk-burnin.28/

 

[diskdiddler]

On the X10 boards I have at work, the HTML5 remote control is not able to mount an ISO remotely. It just is not a feature of the interface. The Java console is able to remotely mount an ISO and the system can boot from it. I made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv_ikws7A0

Chris, thanks so much, it's simply entirely unclear how to launch the java one (!!!) what poor design. The remote control menu outlines the HTML version - but doesn't have a drop down for launching the java, I'd never have thought to click on that thumbnail.

This worked, significantly better - the html5 mounting tool /appears/ to be SMB only, the java one lets you just fire and forget to any file you see.

As for the faulty disk, it's not even slightly a priority, more frustratation at poor error messages from freenas which should be improved.
(I've looked in the BIOS, I'll be damned if I can see anything referencing RAID mode) - the disk is very likely faulty, and that's ok - they should spit out a "POOL CAN'T BE CREATED, DISK 0 CONTAINS ERRORS" instead of a traceback)

No big deal - thanks for help

 

[chris crude]

On the X10 boards I have at work, the HTML5 remote control is not able to mount an ISO remotely. It just is not a feature of the interface. The Java console is able to remotely mount an ISO and the system can boot from it. I made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv_ikws7A0

Thanks for this. I will be making a new boot ssd soon and was interested in learning to use this feature for the first time.

 

[Evertb1]

On the X10 boards I have at work, the HTML5 remote control is not able to mount an ISO remotely. It just is not a feature of the interface. The Java console is able to remotely mount an ISO and the system can boot from it. I made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPv_ikws7A0

I always launch the KVM console from the SuperMicro IPMI view tool and it works OK for me. No Java version warnings either.

 

[Chris Moore]

I always launch the KVM console from the SuperMicro IPMI view tool

Yes, it is an option, if you want to install that software on your computer, that is a way to make it work, but it is not required.