SOLVED Is it normal for the wizard to create a volume with only 3/4 disks?

[joeschmuck]

If after wiping the drives, you end up having the same issue, please do the following...

1) Rotate your SATA connections around so none of the drives are connected tot he same SATA data connection. Does the same problem exist, same hard drive being omitted (by serial number)? If you think you see a pattern to the failure, describe it.
2) Next why not post your system configuration and FreeNAS version, something we should have asked for earlier. Include things like the SATA interfaces if it's not just directly to the motherboard.
3) Post the output of "zfs list" and "zpool list".

I'm only trying to cover the bases.

 

[jgreco]

I picked one that would somehow manage to send an obscure command to the water treatment plant to pump raw sewage into my house, or generate some other ridiculously impossible consequence.

That's the "flood with sewage" tickbox under the advanced usage menu. Useful for when you want to run ten full passes of DBAN but don't have the thermite needed afterwards to assure destruction of the drive.

 

[AgedReason]

If after wiping the drives, you end up having the same issue, please do the following...

1) Rotate your SATA connections around so none of the drives are connected tot he same SATA data connection. Does the same problem exist, same hard drive being omitted (by serial number)? If you think you see a pattern to the failure, describe it.

Will do! Full disclosure: prior to this current wipe of all the disks at once, I did switch the ports around, isolate the disks, and discovered that it was, indeed, one specific disk that the FreeNAS Wizard was singling out. Oddly, when I unplug all the other drives, the Wizard accepts the "problem" disk just fine. Only when all the disks are plugged in does the Wizard exclude it.

Hopefully, wiping them all simultaneously, as suggested, instead of singling out the one, as I previously attempted, will allow the wizard to finally accept them all.

2) Next why not post your system configuration and FreeNAS version, something we should have asked for earlier. Include things like the SATA interfaces if it's not just directly to the motherboard.

Ah, good idea! Done.

3) Post the output of "zfs list" and "zpool list".

I'm only trying to cover the bases.

This is a completely fresh system. I don't have any pools set up at all, unless I'm misunderstanding what that command does. Either way I can post the results once I'm able.
I'll post the results of zfs list once DBAN is done...unless there is a way to do it while I've got DBAN running off a bootable flash drive.

Thanks for the suggestions!!!

 

[joeschmuck]

Since you are using the SAS ports, have you tried the SATA ports instead (the black ports)?

 

[AgedReason]

Wipe completed. No change. Same result. da3 isn't included when the Wizard starts creating a pool. Switched to SATA ports. Same result.

Is it odd that the disk is problematic only when used in conjunction with others, but appears to work fine when used alone?

Show : zfs list

[root@freenas ~]# zfs list
NAME USED AVAIL REFER MOUNTPOINT
freenas-boot 1.01G 13.4G 31K none
freenas-boot/ROOT 1016M 13.4G 25K none
freenas-boot/ROOT/FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201512121950 1016M 13.4G 511M /
freenas-boot/ROOT/Initial-Install 1K 13.4G 510M legacy
freenas-boot/ROOT/default 47K 13.4G 510M legacy
freenas-boot/grub 13.6M 13.4G 6.79M legacy
[root@freenas ~]#

Show : zpool list

NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE EXPANDSZ FRAG CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT
freenas-boot 14.9G 1.01G 13.9G - - 6% 1.00x ONLINE -
[root@freenas ~]#

 

[gpsguy]

One thought, if you select "manual setup" (lower right hand corner) on volume manager screen, does it allow you to create the volume with all the disks?

 

[AgedReason]

One thought, if you select "manual setup" (lower right hand corner) on volume manager screen, does it allow you to create the volume with all the disks?

Yes, it looks like that would work.
My question would be: does this issue with the Wizard indicate a bigger problem that I'd be just kicking further down the road if I bypass the Wizard and manually create a volume?

 

[jgreco]

Yes, it looks like that would work.
My question would be: does this issue with the Wizard indicate a bigger problem that I'd be just kicking further down the road if I bypass the Wizard and manually create a volume?

Do all your disks report exactly the same size?

Try

Code:

# grep "byte sectors" /var/run/dmesg.boot

from a shell prompt. Post here if possible (i.e. use ssh if you can). Trying to guess at what might be going on here.

 

[Ericloewe]

My question would be: does this issue with the Wizard indicate a bigger problem that I'd be just kicking further down the road if I bypass the Wizard and manually create a volume?

Highly doubtful.

 

[gpsguy]

jgreco beat me with his reply.

 

[jgreco]

jgreco beat me with his reply.

(pictures self beating @gpsguy to a bloody pulp with a reply)

 

[AgedReason]

jgreco beat me with his reply.

(pictures self beating @gpsguy to a bloody pulp with a reply)

At least he didn't throw the book at him.

 

[AgedReason]

Do all your disks report exactly the same size?

Try

Code:

# grep "byte sectors" /var/run/dmesg.boot

from a shell prompt. Post here if possible (i.e. use ssh if you can). Trying to guess at what might be going on here.

Here's what it shows:

Welcome to FreeNAS
[root@freenas] ~# grep "byte sectors" /var/run/dmesg.boot
da0: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)
da1: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)
da2: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)
da3: 2861556MB (5860467633 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364797C)
ada0: 15272MB (31277232 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
[root@freenas] ~#

 

[AgedReason]

Something different going on with that bugger.

 

[gpsguy]

As you can see da3 is slightly smaller. Since it was a used drive, I'd just call it a day, and create your pool via the manual setup option.

 

[AgedReason]

da0: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)
da1: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)
da2: 2861588MB (5860533168 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364801C)

da3: 2861556MB (5860467633 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 364797C)

Is it irrelevant that the difference is 128 sectors?

 

[AgedReason]

As you can see da3 is slightly smaller. Since it was a used drive, I'd just call it a day, and create your pool via the manual setup option.

So, if I'm understanding correctly, unless the drives are IDENTICAL, the Wizard will back off by default - just to be safe?

 

[Bidule0hm]

The wizard looks for identical size drives, and only one sector makes a difference, that's why da3 was always excluded in your tests. The 65535 number (yep, not 128, the number is already in sectors, not in bytes) makes me think it's a firmware difference in the drives who makes this difference. What's weird is that 65535 is usually also the max number of sectors the drive can remap, I wonder if it's a coincidence or not...

As gpsguy said, just use the manual mode and everything will be ok ;)

 

[Ericloewe]

So, if I'm understanding correctly, unless the drives are IDENTICAL, the Wizard will back off by default - just to be safe?

I think there's a margin, to account for small variances.

 

[AgedReason]

Okay, that makes sense. And it's a nice precaution. I'm a lot more comfortable strongarming the disks into a pool now.

Wow! I'm learning so much from you guys. (that "grep" was a gem!)
Mystery created... but problem solved!
Thanks