KeyError at /storage/volumemanager at zpool creation ?! :S

[arameen]

Hi
I upgraded my freenas from 9.2 to the latest stable 9.3 yesterday. With 9.3 I got a warningmessage saying "WARNING: Firmware version 19 does not match driver version 16 for /dev/mps0" which I searched in the forums and as I understood doenst have to be a problem because it is about LSI and this version of freeNAS not been tested together before and proved to work perfectly (next time i will not be fast at upgrading to next version of freeNAS ).
Anyway
My problem is when I tried to create my second pool after the above, regardless how many times i destroyed it, restarted the server and tried other raidconfigurations when creating my second pool I still got the same keyerror message just after clicking create zpool, a message that confuses me and worries me:
What is this ? my zpool is healthy and empty but i am worried if I should avoid filling it with data or if it is safe. This message doesnt say me much except something is wrong ?!




Request Method: POST
Request URL: http://xxx.xxx.x.xxx/storage/volumemanager/
Software Version: FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201502232343
Exception Type: KeyError
Exception Value: 'ix-syslogd'
Exception Location: /usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/middleware/notifier.py in _simplecmd, line 216
Server time: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 00:09:37 +0100



Environment:
Software Version: FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201502232343
Request Method: POST
Request URL: http://xxx.xxx.x.xxx/storage/volumemanager/

Traceback:
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in get_response
105. response = middleware_method(request, callback, callback_args, callback_kwargs)

File "/usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/freeadmin/middleware.py" in process_view
157. return login_required(view_func)(request, *view_args, **view_kwargs)

File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view
22. return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)

File "/usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/storage/views.py" in volumemanager
146. if form.is_valid() and form.save():

File "/usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/storage/forms.py" in save
295. notifier().start("ix-syslogd")

File "/usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/middleware/notifier.py" in start
325. self._simplecmd("start", what)

File "/usr/local/www/freenasUI/../freenasUI/middleware/notifier.py" in _simplecmd
216. procname, pidfile = self.__service2daemon[what]

Exception Type: KeyError at /storage/volumemanager/
Exception Value: 'ix-syslogd'Exception Value: 'ix-syslogd'

 

[danb35]

Hi
With 9.3 I got a warningmessage saying "WARNING: Firmware version 19 does not match driver version 16 for /dev/mps0" which I searched in the forums and as I understood doenst have to be a problem because it is about LSI and this version of freeNAS not been tested together before and proved to work perfectly (next time i will not be fast at upgrading to next version of freeNAS ).

I know this isn't your main question, but just for the record--this has been an issue with all 9.x (and possibly older) versions of FreeNAS, it's just that 9.3 raises a warning about it, while prior versions don't. The LSI driver used is LSI's P16 driver, with some tweaks. Officially, you're supposed to use a driver that matches your firmware version. Since the driver isn't going to change any time soon, downgrade your firmware. Also officially, there haven't been any changes to the IT firmware between P16 and P20, but there have been plenty of reports of folks having trouble (up to and including irrecoverably lost pools) who are using mismatched versions.

I have no idea if this has anything to do with the issue you're seeing, but you should still plan on correcting it.

 

[dlavigne]

Regarding the traceback, it looks like this bug: https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/8230.

 

[arameen]

I know this isn't your main question, but just for the record--this has been an issue with all 9.x (and possibly older) versions of FreeNAS, it's just that 9.3 raises a warning about it, while prior versions don't. The LSI driver used is LSI's P16 driver, with some tweaks. Officially, you're supposed to use a driver that matches your firmware version. Since the driver isn't going to change any time soon, downgrade your firmware. Also officially, there haven't been any changes to the IT firmware between P16 and P20, but there have been plenty of reports of folks having trouble (up to and including irrecoverably lost pools) who are using mismatched versions.

I have no idea if this has anything to do with the issue you're seeing, but you should still plan on correcting it.

Exactly, this is what I found when i searched in the forums. I dont think there is a connection, but i wanted to rise a question about that too.
If you were in my case, would you really downgrade the firmware ?
- Isnt there an issue regarding zfs pool compatiblities now that my pools are uppgraded to latest in case I use an older freeNas like 8.x ?
How do you downgrade by the way? just do a clean install of an older version, 8.x ? (if am not misstaken people having version 8 are strongly encouraged to update to version 9 ? )
Downgrading is not sure the solution for the the main problem either. Regarding the warning. Some people are downgrading freeNAS, some upgrading the LSI driver. https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/6678
I am looking forward an official recomendation on what to do here ?!

And by the way, that LSI is so commen. I find it strange there is no match for the firmware ?!

 

[arameen]

Regarding the traceback, it looks like this bug: https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/8230.

yes maybe that is it. But the question is what the solution is

 

[danb35]

Yes, I would really (and did) downgrade the firmware. The firmware is on your LSI controller; it isn't your FreeNAS installation, and it has nothing to do with your zpool version. There are instructions on downgrading the firmware here, here, and here, no doubt among many other places. You need the IT firmware, version P16. It's available directly from LSI, but you'll need to go to the archived firmware page.

 

[arameen]

Yes, I would really (and did) downgrade the firmware. The firmware is on your LSI controller; it isn't your FreeNAS installation, and it has nothing to do with your zpool version. There are instructions on downgrading the firmware here, here, and here, no doubt among many other places. You need the IT firmware, version P16. It's available directly from LSI, but you'll need to go to the archived firmware page.

Ok, i thought you meant downgrading freeNAS. Still freeNAS noob :)
Thanks for the links. I just found version 16 on a link supermicro sent me before when i asked them about flashing into IT mode before connecting my harddrives and installing my freeNAS server. I think this is the exact same process just that i need to use version 16 instead of version 19 that they recommended at that time ?!
I will look into your links to make sure it is the same process as i did before. In that case it is an easy thing

After doing that I will recreate the pool and update the post in case it fixed my problem which i start to suspect is the reason behind this issue actually :D

 

[arameen]

Downgrading went fine and now the warningmessage about firmwareversion is gone just as you wrote.
Actually I had a guide from supermicro themselfes by email since before, before installing and configuring freeNAS i had to flash to IT mode. And why not ask the supermicro themselfes instead of google ?
Anyway they recomended version 19 at that time at same time I wasnt aware of this issue, still newbie :)
I dont know what the fabricated version was on the motherboard. But i found version 16 on supermicros ftp link as older version beside version 19.
However, this did not solve the problem with the pool creation. for that read next post :)

 

[arameen]

Problem Solved

After playing arround with the GUI and the hardware, disconnecting drives and trying different poolconfigurations to check if any harddrive could be causing this, LSI itself or a specific volume layout I managed to find the problem
The problem is in the GUI itself.
When using the Volume Manager to create the zpool i get this message posted earlier here (my first post here).

When creating the same zpool using manual setup it works fine.
No message and it feels great to have fixed the problem and same time found a potential bug/issue to report ?



Will someone forward this issue?
I dont know how this works when someone finds issues or bugs

 

[danb35]

How it works is that you go up to the green Bug Reports link at the top of the page, create an account on the bug tracker if necessary, and report the bug with as much detail as possible. If you're on the latest update of 9.3, you can report the bug from the web GUI using the Support link, but you'll still need an account at the bug tracker.