NAS Volume fails after 11.1-U1 update from 11.0-U4

[joebpa]

Thanks for reading this post and I look forward to any helpful answers. Thanks in advanced.

I have been running FreeNAS for over a year Starting at version 9. I have upgraded as they have been released, but this time I ran into a slight problem and could use some direction on where this problem may exist.

I received a message that there is a new version so I clicked the option to update through the GUI using the Update tab. I applied the pending updates to 11.1-U1. This process appeared to be normal as it has in the past. I performed the reboot and that is where things went bad. The system loaded correctly as far as my boot volume is concerned. I was able to access my GUI, but my NAS volume was gone. Research online determine that I had lost my drives and needed to recreate the volume. I avoided that option. Assuming that my update had errors that I couldn't determine I ran this command from an SSH windows freenas-update -v check && freenas-update --reboot -v update. This completed showing NO errors. I rebooted again and still my volume was gone. Fearing the worst, but happily I do keep backups of all my data, I used the GUI to revert back to my original version 11.0-U4 and to my surprise my volume came back. I tested my theory by updating again and the volume disappears. I revert back to my earlier version and its back.

Before anyone asks about the RAID card I am using. I did read the documents that state don't use hardware RAID. My drives are attached to the card, but each drive is configured individually as its own RAID-0. Without configuring them this way FreeNAS could not see the drives. I configured the system using ZFS now that they are seen and configured RAID Z1.

If you have thoughts I would love some info on how to determine what is causing my volume to fail? I am not that familiar with the logging in FreeNAS so if you can direct me to where the logs for this type of error may exist I am all ears.

GA-78LMT-USB3
AMD FX(tm)-4300 Quad-Core Processor
16 Gig RAM
Dell ADAPTEC 2610sa Pci-x SATA RAID Controller 6-port
RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
2 x PNY 16GB USB Drives
6 x 1TB WD drives
11.0-U4 Boot
11.1-U1
11.1-U1-1

 

[garm]

Well as you pointed out yourself the issue is most likely your RAID card. There is a reason you are told not to use hardware RAID with ZFS.

Personally I would recommend you to rebuild your pool from backup on a HBA or the ports on your MB (you have 6 of them).

And in general your setup isn’t well suited for long term reliable storage of data. You lack support for ECC memory, the Realtek LAN isn’t ideal for FreeNAS and you have only one drive parity, to name a few.

I would urge you to reconsider the hardware if what you store is important to you (pictures of the kids?) and run at least RAIDZ2

 

[joebpa]

Thanks for your advice. As always money is the issue. It takes time to plan a new replacement which is in the works as we speak. Thank god for backups. Maybe i will just plan a weekend and redo the whole thing. i'll just have to grab the old OS version so i can retain my config.

 

[danb35]

Well, there's a lot about that system that doesn't meet the recommendations, but I'm wondering if there's a driver issue. If the RAID card is old enough, it's possible support for it has been removed from FreeBSD 11.1 (and thus FreeNAS 11.1).

Hardware-wise, you'd just need to replace the RAID card with a SAS HBA--shouldn't cost you more than about $50. But it would almost certainly require you to destroy and rebuild the pool.

 

[bigphil]

I agree with @joebpa and @danb35. Your hardware is most likely the issue here. There was a recent report of a bad Adaptec driver in the latest FreeNAS version which I believe has been fixed and is slated to be included in 11.1-U2. I'll see if I can find it and post a link.

Edit: here is the bug that is likely your problem.

 

[joebpa]

Thanks to DANB35, BIGPHIL, & GARM. Great notes and info. Loved the posting about the Adaptec driver issue. My original system was a Intel MB that has since been retired. It did not have the required SATA ports available which pushed me down the RAID card road. Now that I have swapped that out with a MB that has the ports I guess it is time to bite the bullet and re-do. I won't loose any data just some time from my weekend.