Since moving data from one dataset to another, I have not had UI access to TrueNAS

Aephir

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
47
I moved some data using the web UI shell from one dataset to another on the same RAIDZ2 array, I saw a complaint about the destination not being empty, after which the terminal seemed to "hang" for some time. I had to leave the house, so only waited for maybe a minute, and at that time the console was still "hanging". Upon returning a few hours later and trying to connect to the web UI, I just see this message:

Code:
Connecting to  TrueNAS ... Make sure the  TrueNAS  system is powered on and connected to the network.


I can ping the TrueNAS system from other computers on the network. My first impulse was to go to the TrueNAS system and attach a physical keyboard/monitor to reboot, but would that be stupid?

I'm not sure how much data (can't remember if my photo library was in the directory I tried moving yet or not), but it would potentially be ~150-170 GB. I'm not used to ZFS volumes, datasets, etc. For any other setup, I would assume moving to a different directory on the same disk (RAID or otherwise) would just entail a change in the record, not physically writing and deleting all the data. Is that different with ZFS? And even so, would that move make the entire system unreachable through the web UI (none of the data has anything to do with the system, it's just *.docx, *.xlsx, *.pdf, etc., and potentially a bunch of image and video files)?
 

sretalla

Powered by Neutrality
Moderator
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
9,702
I would assume moving to a different directory on the same disk (RAID or otherwise) would just entail a change in the record, not physically writing and deleting all the data. Is that different with ZFS?
Yes, it's different.

Each dataset is its own filesystem (and all ZFS datasets and ZVOLS are Copy on Write), so you'll never have a "move" type operation happen between datasets (but it can happen within the same dataset directory structure).

even so, would that move make the entire system unreachable through the web UI (none of the data has anything to do with the system, it's just *.docx, *.xlsx, *.pdf, etc., and potentially a bunch of image and video files)?
Well, it is dependent on what you "moved"... you don't have an option to do that in the GUI (other than the shell), so it's not at all clear with what tool/command you did the move and exactly what was targeted.

It's entirely possible that the "move" you thought you were doing has actually been a copy between datasets (to finish with a delete... remembering snapshots won't be automatically freed if you have them), so your pool may be much more full than you were expecting... which, if it's the same pool your system dataset was automatically moved to by the system when you created your first data pool and it's actually full, could have stopped the syslog and/or middleware as a result, giving you no GUI.
 

Aephir

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
47
I moved using the shell available in the web UI, just a mv /mnt/pool1/dir1/subdir1/* /mnt/pool1/dir_a/subbdir_a. The data moved was nothing that would be accessed by FreeBSD for anything system-related (it was backups from laptop, and perhaps some photos/videos).

So yes, the datasets I moved from and to are on the same pool, but not the same pool as the system/OS; that is on an SSD which only has the OS/system install (is that what you mean?). However, it would not have been more than 200 GB tops, and I had at least 9-10 TB free on the pool1.

Do you think it's worth doing anything else than rebooting from the physically attached keyboard (I have shell access, and no identified issues when accessing physically)? Or would/should there be concerns about doing that?
 

sretalla

Powered by Neutrality
Moderator
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
9,702
not the same pool as the system/OS; that is on an SSD which only has the OS/system install (is that what you mean?)
You're talking about the boot pool.

I was referring to the system dataset (which you could check in the GUI if you could access it under System | System Dataset (but it is immediately moved without notice to the first data pool you create, so I anticipate it's probably on the pool you're working with).

The system dataset contains the logs and other system related functions which are mapped to /var/db/system...

I don't see how rebooting will help, but I don't think it would be specifically dangerous.

You may at leats be able to use the shell from the local console to see where things are and maybe delete or finish moving things to get back to normal.
 
Last edited:

Aephir

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
47
Well, I didn't find a /var/sb/system when using the physically attached keyboard and the shell.

However, upon a roboot, everything looks normal (no data has been moved/copied, so it initially just looks like before issued the mv command).
 

sretalla

Powered by Neutrality
Moderator
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
9,702

Aephir

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
47
Because I can't type properly... /var/db/system.
Ahh.. Could probably have figured that out if I actually tried actually looking a bit :rolleyes: Well, thanks anyway.
 
Top