TrueNAS Installation Reboot Issue

[JTag70]

System Configuration:

Hardware Configuration:

• RAM: 65539MiB (64 GiB)
• CPU: Dual 10core Xeon processors
• Hard Drive: 4 WD 8TB in a VROC Array, plus a 1TB SSD and a 6TB HDD

BIOS:

• CSM enabled and all settings set to UEFI
• Secure Boot disabled

System configuration desired:

We would like to have the system either boot Windows Server 2016 running Oracle VirtualBox and TrueNAS running in a virtual window, or for the system to boot TrueNAS and have a TrueNAS virtual window running Windows 2016 server. Either way, we want the TrueNAS system to have access to the VROC array (This is a 20.6 TB array for the NAS system). We also have a 1TB SSD and a 6TB disk in the system for the OS and Windows usage.



Steps Performed:

1. Burned TrueNAS (TrueNAS-12.0-U8) ISO on a CD
2. Inserted CD to external CD drive and connected the drive to the desktop via USB cable
3. Turned desktop on
4. Confirmed it will boot to CD
5. Booted CD
6. Entered TrueNAS installation menu
7. Selected “Boot TrueNAS Installer”
8. Went through initialization
9. Reached following point: "atkbdc0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0"
10. And system rebooted
11. Attempted this multiple times and witnessed same issue
12. Wouldn’t even reach the point where it would prompt which destination to install TrueNAS on
13. Used a different system following steps 2 to 11, and it worked as expected; was able to install TrueNAS onto the drive of choice
14. Connected the drive with TrueNAS installed to desktop we wish to boot TrueNAS on
15. Turned desktop on
16. TrueNAS start up menu was shown
17. Selected “Boot TrueNAS”
18. Went through series of initialization
19. Reached following point: "atkbdc0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0"
20. And system rebooted (similar to installation steps)
21. Attempted this multiple times and witnessed same issue

Problems Witnessed:

Constant reboot of system as soon as following line in system initialization is reached:

device_attach: ichwd0 attach returned 6 superio0: <Nuvoton NCT6779> at port 0x2e-0x2f on isa0 wbwd0: <Nuvoton NCT6779 (0xc5/0x62) Watchdog Timer> at WDT ldn 0x08 on.. atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> at port 0x60,0x64 on isa0 atkbdc0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0 <- Rebooted here

Questions:

1. First thing first, is TrueNAS compatible with our hardware/software?
2. Next, what are the likely causes of the reboots while attempting to load TrueNAS as the primary OS?
3. Then, if TrueNAS is loaded as the primary OS, can the VROC driver be installed to enable the RAID array?
4. If we load/run TrueNAS as a virtual machine under Oracle VBox running on Windows server 2016 (which we have successfully done), is there any way to grant TrueNAS dedicated access to the VROC Array that is set up under Windows Server 2016?

 

[Ericloewe]

Either way, we want the TrueNAS system to have access to the VROC array (This is a 20.6 TB array for the NAS system).

No. This is unsupported and a terrible idea. The exact same reasoning used with hardware RAID applies to "VROC", more accurately described as "driver-driven RAID", or "fakeRAID" if you're less charitable.

Oracle VirtualBox and TrueNAS running in a virtual window

Not a great idea. VirtualBox is sucky, at best, so if you want to virtualize, you'd best look at something like ESXi with Windows and TrueNAS running as guests.

First thing first, is TrueNAS compatible with our hardware/software?

Software? No, easy answer. Hardware? You haven't given us much to work with beyond "Xeon". A lot more detail in that regard would help us provide useful advice. I'll say that Supermicro and Dell are popular around here, but anything else modern should be able to at least reliably boot TrueNAS. So, my feeling is that you have something in your system that TrueNAS just doesn't like. Some weird SAS controller perhaps?

Next, what are the likely causes of the reboots while attempting to load TrueNAS as the primary OS?

Incompatible hardware and/or firmware.

Then, if TrueNAS is loaded as the primary OS, can the VROC driver be installed to enable the RAID array?

No, nor is there any reason to do so. The correct and only supported option is to use ZFS to handle all the volume management.

If we load/run TrueNAS as a virtual machine under Oracle VBox running on Windows server 2016 (which we have successfully done), is there any way to grant TrueNAS dedicated access to the VROC Array that is set up under Windows Server 2016?

Not in any particularly elegant or performant way. You can pass through PCIe devices, but "VROC" is just a driver and a tiny bit of firmware, plus a license key.

 

[Nick2253]

If you have Server 2016, why would you want to put Virtualbox, of all things, on top of it? Server 2016 has Hyper-V built right in, and is worlds better than Virtualbox in almost every way.

As @Ericloewe suggests, I would strongly recommend that you use a dedicated hypervisor, and then run Windows and TrueNAS on top of that. If you want to stick to the Windows world, Hyper-V is a fantastic hypervisor. But don't run anything else on the bare metal: only the hypervisor, and the necessary tools to support it. Then, in VMs, have Windows Server 2016 doing whatever Windowsy things you need it to do, and TrueNAS, doing its TrueNAS stuff.