Upgrade to Cobia from Bluefin

[Agent Special]

Hello,
Last week I tried to upgrade to Cobia from latest Bluefin using the upgrade train in the GUI.
Once all done, the system fails to boot.
Boot process start anomaly, then exit to initramfs prompt when trying to import pool 'boot-pool'

Begin: Importing ZFS root pool 'boot-pool' ... begin: Importing pool 'boot-pool' using defaults ... Failure: 1
Command: /sbin/zpool import -N -f 'boot-pool'
Message: cannot import 'boot-pool': no such pool available

If I type /sbin/zpool list
I get:
no pool available

I went back to Bluefin using the selection menu at boot, and all is ok.
I then installed Cobia on a different media using the ISO.
All was good, system booted properly. I used the GUI to upload the configuration file and once the system rebooted I was stuck with the same issue.

Any one have an idea???

HELP!

 

[Kris Moore]

Odd. Did you do anything manually like upgrading zpool versions at the CLI?

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris,
Thanks for your quick response Greatly appreciated !

No, I have not upgraded zpool version or done anything manually.
Each time I try the upgrade process, no matter how I do it, the system fail to import boot-pool at the first reboot and exit at the initramfs prompt.

In Bluefin all is OK

root@freenas:~# /sbin/zpool list
NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CKPOINT EXPANDSZ FRAG CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT
Data 10.9T 4.18T 6.73T - - 0% 38% 1.00x ONLINE /mnt
boot-pool 216G 2.68G 213G - - 0% 1% 1.00x ONLINE -
home 1.81T 202G 1.61T - - 10% 10% 1.00x ONLINE /mnt

 

[Kris Moore]

Anything you can tell us about the boot device? We may need a bug ticket and debug file as well to properly troubleshoot.

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris
I did open a Jira ticket NAS-125276 and uploaded system debug.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Kris Moore]

Great, we'll take a look on the ticket side. Curious that it doesn't seem widespread though. You didn't answer my question about Boot Devices, is it USB or something a bit more exotic?

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris,
Sorry, forgot to mention.
I'm using a 250 gb USB ssd as boot device.

Thanks

 

[Kris Moore]

That's most likely the root cause of the issue here. We don't recommend USB boot media these days, odds are the device isn't initializing as fast on the new kernel for whatever reason. Let me ask, where does it hang? Does the kernel load, or is it failing at the grub loader itself?

It might be possible via GRUB to add a rootdelay setting to make it wait longer:

What's the point of rootwait/rootdelay?

rootwait and rootdelay are used in situations when the filesystem is not immediately available, for example if it's detected asynchroneously or mounted via usb. The thing is, it should be obvious b...

unix.stackexchange.com

 

[Agent Special]

Thanks for the link, I will try that later today.
Could you specify me in which config file I should add the rootdelay=10
In the mean time, I'm uploading a video of the boot in Cobia.
You will see were it hang with all the message.
Also, if I do a clean install, it will boot properly until I upload my configuration file.


Best

 

[Kris Moore]

Oh wait a minute. If you clean-install Cobia it boots perfectly fine until you upload an old saved config? What kind of configuration did you have previously? That makes me think some weird parameters that is breaking it got carried forward.

 

[Agent Special]

I do have the same configuration. No different hardware except that I swap the USB SSD for the same kind.
I did export the configuration using the GUI in Bluefinand once the system is up, I reload the config. Once completed, the system do not boot.
I also tried doing the update in the update GUI in Bluefin and I get the same results.

 

[Kris Moore]

I just need a bit of clarification here since I'm getting confused by some of your statements. Can you confirm or deny the following:

1. Installing Cobia - Works.
2. Booting Cobia after "Clean Install" - Works?
3. Restoring Configfile from Bluefin - Fails?
4. Upgrading from Bluefin - Fails?

I'm just trying to understand if there is something in your config file which is triggering the failure, I.E. does it work on a fresh, brand new installation.

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris,
Your understanding is correct.

1. Installing Cobia - Works.
2. Booting Cobia after "Clean Install" - Works
3. Restoring Configfile from Bluefin - Fails
4. Upgrading from Bluefin - Fails

Aslo, in a new clean install of Cobia, without importing config file from Bluefin, I’m able to import my 2 data zpool (without upgrading the zpool version )
That would mean that I would have to rebuild all from the start witch I ´m trying to avoid.

Let me know if more precision is required.

Best regards

 

[Kris Moore]

Ok, so that was super helpful, means some configuration knob/setting is the thing resulting in the failure to boot once the config file is restored. Do you recall setting anything specific on bluefin that may have impacted it? No kernel options, boot-loader options, etc?

 

[PhilD13]

No different hardware except that I swap the USB SSD for the same kind.

Kris,
Would that possibly cause the issue. Might have a different partition scheme or size?

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris,
Hope you had a wonderful day!
No nothing was resized.
I did migrated from Trueness Core to Bluefin by doing a clean install on the actual drive and then importing the configuration file.
All went well.
Trying the upgrade trough the GUI and not working for the reason that you know today, I tried the same process.
Installing from scratch and then applying the backup config.
Still stuck...
Regarding your other question, no, nothing was performed on my side. Trueness is great!!!
But I see a Buch of sysctl in the system / advance pane that are all generated by "autotune".
Some of then regards ZFS setting like vfs.zfs.metaslab.lba_weighting_enabled,
Shall we look in to those setting?
I understand that you would need all of those settings, If so, I can I get it you you easily?

Waiting for your answer.

Best

 

[Agent Special]

Kris,
Would that possibly cause the issue. Might have a different partition scheme or size?

It's the same USB SSD brand and size (250 gb)

 

[Agent Special]

Hello Kris,
Any update?

Regards

 

[arno.w]

Did you ever find a fix for this? :D

 

[Agent Special]

@arno.w
Hello, Yes it's fixed.
After having support trying on their side, they were not able to reproduce the issue, I decided to try different things like plugging my usb drive to a different port. It end up working.
My board, (MSI B450 Gaming plus) as a usb port that as a label "VR Ready"which my drive was plug in.
Changing the port seam to have fix my issue.
In the mean time I decided to get a internal SSD drive which is even better.

Hope that help.
Regards