Older FreeBSD reorders my disk nodes, can't mount root

[Alexander Sack]

Hello,

Has anyone installed FreeBSD 4.2-i386 on a system connected to an
external SAN via isp(4) (QLA2342)?  My main issue is reordering of da
nodes.

I have both an Intel and IBM server which I do an install onto the
internal Adaptec controller.  After install, I then connect the SAN
and soft reboot.  The good news is that it sees the volumes but I get
dumped into the mountroot prompt.

Okay, no big deal.  My da's in the fstab were reordered so I try to
find it by mounting s1a from the other da nodes and no matter what I
choose I can not mount root.  I can't see the exact disk because dmesg
scrolls by too fast but based on the number of da's, it seems to have
found both the internal Adaptec and external SAN via the QLogic 23xx
card.  I tried every node but nothing mounts (I get either 6 or 22 I
forgot off hand).

Has anyone seen this before?

If I disconnect the SAN, the box mounts root normally via the da0s1a
node which is the first disk off the Adaptec SCSI controller
(dual-channel U320).  I believe there is no glabel here so I can't
label anything (is there a way to use the packid off the old disklabel
utility?).

Thanks!

-aps

PS Please don't ask me why I have to use 4.2, I just do!  :(