ZFS mirror boot: cannot boot from 2nd disk

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Sun, Aug 01, 2010 at 11:28:10AM -0700, Scott Johnson wrote:
> I installed 8.1-RELEASE onto two identical drives in a mirror, following the 
> "Installing FreeBSD Root on ZFS (Mirror) using GPT" guide here: 
> http://wiki.freebsd.org/RootOnZFS/GPTZFSBoot/Mirror
> 
> I can boot from either disk by changing the boot priority in the BIOS, so long 
> as both disks are connected. I swapped the sata ports, and I can still boot from 
> either disk.
> 
> I can disconnect drive #2 and boot from drive #1 just fine, whether drive #1 is 
> plugged into sata0 or sata1.
> 
> However when I disconnect drive #1 and try to boot from drive #2, on either 
> sata0 or sata1, I get errors:
> 
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> error 1 lba 32
> error 1 lba 1
> No ZFS pools located, can't boot
> 
> It looks like a hardware problem, but then why does disk #2 work when disk #1 is 
> connected?

It's not a hardware problem.

> (Note, if both are plugged in, everything works fine; zpool status is clean, 
> zpool scrub is clean, SMART status is good after long self-test.)

The problem is known, but I haven't seen any word from developers on the
lists as to whether or not a fix is underway.

  PR: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=148655
Post: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-fs/2010-July/009008.html

I expect more users to start reporting this issue, as it's quite
major/serious.  It should probably be added to the 8.1-RELEASE Errata
given its severity.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |