benefit of GEOM labels for ZFS, was Hard drive device names... serial numbers

[Daniel Kalchev]

On 01.03.2013, at 05:30, Freddie Cash <fjwcash at gmail.com> wrote:

> For example, we use the following pattern: encX-A-#
> 
> Where X tells you which enclosure it's in, A tells you which column it's in
> (letters start at A increasing to the right), and # tells you the disk in
> the column, numbered top-down.

We use similar labeling, but usually rely on the vendor's drive cage labels and do not use column numbers. But if your enclosures have column labels it makes sense. Anything that makes it obvious for the technician to locate the drive without consulting too much documentation makes sense. Just stick to one coordinate system for all enclosures in one location :)

Using labels greatly simplifies ZFS management in cases of disaster - you may have to boot another recovery system and no scripts or hard wired drive information may be available to assist you.

Daniel