Installing PFSense on gmirror

SyRenity · Feb 2, 2010, 4:02 PM

Hi.

A PFSense newbie here, so please be nice :).

I'm looking to install PFS on an old IBM server I have, and have it's both discs as RAID-1 mirror.

When I'm launching the hard-disk installer, I'm getting the GEOM option, but once I select it, the installer says the installation has failed, and I get back to the 1-99 selection console.

Are there any specific steps required to use the disks in GEOM?

And another small question - how well BSD software raid compares to Linux one? I have a hardware RAID on these boards, but usually have used the software RAID due to it's convenience and reliability. Question if BSD soft-raid has same quality?

Thanks in advance!

jimp · Feb 2, 2010, 11:12 PM

gmirror RAID has been good for me. I use it in the field on some customer routers.

The gmirror support in the installer doesn't work so well, but you can set it up manually like so:

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Create_a_Software_RAID1_%28gmirror%29

SyRenity · Feb 3, 2010, 11:04 AM

Hi.

I see, so the trick is set gmirror after the installation.

Question about bootblocks - during quick installation (and also the advanced, if selected) the installation of bootblock to second drive fails with errors.

Is it because it's not formatted?

Also, the manual warns that bootblocks should be installed to drives directly and not to mirror (which makes sense, if one of drives goes away).
What are the steps to set the boot blocks on both drives, together with the mirror?

Thanks again!

jimp · Feb 3, 2010, 12:55 PM

To get the options for selectively installing bootblocks, use the normal install and not the quick install.

Also, if you don't use the quick install, You can create the mirror before you install and select it as an installation target then.

SyRenity · Feb 3, 2010, 1:18 PM

Hi.

To get the options for selectively installing bootblocks, use the normal install and not the quick install.

That what I did, but after the installation, 2nd drive was left without boot-block - which means in case of disk failure PFS won't be able to boot-up even with mirror. So which stage of the setup I need to create the boot-blocks on both disks?

Also, if you don't use the quick install, You can create the mirror before you install and select it as an installation target then.

How exactly? I need to boot from LiveCD and create the mirror according to the manual you posted, then run normal install for installation on the mirror?

jimp · Feb 3, 2010, 1:28 PM

Just drop to a shell and create the gmirror before invoking option 99 from the menu.

If there is a mirror available, it will show up with the other drives as an installation target (and also on the bootblocks install screen).

There are numerous pages on the web that describe how to install FreeBSD bootblocks, which will work the same way on pfSense.

SyRenity · Feb 3, 2010, 2:17 PM

The steps are clear now - thanks for the explanation.

If there is a mirror available, it will show up with the other drives as an installation target (and also on the bootblocks install screen).

According to manual, I should install to disks directly, rather then to mirror. Is this possible to do via the installation menu, or I should do it on the pre/post install stages?

Thanks.

SyRenity · Feb 7, 2010, 8:58 AM

Hi.

I managed to do almost all the steps of the install, but stopped on the one before the last - namely the "insert" one.

When i do it, I get the following error:

"Provider da1 too small"

Any idea how to solve it?

Also, once I do it, should I re-install the pfsense to the mirror, while writing the boot-blocks to the drives themselves?

Regards.

SyRenity · Feb 7, 2010, 1:42 PM

Hi.

I managed to resolve it by:

Re-installing the PFSense to the 2nd drive
Removing the gmirror on-boot entries from the 1st drive
Stopping and clearing the mirror from the 1st drive
Re-creating the mirror on the 2nd drive - and adding the 1st drive (as I read it's possible to add larger drive to a smaller one).

Question - do I need to re-install the PFSense to the mirror just for case? Or it's enough to have it installed and mirrored as is?

Thanks!

jimp · Feb 7, 2010, 2:16 PM

You should probably reinstall, just to be safe. If you do a normal install (not quick) you can pick the gmirror as the installation target.

Both drives should be identical, really, or at least the smaller of the two should be the 'primary' one.