Bug / tiny enhancement to help NanoBSD - better info regarding active slice
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Hi,
I've been playing around with 2.0, upgrading and downgrading, etc. One thing I noticed is how hard it is to get good info on which slice is active and which will boot next, and what version is has currently on it. What I am suggesting may be impossible (which would explain why it's not in the product) but just in case nobody realizes those things or I'll still have a go at some suggestions.
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In the "NanoBSD screen",the bootupslice dropdown should indicate which one is the bootup slice for next boot. Right now, if I change it and save, then refresh I cannot know what has been chosen (it always comes back to the first slice). I believe it would be better to show in the dropdown the bootup slice for next boot.
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In the dashboard, we see the currently bootup slice, but it would be nice if there was some info if the bootup slice has been changed for the next bootup (ie: "Slice for next boot: pfsense1).
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During bootup (when looking for a serial cable) the bootup slices are both named pfSense. It would be nice if they were named pfsense0 and pfsense1, but even better if following that the pfSense versions for each slice were also indicated)
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Finally, I believe in case of total failure being able to change the bootup slice in the console would be a must. Maybe I just can't find the option, but how do you revert to the other in case of a major destruction of a slice to the point where the web UI isnt available?
Regards,
Mike
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- In the "NanoBSD screen",the bootupslice dropdown should indicate which one is the bootup slice for next boot. Right now, if I change it and save, then refresh I cannot know what has been chosen (it always comes back to the first slice). I believe it would be better to show in the dropdown the bootup slice for next boot.
That should be pulling the slice that is selected for bootup. This should have been fixed a while ago but I haven't tried it:
http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/show/52- In the dashboard, we see the currently bootup slice, but it would be nice if there was some info if the bootup slice has been changed for the next bootup (ie: "Slice for next boot: pfsense1).
It might be possible, I'd have to look into it
$BOOT_DEVICE=trim(/sbin/mount | /usr/bin/grep pfsense | /usr/bin/cut -d'/' -f4 | /usr/bin/cut -d' ' -f1);
$REAL_BOOT_DEVICE=trim(/sbin/glabel list | /usr/bin/grep -B2 ufs/{$BOOT_DEVICE} | /usr/bin/head -n 1 | /usr/bin/cut -f3 -d' ');http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/show/533
- During bootup (when looking for a serial cable) the bootup slices are both named pfSense. It would be nice if they were named pfsense0 and pfsense1, but even better if following that the pfSense versions for each slice were also indicated)
It's rather obvious given their numbering. 1/F1 is always the first slice, 2/F2 is always the second. Not sure how easy that 'pfSense' string is to change there.
- Finally, I believe in case of total failure being able to change the bootup slice in the console would be a must. Maybe I just can't find the option, but how do you revert to the other in case of a major destruction of a slice to the point where the web UI isnt available?
I'm not sure if there is a CLI script to change that or not. If not, there probably should be, and maybe a console menu option to match. Really you can just reboot the device and push the F1/F2 key to get to the other slice if something is that wrong, but there are some other things that the switch in the GUI does (like update the fstab file) which are helpful.
http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/show/534 -
Thanks for the reply. My last suggestion regarding the console option for changing bootup slice was sort of a brain fart due to suggestion-itis: you're right that just booting and selecting the other slice is good enough to get anyone out of a bind.
As for the rest, I figured I'd contribute a bit ;-) The UI option for bootup slice isn't fix, at least it wasn't in the last April versions I tested.
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I reworked the code in 2.0 for NanoBSD functions a bit, and I made a console script to change the slice as well.
The boot slice is properly reflected on Diagnostics > NanoBSD and the next boot slice is shown on the dashboard if it's different than the current boot slice.
Actually on Diagnostics > NanoBSD I removed the drop-down and just made a button to change the slice, so it's a toggle now. Re-setting the slice to the current slice is really a no-op and doesn't do anything useful, plus you can just switch to the alt. slice and then switch back if you really want to make sure the settings are right.
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I'll definitely take a look and test that for you!
Thank you, impressive response time for something UI related and non-critical
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Thank you, I just tried this and really, it makes it ALOT easier to follow when you're playing with slices!
