Notes on OpenSolaris: ZFS boot mirror

After some fruitless hours following the instructions in http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/docs/zfsadmin.pdf trying to add an identical scsi disk to my SPARC boot mirror. The issue was wholely connected to labelling the disks and consisted of 2 parts:

An SMI label is reqired (sometimes known as a traditional Solaris VTOC)
The whole disk must be covered by the first slice in the label

Please note that this procedure will allow you to attach the mirror disk, but there still may be issues relating to bug 6680633. The best solution appears to be creating the mirror at install time by selecting 2 disks in the installer

I discovered the following:

Step 1: Fix the boot label on the disk (You need to write an SMI label to the disk covering all the blocks)

Become root and run "format -e". Create an SMI disk label. Eg:


# format -e
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
       1. c0t8d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@8,0
       2. c0t9d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@9,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 2
selecting c0t9d0
[disk formatted]


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        scsi       - independent SCSI mode selects
        cache      - enable, disable or query SCSI disk cache
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !     - execute , then return
        quit
format> label
[0] SMI Label
[1] EFI Label
Specify Label type[1]: 0
Warning: This disk has an EFI label. Changing to SMI label will erase all
current partitions.
Continue? y
Auto configuration via format.dat[no]? 
Auto configuration via generic SCSI-2[no]? 
format>

Now run "format -e" and adjust the label to cover the whole disk. Hint: Examine the backup partition and do NOT use cylinder notation. Block notation allows the whole disk to be covered. This will make a disk slice that is large enough to replicate the slice created for the zfs root. Eg:


# format -e
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
       1. c0t8d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@8,0
       2. c0t9d0 
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@9,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 2
selecting c0t9d0
[disk formatted]


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        scsi       - independent SCSI mode selects
        cache      - enable, disable or query SCSI disk cache
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !     - execute , then return
        quit
format> part


PARTITION MENU:
        0      - change `0' partition
        1      - change `1' partition
        2      - change `2' partition
        3      - change `3' partition
        4      - change `4' partition
        5      - change `5' partition
        6      - change `6' partition
        7      - change `7' partition
        select - select a predefined table
        modify - modify a predefined partition table
        name   - name the current table
        print  - display the current table
        label  - write partition map and label to the disk
        ! - execute , then return
        quit
partition> 2
Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders         Size            Blocks
  2     backup    wu       0 - 24619       33.92GB    (24620/0/0) 71127180

Enter partition id tag[backup]: 
Enter partition permission flags[wu]: 
Enter new starting cyl[0]: 
Enter partition size[71127180b, 24620c, 24619e, 34730.07mb, 33.92gb]: 
partition> 0
Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders         Size            Blocks
  0       root    wm       0 - 24618       33.91GB    (24619/0/0) 71124291

Enter partition id tag[root]: 
Enter partition permission flags[wm]: 
Enter new starting cyl[0]: 0b
`0b' is not an integer.
Enter new starting cyl[0]: 0
Enter partition size[71124291b, 24619c, 24618e, 34728.66mb, 33.91gb]: 71127180b
partition> print
Current partition table (unnamed):
Total disk cylinders available: 24620 + 2 (reserved cylinders)

Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders         Size            Blocks
  0       root    wm       0 - 24619       33.92GB    (24620/0/0) 71127180
  1 unassigned    wu       0                0         (0/0/0)            0
  2     backup    wu       0 - 24619       33.92GB    (24620/0/0) 71127180
  3 unassigned    wm       0                0         (0/0/0)            0
  4 unassigned    wm       0                0         (0/0/0)            0
  5 unassigned    wm       0                0         (0/0/0)            0
  6 unassigned    wm       0                0         (0/0/0)            0
  7 unassigned    wm       0                0         (0/0/0)            0

partition> label
[0] SMI Label
[1] EFI Label
Specify Label type[0]: 0
Ready to label disk, continue? y

partition> quit


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        scsi       - independent SCSI mode selects
        cache      - enable, disable or query SCSI disk cache
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !     - execute , then return
        quit
format> quit

Step 2: Add the disk to the rpool

zpool attach rpool c0t0d0s0 c0t9d0s0

Step 3: Add the the boot blocks (this should not be needed soon see bug 6668666)


installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/zfs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t9d0s0

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