Re: BIOS/MBR drive enumeration order, FreeBSD dev nodes, GELI ZFS root, and ZFS boot

Hi,

allow me a general answer on top: FreeBSD has support for labels. Just
give each partition a name and use the partitions via their names. This
works then even if you move the devices to other machines.

Erich


 On Mon, 20
Jun 2022 11:35:01 -0700 David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>
wrote:

> freebsd-questions:
> 
> 
> I have a desktop computer:
> 
>      Intel DQ67SW motherboard
>      Intel Core i7-2600S processor
>      Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 @ 4 GB memory module kit
>      Intel 520 Series SSD 60 GB
> 
> 
> EFI is disabled in CMOS Setup.
> 
> 
> FreeBSD was installed onto the SSD with a USB flash drive containing:
> 
>      FreeBSD-12.3-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
> 
> 
> As follows:
> 
>      FreeBSD - Welcome to FreeBSD        Boot Multi user
>      FreeBSD Installer - Welcome Install
>      Keymap Selection            Continue with default keymap
>      Set Hostname                        f4.tracy.holgerdanske.com
>      Distribution Selection              <unselect all options>
>      Partitioning                        Auto (ZFS)
>          Pool Type/Disks         stripe: 1 disk
>                                      ada0 INTEL SSDSC2CW060A3
>          Pool Name                       f4_zroot
>          Force 4K Sectors                YES
>          Encrypt Disks           YES
>          Partition Scheme                MBR (BIOS)
>          Swap Size                       2g
>          Mirror Swap                     YES
>          Encrypt Swap            YES
>          >>> Install                     Proceed with installation  
>      ZFS Configuration
>          Last Chance!            YES
>          Enter a strong passphrase       ********
>          Re-enter password               ********
>      Root - New Password         ********
>      Retype New Password         ********
>      Network Configuration               em0
>      Configure IPv4                      Yes
>      Use DHCP                    Yes
>      Configure IPv6                      No
>      Search                              tracy.holgerdanske.com
>      IPv4 DNS #1                 192.168.5.1
>      IPv4 DNS #2                 208.67.222.222
>      CMOS clock set to UTC               Yes
>      Time Zone
>          Region                  America -- North and South
>          Country or region               United States of America
>          Zone                    Pacific
>      Time & Date - month, year, day      <verify>
>      Time & Data - time          <verify>
>      Services to start at boot   sshd, ntpdate, ntpd, powerd
>      System hardening options    <none>
>      Add users                   No
>      Final configuration         Exit
>      Open shell                  No
>      Complete                    Reboot
> 
> 
> On May 29, 2022, I upgraded to:
> 
>      2022-06-20 10:48:55 toor@f4 ~
>      # freebsd-version ; uname -a
>      12.3-RELEASE-p5
>      FreeBSD f4.tracy.holgerdanske.com 12.3-RELEASE-p5 FreeBSD 
> 12.3-RELEASE-p5 GENERIC  amd64
> 
> 
> When I boot the machine, I see a prompt:
> 
>      GELI Passphrase:
> 
> 
> If I enter the correct passphrase, boot succeeds.
> 
> 
> If I enter an incorrect passphrase, I see another prompt later in
> boot:
> 
>      Enter passphrase for ada0s1d:
> 
> 
> Note that "ada0" corresponds to the device node name of the SSD when 
> FreeBSD was installed.
> 
> 
> If I enter the correct passphrase, boot continues and succeeds.
> 
> 
> I would now like to use the computer to examine an EIDE HDD.
> 
> 
> I have installed a HBA:
> 
>      Promise Technology Ultra 133 TX2
> 
> 
> Connected the HDD to the HBA:
> 
>      Maxtor 6L200P0
> 
> 
> And set the CMOS Setup boot order so that the SSD is before the HDD.
> 
> 
> When I boot the machine I see the first prompt:
> 
>      GELI Passphrase:
> 
> 
> No matter what passphrase I enter, I always see the second prompt:
> 
>      Enter passphrase for ada1s1d:
> 
> 
> Note that "ada1" no longer corresponds to the device node name of the 
> SSD when FreeBSD was installed.  (I suspect the HDD is "ada0".)
> 
> 
> No matter what passphrase I enter at the second prompt, it is always 
> rejected.  FreeBSD will not boot.
> 
> 
> It appears that GELI and/or ZFS for the root partition is tied to the 
> FreeBSD device node name "ada0s1d" (?), which is tied to the BIOS
> drive numbering.  When I insert the HBA, the BIOS drive numbering
> changes, the root partition device node changes to "ada1s1d", GELI
> and/or ZFS breaks, and boot fails (?).
> 
> 
> CMOS Setup does not appear to provide a mechanism for influencing
> BIOS drive enumeration order.
> 
> 
> The HBA does not appear to have a POST hotkey/ setup program.
> 
> 
> I recall encountering this device node name issue when cloning
> FreeBSD installations between SSD's (device node names "adaN") and
> USB flash drives (device node names "daN"), and that the work-around
> was to boot FreeBSD installation media into a rescue shell, mount the
> boot filesystem, and delete zfs/zpool.cache (?).
> 
> 
> I would prefer a work-around that involves entering configuration 
> settings during FreeBSD boot.
> 
> 
> Please advise.
> 
> 
> TIA,
> 
> David
>