some ZFS questions

[Scott Bennett]

kpneal at pobox.com wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 05:15:27AM -0500, Scott Bennett wrote:
> > Paul Kraus <paul at kraus-haus.org> wrote:
> > > ZFS uses the header written to the device to identify it. Note that this was not always the case and *if* you have a zfs cache file you *may* run into device renaming issues. I have not seen any, but I am also particularly paranoid about not moving devices around before exporting them. I have seen too many stories of lost zpools due to this many years ago on the ZFS list.
> > 
> >      Well, I don't have an SSD at present, so maybe it won't matter then.
> > Nevertheless, if a crash and reboot can result in loss of a pool because
> > the device names get reshuffled, that would seem like a real hazard to
> > using ZFS, so I hope that is no longer the case.
>
> If you can use GPT partitioning then you can have GPT labels on partitions
> spanning entire disks. Then you can rearrange physical disks to your hearts
> content. 

     Of course, doing it that way, as opposed to giving ZFS the raw devices,
is what others here have been recommending against for compatibility reasons.
>
> The bonus is that you can put identifying information in the label name
> to be even more sure you are replacing the correct disk when the time
> comes.
>
     Certainly.


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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