OpenBSD Journal

Heads up! Softraid(4) metadata changes

Contributed by mitja on from the even-more-benefits dept.

Joel Sing (jsing@) has just commited a major metadata change to softraid(4).

The new code is not compatible with the old metadata format, so users are advised to backup their data and recreate their softraid volumes. As with other metadata version upgrades in the past, booting a kernel with the new code will no longer assemble softraid volumes created prior to this change.

Please read on for Joel's commit log and warning:

Log message:
Add storage for the boot block and boot loader to the softraid metadata.
Also add a new optional metadata type for boot data. This is the first
step (of many) towards being able to boot from softraid volumes.

WARNING: This version of the softraid metadata is not compatible with
previous versions. As a result, any softraid volumes created with older
kernels will not assemble. Data on existing softraid volumes should be
backed up before upgrading. The volume should then be recreated and the
data restored.

As -current is already past to-be-released 4.7, this will not affect the upcoming OpenBSD release. For those who run -current and snapshots, make sure you follow the softraid volume upgrade instructions and keep on testing, more softraid changes will follow!

(Comments are closed)


Comments
  1. By Dan Naumov (Jago) dan.naumov@gmail.com on

    "Data on existing volumes should be backed up before upgrading. The volume should then be recreated and the data restored."

    What a smooth and convenient upgrade procedure! Must be fun for whoever uses OpenBSD in production on more than 1 machine. Awesome times restoring dozens/hundreds of machines from scratch! Thanks Theo and Co!

    Comments
    1. By Eric Gillingham (Gillingham) on http://bikezen.net

      > "Data on existing volumes should be backed up before upgrading. The volume should then be recreated and the data restored."
      >
      > What a smooth and convenient upgrade procedure! Must be fun for whoever uses OpenBSD in production on more than 1 machine. Awesome times restoring dozens/hundreds of machines from scratch! Thanks Theo and Co!

      I think you missed the part where only people running snapshots are affected. If anyone is using snapshots in production they're as idiotic as you are.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward (anon) on

        > > "Data on existing volumes should be backed up before upgrading. The volume should then be recreated and the data restored."
        > >
        > > What a smooth and convenient upgrade procedure! Must be fun for whoever uses OpenBSD in production on more than 1 machine. Awesome times restoring dozens/hundreds of machines from scratch! Thanks Theo and Co!

        softraid is still under pretty heavy development, whoever uses OpenBSD in production should have an idea of the level of stability of the particular features they're relying on.

        IMO users with dozens/hundreds of machines will already be quite able to handle this sort of thing, it's far more annoying for someone with 1 or 2 affected machines who hasn't built automated mechanisms yet.

        > If anyone is using snapshots in production they're as idiotic as you are.

        Some people running snapshots feel the same about people who only stick to releases/-stable...

    2. By Paul Irofti (bulibuta) on gopher://sdf.lonestar.org/1/users/bulibuta

      > "Data on existing volumes should be backed up before upgrading. The volume should then be recreated and the data restored."
      >
      > What a smooth and convenient upgrade procedure! Must be fun for whoever uses OpenBSD in production on more than 1 machine. Awesome times restoring dozens/hundreds of machines from scratch! Thanks Theo and Co!

      Don't you have a rock to crawl back under to?

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