How to Configure a Mirrored Root Pool (x86/EFI (GPT))

The Oracle Solaris 11.1 release installs an EFI (GPT) label by default on an x86 based system, in most cases.

If you do not configure a mirrored root pool during an automatic installation, you can easily configure a mirrored root pool after the installation.

For information about replacing a disk in a root pool, see How to Replace a Disk in a ZFS Root Pool (SPARC or x86/VTOC).

1. Display your current root pool status.

   # zpool status rpool
   pool:  rpool
   state: ONLINE
   scan: none requested
   config:
   
   NAME     STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
   rpool    ONLINE       0     0     0
   c2t0d0   ONLINE       0     0     0
   
   errors: No known data errors

2. Attach a second disk to configure a mirrored root pool.

   # zpool attach rpool c2t0d0 c2t1d0
   Make sure to wait until resilver is done before rebooting.

   The correct disk labeling and the boot blocks are applied automatically.

   If you have customized partitions on your root pool disk, then you might need syntax similar to the following:

   # zpool attach rpool c2t0d0s0 c2t1d0

3. View the root pool status to confirm that resilvering is complete.

   # zpool status rpool
   pool: rpool
   state: DEGRADED
   status: One or more devices is currently being resilvered.  The pool will
   continue to function in a degraded state.
   action: Wait for the resilver to complete.
   Run 'zpool status -v' to see device specific details.
   scan: resilver in progress since Fri Jul 20 13:52:05 2012
   809M scanned
   776M resilvered at 44.9M/s, 6.82% done, 0h4m to go
   config:
   
   NAME      STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
   rpool     DEGRADED     0     0     0
   mirror-0  DEGRADED     0     0     0
   c8t0d0    ONLINE       0     0     0
   c8t1d0    DEGRADED     0     0     0  (resilvering)
   
   errors: No known data errors

   In the above output, the resilvering process is not complete. Resilvering is complete when you see messages similar to the following:

   resilvered 11.6G in 0h5m with 0 errors on Fri Jul 20 13:57:25 2012

4. If you attaching a larger disk, set the pool's autoexpand property to expand the pool's size.

   Determine the existing rpool pool size:

   # zpool list rpool
   NAME   SIZE  ALLOC   FREE  CAP  DEDUP  HEALTH  ALTROOT
   rpool  29.8G   152K  29.7G   0%  1.00x  ONLINE  -

   # zpool set autoexpand=on rpool

   Review the expanded rpool pool size:

   # zpool list rpool
   NAME   SIZE  ALLOC  FREE  CAP  DEDUP  HEALTH  ALTROOT
   rpool  279G   146K  279G   0%  1.00x  ONLINE  -

5. Verify that you can boot successfully from the new disk.