How to Replace a ZFS Root Pool (EFI (GPT)) - Managing Devices in Oracle® Solaris 11.2

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x86: How to Replace a ZFS Root Pool (EFI (GPT))

In general, the root pool disk is installed automatically when the system is installed. Also, in most cases, an EFI (GPT) disk label is installed on the root pool disk.

Use this procedure to replace a root pool disk or attach a new disk as a mirrored root pool disk.

Before You Begin

Before you perform this procedure, ensure that you have completed the following tasks:

Installed the new or replacement disk. See Adding or Replacing Disks for ZFS File Systems.
Ensured that the disk has a Solaris partition that is also selected as the active partition.

Use the fdisk option of the Format utility to view partition information. Example 6–4 partially shows the information that the option displays.

If no Solaris partition exists, create one. See Example 6–16 as a guide.

Become an administrator.

Identify the disks for the root pool.

Issue the format command to launch the Format utility. The following is sample output of the command.

# format -e
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
1. c8t0d0 <Sun-STK RAID INT-V1.0 cyl 17830 alt 2 hd 255 sec 63>
/pci@0,0/pci10de,375@f/pci108e,286@0/disk@0,0
2. c8t1d0 <Sun-STK RAID INT-V1.0-136.61GB>
/pci@0,0/pci10de,375@f/pci108e,286@0/disk@1,0
3. c8t2d0 <Sun-STK RAID INT-V1.0-136.61GB>
/pci@0,0/pci10de,375@f/pci108e,286@0/disk@2,0
4. c8t3d0 <Sun-STK RAID INT-V1.0-136.61GB>
/pci@0,0/pci10de,375@f/pci108e,286@0/disk@3,0

To replace the root pool, exit the Format utility and type:
```
# zpool replace root-pool disk
```
The following example replaces rpool on the new disk c8t1d0s0.
```
# zpool replace rpool c8t1d0s0
```
Depending on the specific task, choose one of the following sets of steps.
- Perform the following steps if you are replacing a failed disk with a new disk.
  1. If required, bring the new disk online.
```
# zpool online root-pool disk
```
  2. Verify that the new disk is resilvered.
```
# zpool status root-pool
```
  3. Skip this step and proceed to the next step if you do not want to install Oracle Solaris on the new disk. Otherwise, install Oracle Solaris and then boot the system.
  4. Apply the boot blocks after the new disk is resilvered.
```
# bootadm install-bootloader
```
    For more information about booting Oracle Solaris systems, see the following resources:
    - installboot (1M) man page.
    - Booting and Shutting Down Oracle Solaris 11.2 Systems .
    If you want to install the GRUB Legacy boot loader, you must first remove all GRUB 2 boot environments from your system and then use the installgrub command. For instructions, see x86: Installing GRUB Legacy on a System That Has GRUB 2 Installed in Booting and Shutting Down Oracle Solaris 11.2 Systems .
  5. Verify that the boot blocks are installed by rebooting the system to run level 3.
```
# init 6
```
- Perform the following steps if you are attaching a new disk to create a mirrored root pool or attaching a larger disk to replace a smaller disk.
  1. Attach the new disk to the ZFS pool.
```
# zpool attach root-pool old-disk new-disk
```
    The following example attaches the new disk c8t1d0s0 to the current rpool on c8t0d0s0.
```
# zpool attach rpool c8t0d0s0 c8t1d0s0
```
    The zpool attach command automatically applies the boot blocks as well.
  2. Verify that you can boot from the new disk.
  3. If you are replacing an old disk with the new, then after the system boots from the new disk, detach the old disk.
```
# zpool detach root-pool old-disk
```
    For example, if you are replacing c8t0d0s0 with c8t1d0s0, you would type the following:
```
# zpool detach rpool c8t0d0s0
```
Set up the system to boot automatically from the new disk by reconfiguring the system's BIOS.