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Oracle Solaris Administration: ZFS File Systems     Oracle Solaris 11 Information Library
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Document Information

Preface

1.  Oracle Solaris ZFS File System (Introduction)

2.  Getting Started With Oracle Solaris ZFS

3.  Oracle Solaris ZFS and Traditional File System Differences

4.  Managing Oracle Solaris ZFS Storage Pools

5.  Managing ZFS Root Pool Components

6.  Managing Oracle Solaris ZFS File Systems

7.  Working With Oracle Solaris ZFS Snapshots and Clones

8.  Using ACLs and Attributes to Protect Oracle Solaris ZFS Files

9.  Oracle Solaris ZFS Delegated Administration

10.  Oracle Solaris ZFS Advanced Topics

11.  Oracle Solaris ZFS Troubleshooting and Pool Recovery

Identifying ZFS Failures

Missing Devices in a ZFS Storage Pool

Damaged Devices in a ZFS Storage Pool

Corrupted ZFS Data

Checking ZFS File System Integrity

File System Repair

File System Validation

Controlling ZFS Data Scrubbing

Explicit ZFS Data Scrubbing

ZFS Data Scrubbing and Resilvering

Resolving Problems With ZFS

Determining If Problems Exist in a ZFS Storage Pool

Reviewing zpool status Output

Overall Pool Status Information

Pool Configuration Information

Scrubbing Status

Data Corruption Errors

System Reporting of ZFS Error Messages

Repairing a Damaged ZFS Configuration

Resolving a Missing Device

Physically Reattaching a Device

Notifying ZFS of Device Availability

Replacing or Repairing a Damaged Device

Determining the Type of Device Failure

Clearing Transient Errors

Replacing a Device in a ZFS Storage Pool

Determining If a Device Can Be Replaced

Devices That Cannot be Replaced

Replacing a Device in a ZFS Storage Pool

Viewing Resilvering Status

Repairing Damaged Data

Identifying the Type of Data Corruption

Repairing a Corrupted File or Directory

Repairing ZFS Storage Pool-Wide Damage

Repairing an Unbootable System

12.  Archiving Snapshots and Root Pool Recovery

13.  Recommended Oracle Solaris ZFS Practices

A.  Oracle Solaris ZFS Version Descriptions

Index

Repairing an Unbootable System

ZFS is designed to be robust and stable despite errors. Even so, software bugs or certain unexpected problems might cause the system to panic when a pool is accessed. As part of the boot process, each pool must be opened, which means that such failures will cause a system to enter into a panic-reboot loop. To recover from this situation, ZFS must be informed not to look for any pools on startup.

ZFS maintains an internal cache of available pools and their configurations in /etc/zfs/zpool.cache. The location and contents of this file are private and are subject to change. If the system becomes unbootable, boot to the milestone none by using the -m milestone=none boot option. After the system is up, remount your root file system as writable and then rename or move the /etc/zfs/zpool.cache file to another location. These actions cause ZFS to forget that any pools exist on the system, preventing it from trying to access the unhealthy pool causing the problem. You can then proceed to a normal system state by issuing the svcadm milestone all command. You can use a similar process when booting from an alternate root to perform repairs.

After the system is up, you can attempt to import the pool by using the zpool import command. However, doing so will likely cause the same error that occurred during boot, because the command uses the same mechanism to access pools. If multiple pools exist on the system, do the following: