Stefan Sperling wrote: >On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 01:41:46PM -0500, Adam Thompson wrote: >> I recently followed the most up-to-date guidance I could find on booting >> OpenBSD off softraid(4), and *everything* I found showed that I needed >> the kernel on a separate slice so boot(8) could find it. >> >> For that matter, boot(8), boot_amd64(8) and biosboot(8) all fail to >> mention the special behaviour of installboot(8) on softraid(4), so I >> have - AFAIK - no way of discovering that OpenBSD can boot directly off >> a softraid(4) root partition. >> >> Yeah, I know - submit a patch. I'm having trouble figuring out >> precisely what to say where. I'm hoping it's obvious to someone else... >> >> <whine>I know OpenBSD borrows useful concepts from Linux from time to >> time, but not keeping the manpages up to date isn't a "feature" I'd like >> to see brought over to the BSD world. One of the fundamentals of OpenBSD >> has historically been correct documentation.</whine> > >As of 5.4 the softraid(4) man page has a related paragraph in >the CAVEATS section: > > softraid has boot support only for the CRYPTO and RAID 1 > disciplines, and only on amd64 and i386 platforms. > >This diff makes this notice more prominent and adds some details >and cross references. Good enough? > >Index: share/man/man4/softraid.4 >=================================================================== >RCS file: /cvs/src/share/man/man4/softraid.4,v >retrieving revision 1.31 >diff -u -p -r1.31 softraid.4 >--- share/man/man4/softraid.4 12 Mar 2013 14:00:57 -0000 1.31 >+++ share/man/man4/softraid.4 27 Oct 2013 12:51:07 -0000 >@@ -107,6 +107,21 @@ discipline. > It writes data to each chunk in sequence to provide increased capacity. > CONCAT does not provide redundancy. > .El >+.Pp >+.Xr installboot 8 >+may be used to install >+.Xr boot 8 >+in >+.Nm >+volume meta data to allow booting from the volume. >+Boot support is currently limited to the CRYPTO and RAID 1 disciplines >+on amd64 and i386 platforms. >+At the >+.Xr boot 8 >+prompt, softraid volumes have names beginning with >+.Sq sr >+and can be booted from like a normal disk device. >+CRYPTO volumes will require a decryption passphrase or keydisk at boot time. > .Sh EXAMPLES > An example to create a 3 chunk RAID 1 from scratch is as follows: > .Pp >@@ -153,11 +168,26 @@ The RAID volume is now ready to be used > See > .Xr bioctl 8 > for more information on configuration of RAID sets. >+.Pp >+Install >+.Xr boot 8 >+on the RAID volume: >+.Bd -literal -offset indent >+# /usr/mdec/installboot /boot /usr/mdec/biosboot sd0 >+.Ed >+.Pp >+At the >+.Xr boot 8 >+prompt, load the /bsd kernel from the RAID volume: >+.Bd -literal -offset indent >+boot> boot sr0a:/bsd >+.Ed > .Sh SEE ALSO > .Xr bio 4 , > .Xr bioctl 8 , > .Xr disklabel 8 , > .Xr fdisk 8 , >+.Xr installboot 8 , > .Xr newfs 8 > .Sh HISTORY > The >@@ -177,10 +207,6 @@ The RAID 4 and 5 disciplines do not init > This is due to the scrub functionality not being currently implemented. > .Pp > Currently there is no automated mechanism to recover from failed disks. >-.Pp >-.Nm >-has boot support only for the CRYPTO and RAID 1 disciplines, >-and only on amd64 and i386 platforms. > .Pp > Sparc hardware needs to use fstype > .Dq 4.2BSD >Index: sys/arch/amd64/stand/boot/boot.8 >=================================================================== >RCS file: /cvs/src/sys/arch/amd64/stand/boot/boot.8,v >retrieving revision 1.18 >diff -u -p -r1.18 boot.8 >--- sys/arch/amd64/stand/boot/boot.8 27 Sep 2012 12:26:28 -0000 1.18 >+++ sys/arch/amd64/stand/boot/boot.8 27 Oct 2013 12:35:12 -0000 >@@ -138,6 +138,11 @@ attempts to load the kernel executable > .Pa /bsd . > If it fails to find the kernel and no alternative kernel image has > been specified, the system will be unable to boot. >+.Pp >+.Nm >+supports booting from >+.Xr softraid 4 >+RAID 1 and CRYPTO volumes. > .Sh COMMANDS > The following commands are accepted at the > .Nm >@@ -377,6 +382,7 @@ option. > .Xr gzip 1 , > .Xr autoconf 4 , > .Xr ddb 4 , >+.Xr softraid 4 , > .Xr biosboot 8 , > .Xr boot_amd64 8 , > .Xr boot_config 8 , >Index: sys/arch/i386/stand/boot/boot.8 >=================================================================== >RCS file: /cvs/src/sys/arch/i386/stand/boot/boot.8,v >retrieving revision 1.55 >diff -u -p -r1.55 boot.8 >--- sys/arch/i386/stand/boot/boot.8 27 Sep 2012 12:26:28 -0000 1.55 >+++ sys/arch/i386/stand/boot/boot.8 27 Oct 2013 12:32:54 -0000 >@@ -138,6 +138,11 @@ attempts to load the kernel executable > .Pa /bsd . > If it fails to find the kernel and no alternative kernel image has > been specified, the system will be unable to boot. >+.Pp >+.Nm >+supports booting from >+.Xr softraid 4 >+RAID 1 and CRYPTO volumes. > .Sh COMMANDS > The following commands are accepted at the > .Nm >@@ -377,6 +382,7 @@ option. > .Xr gzip 1 , > .Xr autoconf 4 , > .Xr ddb 4 , >+.Xr softraid 4 , > .Xr biosboot 8 , > .Xr boot_config 8 , > .Xr boot_i386 8 ,
This is definitelly a thread which I followed with great interest. In the light of Stefan's diff I have three questions. 1. Does that make http://blog.cochard.me/2012/03/openbsd-51-installation-on-sofraid4.html accurate? That would mean that I can crypt everything on my laptop including /. 2. My second question is in the light of Stephan's "It writes data to each chunk in sequence to provide increased capacity. CONCAT does not provide redundancy." Does above mean that if I want to use RAID 1/altroot for redundancy purposes I still have to follow FAQ and create to identical root and swap partitions on two separate HDD before using RAID 1 for the rest? 3. Are there any strong opinions on CARP/pfsync vs RAID 1/altroot for firewall redundancy for small office use. Best, Predrag
