The zpool.cache file makes clustering complex. {Assume the man page is still correct}

From the zpool man page:

cachefile=path | "none"

Controls the location of where the pool configuration is cached. Discovering all pools on system startup requires a cached copy of the configuration data that is stored on the root file system. All pools in this cache are automatically imported when the system boots. **** Some environments, such as install and clustering, need to cache this information in a different location so that pools are not automatically imported. *****

Setting this property caches the pool configuration in a different location that can later be imported with "zpool import -c". ....... When the last pool using a cache file is exported or destroyed, the file is removed.

zpool import [-d dir | -c cachefile] [-D]

        Lists pools available to import. If the -d option is not
        specified,   this   command   searches  for  devices  in
        "/dev/dsk".
--
A truss of zpool import indicates that it is not multi-threaded when scanning for disks. ie. it scans 1 at a time instead of X at a time. So it does take a while to run. Would be nice if this was multi-threaded.

If the cache file is to stay, it should do a scan of /dev to fix itself at boot if something is wrong, and report it is doing a scan to the console. esp if it is not multi-threaded.

PS it would be nice to have a zpool diskinfo <devicepath> reports if the device belongs to a zpool imported or not, and all the details about any zpool it can find on the disk. e.g. file-systems (zdb is only for ZFS "engineers" says the man page). 'zpool import' needs an option to list the file systems of a pool which is not yet imported and its properties so you can have more information about it before importing it.

Cheers
-------- Original Message --------


On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Mattias Pantzare <pantz...@gmail.com <mailto:pantz...@gmail.com>> wrote:



    If I put my disks on a diffrent controler zfs won't find them when I
    boot. That is bad. It is also an extra level of complexity.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but wading through all of your comments, I believe what you would like to see is zfs automatically scan if the cache is invalid vs. requiring manual intervention, no? It would seem to me this would be rather sane behavior and a legitimate request to add this as an option.

--Tim


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