Install boot and efs to usb stick and rootfs to zfs pool?

H

haohaolee

Active Member
Jul 30, 2018
4
0
41
42
Hi hivemind,

I have a ZFS pool (raidz1) which I used for many years from FreeBSD. Now I want to install proxmox, but I don't want to rebuild and repartition my pool.
Here is my idea, use a usb stick to store the boot and efs partition, which contains the kernel and efi boot manager, and rootfs installed in a zfs subvolume.

Is this doable or a good idea for my situation? I know it is not a good idea to install proxmox on usb stick, but here I only store kernel and boot manager there.

Thanks
 
Thank you very much.

I found myself have already read that article as well and I am now trying another approach.

What I have done so far:
I use VirtualBox (or other hypervisor) to install proxmox 6.1 into a virtual disk (UEFI mode), it will format that disk into 3 partitions:
1. BIOS boot
2. EFI
3. ZFS pool which contains the rootfs
Then I just copy the first 2 partitions to my usb stick (using dd or whatever works)
Then I use zfs send for the rootfs to a file, and zfs receive that into my real zpool

Next step I will modify the boot config to point to rootfs of the real zpool

I am not finished still and we will see.....


ps: I think we don't have to worry about the updating stuff, because I find there is a kernel hook there to sync the new kernel and initrd to EFS partition after kernel update.
 
Last edited:
your usb stick will fail in the long run. The OS is very write-intensive. If you want to consider going with an USB stick, but an industrial grade one with high write endurance. You'll need it.
 
LnxBil said:
your usb stick will fail in the long run. The OS is very write-intensive. If you want to consider going with an USB stick, but an industrial grade one with high write endurance. You'll need it.
Click to expand...
Hi, I don't understand. If I only use usb stick for kernel and bootloader, I suppose it will be OK for a relatively long time, right?
 
LnxBil said:
Hmm, I don't understand why I wrote this, must have seen only your reply and not my own before that. Sorry.
Click to expand...
No worries, but guess what, my usb stick actually was broken recently since I posted this question half year ago.

So I meant I really don't understand why in last reply.

My observation is if I boot from a usb stick with only bootloader(grub) and kernel, after entering system, this usb stick would not get mounted at all. When I am doing some kernel upgrading, a hook script will try to mount this usb stick and sync all the latest kernels. This is the only time I think the OS will try to write to the USB stick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom