Re: Legacy ZFS mounts

[Brad Spencer <brad%anduin.eldar.org@localhost>]

maya%NetBSD.org@localhost writes:

[snip]

>> The module has to load before zvols will show up and if that is ALL you
>> were doing, I don't think anything else will prompt the loading of the
>> module.  That is, your /dev/zvol/* tree would not be there unless you
>> execute the zfs (and probably the zpool) command prior to trying to use
>> your devices (I think that it is the opening and use of /dev/zfs that
>> does prompt the module load, but that isn't needed for pure zvol
>> access).
>
> Would it make sense to make mount_zfs do that?

The prompting of the module load would happen with mount_zfs for the ZFS
filesystem/dataset case, so in that case you are very correct that a
additional poke is not needed, but mount_zfs is not use when just
accessing zvol devices.  In fact, nothing is needed for raw zvol use,
except the loading of the module.

By example, lets suppose you are using LVM devices as back store to DOMU
guests.  You still have to do a /sbin/vgscan to get the devices created
even if you are not going to use the logical volumes for anything else
but back store.  This might, have not actually looked, prompt the load
of the device manager module hence our /etc/rc.d/lvm script (among other
uses, of course, in this case).  In the ZFS zvol case, it would be the
same thing except that all that is needed is that the module load.  The
/etc/rc.d/zfs script I propose just does a "zfs list" (and checks the
return code, as it is possible that /dev/zfs is missing or there were
other errors and reports this...  it is also possible to build a system
without ZFS built, we have a make variable for that, and if you happen
to do a zfs=YES we should not be dumb about that) which is what was
already present in /etc/rc.d/mountall.  I simply moved it sooner in the
boot process and made it more literal and intentional with the variable
as I wanted to use zvol devices before mountall ran.  I would also need
to do something to get the module loaded if I was going to present zvols
to DOMU (as I do intend to do some day) but did not use a ZFS
filesystem/dataset for anything in the DOM0.

To cover the various cases, I don't see how one gets all the bits and
pieces in place in really any other manor.  As I said, this is all done
more or less in this way for raidframe and LVM.





-- 
Brad Spencer - brad%anduin.eldar.org@localhost - KC8VKS - http://anduin.eldar.org