xref: /freebsd/stand/i386/gptzfsboot/gptzfsboot.8 (revision 4b9d6057)
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25.Dd September 15, 2014
26.Dt GPTZFSBOOT 8
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm gptzfsboot
30.Nd GPT bootcode for ZFS on BIOS-based computers
31.Sh DESCRIPTION
32.Nm
33is used on BIOS-based computers to boot from a filesystem in
34a ZFS pool.
35.Nm
36is installed in a
37.Cm freebsd-boot
38partition of a GPT-partitioned disk with
39.Xr gpart 8 .
40.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
41The GPT standard allows a variable number of partitions, but
42.Nm
43only boots from tables with 128 partitions or less.
44.Sh BOOTING
45.Nm
46tries to find all ZFS pools that are composed of BIOS-visible
47hard disks or partitions on them.
48.Nm
49looks for ZFS device labels on all visible disks and in discovered
50supported partitions for all supported partition scheme types.
51The search starts with the disk from which
52.Nm
53itself was loaded.
54Other disks are probed in BIOS defined order.
55After a disk is probed and
56.Nm
57determines that the whole disk is not a ZFS pool member, the
58individual partitions are probed in their partition table order.
59Currently GPT and MBR partition schemes are supported.
60With the GPT scheme, only partitions of type
61.Cm freebsd-zfs
62are probed.
63The first pool seen during probing is used as a default boot pool.
64.Pp
65The filesystem specified by the
66.Cm bootfs
67property of the pool is used as a default boot filesystem.
68If the
69.Cm bootfs
70property is not set, then the root filesystem of the pool is used as
71the default.
72.Xr loader 8
73is loaded from the boot filesystem.
74If
75.Pa /boot.config
76or
77.Pa /boot/config
78is present in the boot filesystem, boot options are read from it
79in the same way as
80.Xr boot 8 .
81.Pp
82The ZFS GUIDs of the first successfully probed device and the first
83detected pool are made available to
84.Xr loader 8
85in the
86.Cm vfs.zfs.boot.primary_vdev
87and
88.Cm vfs.zfs.boot.primary_pool
89variables.
90.Sh USAGE
91Normally
92.Nm
93will boot in fully automatic mode.
94However, like
95.Xr boot 8 ,
96it is possible to interrupt the automatic boot process and interact with
97.Nm
98through a prompt.
99.Nm
100accepts all the options that
101.Xr boot 8
102supports.
103.Pp
104The filesystem specification and the path to
105.Xr loader 8
106are different from
107.Xr boot 8 .
108The format is
109.Pp
110.Sm off
111.Oo zfs:pool/filesystem: Oc Oo /path/to/loader Oc
112.Sm on
113.Pp
114Both the filesystem and the path can be specified.
115If only a path is specified, then the default filesystem is used.
116If only a pool and filesystem are specified, then
117.Pa /boot/loader
118is used as a path.
119.Pp
120Additionally, the
121.Ic status
122command can be used to query information about discovered pools.
123The output format is similar to that of
124.Cm zpool status
125.Pq see Xr zpool 8 .
126.Pp
127The configured or automatically determined ZFS boot filesystem is
128stored in the
129.Xr loader 8
130.Cm loaddev
131variable, and also set as the initial value of the
132.Cm currdev
133variable.
134.Sh FILES
135.Bl -tag -width /boot/gptzfsboot -compact
136.It Pa /boot/gptzfsboot
137boot code binary
138.It Pa /boot.config
139parameters for the boot block
140.Pq optional
141.It Pa /boot/config
142alternative parameters for the boot block
143.Pq optional
144.El
145.Sh EXAMPLES
146.Nm
147is typically installed in combination with a
148.Dq protective MBR
149.Po
150see
151.Xr gpart 8
152.Pc .
153To install
154.Nm
155on the
156.Pa ada0
157drive:
158.Bd -literal -offset indent
159gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0
160.Ed
161.Pp
162.Nm
163can also be installed without the PMBR:
164.Bd -literal -offset indent
165gpart bootcode -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0
166.Ed
167.Sh SEE ALSO
168.Xr boot.config 5 ,
169.Xr boot 8 ,
170.Xr gpart 8 ,
171.Xr loader 8 ,
172.Xr zpool 8
173.Sh HISTORY
174.Nm
175appeared in FreeBSD 7.3.
176.Sh AUTHORS
177This manual page was written by
178.An Andriy Gapon Aq avg@FreeBSD.org .
179.Sh BUGS
180.Nm
181looks for ZFS meta-data only in MBR partitions
182.Pq known on FreeBSD as slices .
183It does not look into BSD
184.Xr disklabel 8
185partitions that are traditionally called partitions.
186If a disklabel partition happens to be placed so that ZFS meta-data can be
187found at the fixed offsets relative to a slice, then
188.Nm
189will recognize the partition as a part of a ZFS pool,
190but this is not guaranteed to happen.
191