Trouble Creating ZFS (Or Any) Pool

[meep]

I'm running 6.12.3. I have a bunch of 'OLD' (ex-array) 4TB drives I've reinstalled to my server that I wanted to use to have a play with a ZFS pool. Here they are before I start. Unformatted, no FS etc.

 

 

I created a pool (I have 3x other pools previously set up) and added the disks;

 

 

So far, so good. Now, I click the link 'Zfs_pool_a' beside the first disk. (note, I DID NOT capitalise that name, I was careful to ensure I named the pool all lower case)

 

I set up my file system type as ZFS and configured my settings; 

 

 

However, I cannot apply these settings. Note that the 'Apply' button remains stubbornly greyed out. In fact, it remains so regardless of what file system type I select. If I click 'Done' and start the array, it goes ahead and formats the pool BTRFS.

 

I must be missing something obvious here, but what? A procedure? A setting? A checkbox somewhere?

 

Pointers appreciated.

[Vr2Io]

Try wipefs -a /dev/sdX on all disks before adding to zfs pool.

[meep]

No joy. Didn't have an impact on the issue.

 

 

I also remade the pool without the underscore character in the name, and reduced the number of drives to 3. But still the Apply button on pool editing remains resolutely  disabled.

 

[meep]

Folks

 

Really stuck here. In playing around with this, I find that I can neither set up & configure a new pool nor can I make any changes to existing pools while array is stopped as the APPLY button remains greyed out on the pool settings page.

 

Diagnostics attached.

 

 

unraid-diagnostics-20230731-1155.zip unraid-syslog-20230731-1054.zip

[JorgeB]

This is very strange, don't remember seeing it before, if you create a new pool and assign one of those devices does apply work?

[meep]

26 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

This is very strange, don't remember seeing it before, if you create a new pool and assign one of those devices does apply work?

No.

If I create a new pool and add one or more devices, (any device) I cannot apply settings.

 

If I access an existing working pool, make a small change, still the apply button is disabled. 

 

Essentially, I cannot make or edit pools, unless I'm willing to accept default settings for a new pool 

[JorgeB]

Please try booting in safe mode and/or using a different browser.

[Zeroeth]

Have to you tried to Erase and then Apply?

 

Reference: SpaceInvader's video How to Reformat (ZFS) and or Upgrade a Cache Pool in Unraid

 

[meep]

2 hours ago, Zeroeth said:

Have to you tried to Erase and then Apply?

 

Reference: SpaceInvader's video How to Reformat (ZFS) and or Upgrade a Cache Pool in Unraid

 

 

I can erase, but even after that the apply button remains disabled.

[meep]

7 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Please try booting in safe mode and/or using a different browser.

 

Im trying with both the built in GUI (monitor attached), as well as a remote connected Chrome browser. Same result in either case.

 

i tried booting safe mode but there are problems there. In GUI safe mode, the browser won’t load the UI. In GUI or standard mode, a remote browser won’t connect, and even ssh fails to connect with password problems.

 

I guess ive got to fix that problem before I can progress with my pools issue.

[JorgeB]

It's not a general issue, so likely something with your config, if nothing else you can always redo the flash drive to see if it helps.

[meep]

So I wiped my USB and reinstalled UNRAID. Copied my config directory and the issue persisted. (could not get GUI in safe mode).

 

I then embarked on copying my config sub-folders and files one-at-a-time to see which one was the offender. A painstaking process of reboot after reboot.

 

And would you believe - it was the VERY LAST FILE - the VFIO config. ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!

 

With a  fresh UNRAID install + all my config folder except VFIO, which I rebuilt, I was finally able to create the ZFS array. It's chugging away now doing some test transfers so I can evaluate performance, but it seems somewhat on a par with my main array. I'll use it for a secondary backup for now so I don't commit any files I don't have copies of elsewhere. 

 

Thanks for looking.