How to Replace a ZFS Root Pool Disk

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The root pool disk is installed automatically when the system is installed. Use this procedure if you need to replace a root pool disk or attach a new disk as a mirrored root pool disk.

Before You Begin

Before you perform this procedure, ensure that you have completed the following tasks:

Installed the new or replacement disk. See Adding or Replacing Disks for ZFS File Systems.
If you are replacing a disk with a VTOC label, ensure that you have verified that the disk has a VTOC label.

Use the prtvtoc path/disk-name command to verify. See Displaying Disk Label Information for other commands you can use. If you need to change the label from EFI to VTOC, see Creating Disk Labels for instructions with an example in Example 50, Labeling a Disk With an SMI Label.
Verified the slice or partition information.
- SPARC: Verify that slice 0 uses most of the disk's size for optimal configuration.
  
  Use the Format utility to verify. If you need to change the slice configuration, see Modifying Slices or Partitions with an example in Example 51, Resizing a Disk Slice.
- x86: Ensure that the disk has an Oracle Solaris partition that is also selected as the active partition.
  
  Use the fdisk option of the Format utility to view partition information. Example 40, Partition Information From the fdisk Command partially shows the information that the option displays.
  
  If no Oracle Solaris partition exists, create one. See Example 52, Creating an Oracle Solaris fdisk Partition That Spans the Entire Drive as a guide.

Become an administrator.
Replace the root pool on the new disk.
```
# zpool replace root-pool disk
```
Replace the failed disk or attach a new disk.
- To replace a failed disk with a new disk:
  1. If the new disk is not online, bring it online.
```
# zpool online root-pool disk
```
  2. Verify that the new disk is resilvered.
```
# zpool status root-pool
```
  3. (Optional) Install Oracle Solaris and then boot the system.
  4. Apply the boot blocks after the new disk is resilvered.
```
# bootadm install-bootloader
```
    For more information about booting Oracle Solaris systems, see Booting and Shutting Down Oracle Solaris 11.4 Systems.
  5. Verify that the boot blocks are installed by rebooting the system to run level 3.
```
# init 6
```
- To attach a new disk to create a mirrored root pool or attach a larger disk to replace a smaller disk:
  1. Attach the new disk to the ZFS pool.
```
# zpool attach root-pool disk new-disk
```
    The following example attaches the new disk c2t1d0s0 to the current rpool on c2t0d0s0.
```
# zpool attach rpool c2t0d0s0 c2t1d0s0
```
    The zpool attach command also automatically applies the boot blocks.
  2. Verify that you can boot from the new disk.
  3. If you are replacing an old disk with a new disk, detach the old disk after the system boots from the new disk.
```
# zpool detach root-pool old-disk
```
    For example, if you are replacing c2t0d0s0 with c2t1d0s0, you would type the following command:
```
# zpool detach rpool c2t0d0s0
```
Set up the system to boot automatically from the new disk.
- SPARC: Either use the eeprom command or the setenv command from the SPARC boot PROM.
- x86: Reconfigure the system's BIOS.