Upgrade to 2.1, Pool starts but not visible

[Brahim]

Uninstalling of the new driver has actually been disabled in the recent releases mainly because there wasn't a need to.

I am still rather curious as to what is causing the issue for some users.
So far, I have a Windows 10 user affected - and now you on Win 2012 R2. It is definitely not the OSes. So, the thing now is figure out what's interfering.

[Qubix1]

Windows Server 2012 R2

tristo7 is on 2012 R2 as well.

[Brahim]

tristo7 is on 2012 R2 as well.

He is not on the latest build and actually reverted back to version 2.0.

[JohnL]

I'm having the same issue after a reboot. I go into the Web UI and it says the storage pool is running, but it does not show up in explorer. The network shares are visible, but if I try to access any of them I'm told that the device is not ready.  If I stop the pool and then restart it the pool drive is now visible and the network shares work. I am not seeing any other errors. I previously had the 9-21-15-r2 version installed and I noticed the same behavior. I have run UserMode.cmd and rebooted and that didn't change the symptoms.

1. What OS? WHS 2011
2. Do/did you have a Paragon product install/ed? No
3. What disk tool you have installed (Acronis and others)? Hard Disk Sentinel

Here is a section of the Flexraid.sys.log that shows the only error I'm seeing. The log starts at 22:48 after a reboot. At 22:53 I restarted the pool which then was visible and useable.

[2015-10-03 22:48:06.270176][3544][DLL_THREAD_ATTACH] ID=3544
[2015-10-03 22:48:21.684843][3780]Build Timestamp [Sep 21 2015 08:31:40]
[2015-10-03 22:48:21.684843][3780]


--------------- Storage Pool Start ---------------
[2015-10-03 22:48:21.684843][3780][Mounting Storage Pool]
[2015-10-03 22:48:21.684843][3780][VM already acquired...]
[2015-10-03 22:48:21.684843][3780][Building options...]
[2015-10-03 22:49:10.978312][3780][mount] [Create New Storage Pool] ErrorCode=31 Message=Mount error! Code=1359 Message=An internal error occurred.


[2015-10-03 22:53:31.795009][6220]Unmounting the storage pool
[2015-10-03 22:53:53.748936][6556]Build Timestamp [Sep 21 2015 08:31:40]
[2015-10-03 22:53:53.748936][6556]


--------------- Storage Pool Start ---------------
[2015-10-03 22:53:53.749936][6556][Mounting Storage Pool]
[2015-10-03 22:53:53.749936][6556][VM already acquired...]
[2015-10-03 22:53:53.749936][6556][Building options...]


Here is part of Flexraid.log:

[2015-10-03 22:47:14,786] INFO : Setting core service port to 9595
[2015-10-03 22:47:14,802] INFO : Setting Http port to 8080
[2015-10-03 22:47:14,802] INFO : Https port not set. Https requests will not be serviced...
[2015-10-03 22:47:14,927] INFO : Starting FlexRAID...
[2015-10-03 22:47:14,927] INFO : FlexRAID 2.1 [Snapshot 1.1 / Storage Pool 2.0] [2015.09.25]
[2015-10-03 22:47:14,942] INFO : Started: October 3, 2015 10:47:14 PM PDT
[2015-10-03 22:48:16,760] INFO : Initiating FlexRAID Storage Pool...
[2015-10-03 22:48:19,640] INFO : Host OS = Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
[2015-10-03 22:48:19,640] INFO : Building View Registry...
[2015-10-03 22:48:19,718] INFO : Building Auto View Registry...
[2015-10-03 22:48:20,358] INFO : Loading View options...
[2015-10-03 22:48:20,686] INFO : Using Auto-View definition...
[2015-10-03 22:48:20,686] INFO : Building View Handler...
[2015-10-03 22:48:21,668] INFO : Mounting Storage Pool drive...
[2015-10-03 22:48:39,883] INFO : Reconnecting Documents="D:\ServerFolders\Documents" /GRANT:Everyone,FULL
[2015-10-03 22:48:45,808] INFO : Reconnecting Music="D:\ServerFolders\Music" /GRANT:Everyone,READ
[2015-10-03 22:48:46,813] INFO : Reconnecting Pictures="D:\ServerFolders\Pictures" /GRANT:Everyone,READ
.
.
.
[2015-10-03 22:48:49,761] INFO : Reconnecting Temp="D:\Temp" /GRANT:John,FULL
[2015-10-03 22:53:31,793] INFO : Unmounting View...
[2015-10-03 22:53:31,794] INFO : Unmounting View complete...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,321] INFO : Initiating FlexRAID Storage Pool...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,415] INFO : Host OS = Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,415] INFO : Building View Registry...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,416] INFO : Building Auto View Registry...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,433] INFO : Loading View options...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,470] INFO : Using Auto-View definition...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,470] INFO : Building View Handler...
[2015-10-03 22:53:53,748] INFO : Mounting Storage Pool drive...

I hope this helps!

[Brahim]

Here is a potential resolution for those affected by this issue.

It seems like mounting the pool as removable disk fails on some systems. Mounting it as a fixed disk works fine.
As a short term resolution, please change the "removable" property value to false under "Preferences and Setttings -> Run-Time Properties -> Advanced Properties".

I will keep an eye on the issue for a more complete resolution.

[JohnL]

Brahim,

FWIW, that option was already set to 'false' on my system.

[Brahim]

Try to get on the latest build and see if that helps.

[JohnL]

I installed the latest release (10-4-15) and when I first started the pool I got the 'Storage Pool handler initialization failure' message. I restarted the system and the pool started, but the pool drive was still not visible. After I stopped and started the pool the drive appeared and seems to be running fine.

[zak1976]

Hi
I got the same problem, yesterday I made the update to "2.1 [Snapshot 1.1 / Storage Pool 2.0] [2015.10.04]".
Here are the steps i did:

1. stopped the two Felxraid services.
2. uninstalled the old version
3. made a reboot
4. deleted the Felexraid related folders and the old logfiles
5. installed the new version
6. made a reboot

So, Flexraid startet the Pool, no errors in the logs, but my Pooldrive is not shown in explorer and also not on network shares.
Infortunately a made a parity update, so a downgrade is not so easy, or could you please post a step by step tutorial?

System is Windows Server 2012R2 fully patched

Attached are the Logfiles
 
There are errors from "DokanMounter", is there a command to mount the pool drive manually?

Please help .

[Brahim]

See the resolution above (set the pool to a fixed disk instead of removable).

[xbit]

I also ran into this issue of the pool starting but the drive letter not showing.  I upgraded from 2.0 to 2.1 a few days ago since I was preparing to update to windows 10 and then had this storage pool issue.  My process for updating was I had stopped the 2.0 services, then uninstalled from control panel.  Not sure if I rebooted before installing 2.1. Anyway, after lots of trial and error I was able to get the storage pool drive showing again by stopping services, uninstalling,  AND removing the configuration files located at c:/... didn't think to delete those the first time.  Then reinstalled 2.1 and had to re-entered my license key.  I then set up the storage pool again and all was working!  Just thought I'd post this here in case it is helpful.  Also, it is working with all default values including removable set to true.

[zak1976]

Hi Brahim,

the pool is set to a fixed disk, "Pool als Wechseldatenträger = false".
What more can I do, did you read the logs?

[xbit]

@zak1976 - in your step 4, did you also delete the old configuration files?  I had the same problem as you but deleting these files in addition to the install folders fixed it for me.

[zak1976]

what do you mean by "old configuration files", the "FlexRaid-Config.db" file?
If i do so, how do i set up my raid again without loosing data?

[zak1976]

special thanks to xbit !!!

I made it with sweaty hands...  i deleted all flexraid related files, the flexraid-config.db and the hidden folder named "FlexRAID-Managed-Pool".
Before i did this i mapped my drive setting in windows disk management to the flexraid drive settings (i mapped the drives to windows folders the first time i set up flexraid).
You have to do this, only by this way it is possible to map the ppu and drus 1:1 in the new config.

I then made a new clean install of the actual flexraid release, after that i had to reactivate the software.

Now it was time for the scary part, i made a new configuration and imported the config from my ppu (i only have one ppu).
OK, all drives in the new config had the state "Missing", i then (only) swapped out the drives one by one, starting with my ppu, then i started the pool and... yeah the pool drive is back !!!

So please brahim, this is a very critical part, normally you have big raids, so a failure with a new release is very annoying...
Please confirm and make a big link to a tutorial how to do a safe update, so eg. ensure your old config is updated and verified, and then, if errors occours, show the users how to do a clean rebild of the configuration (why have users like xbit have to do such tests?), i searched a lot of the knowledge base, but do not figured out if this method to do a clean install and a reconfiguration is valid in this release, and experiments with such a lot data is not the best and could not be exspected from the user without support from you site.

So thanks to xbit who saved my day...

PS: go for the new release, it is way more faster, a complete verify is done in in 200 minutes, my raid consist of 8 DRUs (7x4TB, 1x 3TB) and 1 PPU, all are WD 4TB SE drives, before the update is lasts way more longer ...
The Raid is filled up to 20TB out of 28TB.