Description

This article explains why the Hard Disk of a 4.0 Routing Engine, M Series, may be seen in the show chassis hardware detail output and boot sequence sysctl -a |grep bootdev but missing in /var in the show system storage output. It also details the steps to recover from this problem.
Indications can work for T Series REs, and non-Next Generation RE models 

Symptoms

In some cases, the Hardware Disk Drive (HDD) is present in the hardware inventory and boot sequence but the /var directory cannot be seen in the file system while issuing the show system storage command.

Symptoms of the problem are given as follows:

/var is not seen in the show system storage output:

re1> show system storage
Filesystem              Size       Used      Avail  Capacity   Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a             865M       109M       687M       14%  /
devfs                   1.0K       1.0K         0B      100%  /dev
devfs                   1.0K       1.0K         0B      100%  /dev/
/dev/md0                 26M        26M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jbase
/dev/md1                110M       110M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jkernel-9.0R3.6
/dev/md2                 38M        38M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jpfe-T-9.0R3.6
/dev/md3                3.7M       3.7M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jdocs-9.0R3.6
/dev/md4                 35M        35M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jroute-9.0R3.6
/dev/md5                 10M        10M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jcrypto-9.0R3.6
/dev/md6                 22M        22M         0B      100%  /packages/mnt/jpfe-common-9.0R3.6
/dev/md7                2.0G       280K       1.8G        0%  /tmp
/dev/md8                2.0G        33M       1.8G        2%  /mfs
/dev/ad0s1e              96M        48K        88M        0%  /config
procfs                  4.0K       4.0K         0B      100%  /proc

ad1 (HDD) is listed in the hardware inventory:

re1> show chassis hardware detail | match "ad|Rou"
Routing Engine 0 REV 07   740-008883   P11123903280      RE-4.0
ad0     977 MB  SanDisk SDCFJ-1024   019314J0807J2535  Compact Flash
ad1   28615 MB  FUJITSU MHT2030AR    NN6QT52154UB      Hard Disk
Routing Engine 1 REV 07   740-008883   P11123902797      RE-4.0
ad0     977 MB  SanDisk SDCFJ-1024   012013I1807L5405  Compact Flash
ad1   28615 MB  FUJITSU MHT2030AR    NN6QT52155S7      Hard Dis

HDD is present in the boot sequence as well:

lab@Centre-re1> start shell
% sysctl -a |grep bootdev
machdep.guessed_bootdev: 2686451712
machdep.bootdevs: pcmcia-flash,pcmcia-flash-1,compact-flash,disk,lan
machdep.nextbootdev: pcmcia-flash
machdep.currbootdev: compact-flash

Solution

When the /var (HDD) directory is seen to be missing in multiple Routing Engines, it might not be a hardware problem and this could easily be resolved by using the steps below. If these steps do not solve the problem, the Routing Engine may need to be replaced due to a hardware issue.

Use the following steps to recover the /var directory:

  1. Boot up the Routing Engine (RE) in single user mode. See steps 1 through 3 in KB1972 - How to recover root password for Junos [juniper.net].

  2. Issue the fsck -y /dev/ad1s1f command a few times(max 2) to correct any error.

  3. Issue the mount /var command.

  4. Reboot the RE again to see if /var can be successfully mounted on /dev/ad1.

Modification History

2023-02-02: Article reviewed for accuracy and found to be valid