How to backup & rebuild FreeNAS?

[BillyBob2]

Is there a quick method of backpacking up my FreeNAS box so as to make it quick and simple to restore?

I would like to add more disks to my FreeNAS box, while only having one VDEV. I understand, I need to destroy my current VDEV, and build it again.
And understand that all of my data will be destroyed.

What about the time and effort I put into getting the settings just right for my FreeNAS box. I did not take any notes on all of the changes that I had made.

Configuration wise, how would I go about getting my original configuration back, without having to enter it all in again by hand?

its not as simple as restoring my FreeNAS backup file. I tried it, without success. As the structure of my drives have changed. is there a specific method of backing this up. so that the next time I need to add more disk, all I need to do is build the VDEV and restore the structure and what ever else was before hand.

or it just ain't possible? you got to do it all over again.

 

[ProtoSD]

Please spend a little less time posting and RTFM. This is about the 100th+ time this question has been asked.

 

[fracai]

You really shouldn't need to rebuild from scratch.

1) Update the backup of your data
2) Destroy the pool
3a) Shutdown
3b) Add your new drives
3c) Boot
4) Build your new pool using the FreeNAS GUI / command line

 

[JaimieV]

Destroying and recreating the vdev doesn't affect the FreeNAS OS or settings at all, so there's nothing you need to do. All that stuff lives on the USB stick.

Using the config backup and restore does work, but doesn't adapt to any changes you may have made to the volumes. If you've changed the paths for your shares, you need to fix those up manually.