SOLVED Import existing zpool in new Install

[Roman Paravicini]

I looked around the forum and am pretty sure that what I need can be done, but just to be sure:

My old FreeNAS boot drive (USB Stick) stopped working after the latest update I made via the GUI. The new FreeNAS Version and the old one have write errors while starting, and zfs status tells me that the boot drive zpool is degraded, data zpool (2 mirrored drives) seems fine. I save my FreeNAS config to another computer, so my idea is to simply reinstall FreeNAS on a new boot drive (SATADOM this time) and then import the data zpool.

Is there anything I should keep in mind, or am I completely wrong and this will not work? I just want to make sure the reinstall wont mess with the existing data zpool.

Steps (if I am right) would be:

• install FreeNAS on the new boot drive
• copy FreeNAS config to new drive
• restart machine
• import old zpool

Anything I missed?

 

[nojohnny101]

You have the general idea. To be more specific, the steps are;
1) save config
2) install FreeNAS on boot media
3) upload config file from GUI
4) your system will reboot and you should be good to go.

NOTE: while the config file does contain almost all your settings, it does not contain everything. See this thread for details.

 

[Roman Paravicini]

Thanks for the fast response!

Config is already saved, manually pulled /data/FreeNAS-v1.db from the old drive (and learned to periodically save the file to external disk from time to time).

Nice to know that the config save nearly everything, even the zpool information.

 

[nojohnny101]

Welcome. Maybe post back if you go through and get everything up and running again. It will help anyone who finds this thread when searching.

Also you can mark thread as "solved".:)

 

[Roman Paravicini]

Hi,

jup got it up and running again. Worked like a charm and took not even 30 minutes of time.

• Installed FreeNAS on the new boot device
• Uploaded config file via GUI
• Rebooted
• Ready to roll!

Thanks for the feedback and reassurance!

 

[Bhoot]

@Roman Paravicini there are scripts which send you config files on your mail. I would think that is an easier and safer option :)

 

[Roman Paravicini]

Thanks for the idea, I'll look that up!

 

[Bhoot]

Thanks for the idea, I'll look that up!

Sorry I was on my mobile at that time, had difficulties searching for the correct thread. @Bidule0hm has done this forum a huge favor by writing the scripts.
THIS
IMO this thread is the best. I have been using a few (maybe all) of them and they work like a charm. They can obviously be tweaked for different results and the cron job frequency can be varied depending on personal requirements. :)

 

[Roman Paravicini]

Wow, thanks again for looking them up for me.

This forum and its users are really great!