Migrating from v8 to v11 and new server hardware

[Aidan]

Hi,
I've been using FreeNAS v8.02 for a few years (2011) in a school where my wife is the Principal. Other than the original set up I've had little or nothing to do with it since so wouldn't be very savvy. It has been running fine and there's no real issues. However, the kit is fairly basic (good enough for v8 though) and the fan on PSU has started to sound unhealthy. I could replace the fan or PSU of course, but it occurred to me that I could take the opportunity to bring the whole thing up to date with newer, better hardware that I have available and the latest version of FreeNAS. I was planning to install v11 fresh to a new box with new clean drives and the questions I have are:

1. What is the best way to get the data from the old (v8) UFS server to the new (v11) ZFS one? The size is not a lot (< 1 TB) and there are about 100 users, in 5 groups.

a. I've been looking at various places on the Interweb with some suggesting (I think!) that it might be possible to split the v8 mirror, put the drive into the new box and importing the v8 UFS volume onto what will be a v11 ZFS Pool.

b. Some suggestions were to use an external drive formatted in ZFS (though I'm not sure that would work with the v8 server (only has 4Gb RAM and doesn't meet the specs for ZFS/ later versions, I believe - the new server will).

I don't mind having only one server active at a time, I can do this over a weekend.

2. I could possibly put the new v11 server on the network and maybe get the v8 server to copy the data across but bearing in mind that this is ultimately intended to be a REPLACEMENT server, what is the best way to introduce the v11 box to the network? Ideally, I'd like to be able to avoid re-mapping the drives on all the devices that currently access the FreeNAS ('nasdrive'). I am expecting that this would mean that it would need to have the same IP and NetBios name (and so will be a problem). Would I be able to call it e.g. 'nasdrive2' and then rename it back
to the original/ current name ('nasdrive') when finished?

All help gratefully received. Thanks.

 

[Ericloewe]

What is the best way to get the data from the old (v8) UFS server to the new (v11) ZFS one?

Get new disks, setup a ZFS pool and copy stuff over.

nd there are about 100 users, in 5 groups

And no AD? Ouch, that sounds like a nightmare.

I'd like to be able to avoid re-mapping the drives on all the devices that currently access the FreeNas ('nasdrive').

That part is easy, just make sure that the hostname, IP and share structures stay the same.

 

[Aidan]

Thanks Eric - thanks for swift reply - I'd seen some of yours when I was doing the research.

On the first point (transferring data) I have the new box, disks etc. and am awaiting new USB cards to use for the OS, then will be ready to build the new unit. So from your point above, it sounds like you are suggesting I put the new disks in the old server, is that correct? Will the old v8 server be able to create a ZFS pool being the old version and with just 4GB RAM? (I thought it was a restriction). If it was possible and I did that, would I then be able to move these disks (ZFS Pool) into the new v11 server?

No AD - it's not great but it kind of works out in a crude way. It's a Primary School (Elementary in the US?) with 5 teachers and 100 kids and currently about 50 devices so each of them has accounts 'Principal', 'Teacher', 'Assistant' and 'Student' followed by a number that is on the device - it basically means I don't have to worry about changing names as kids and teachers change and they can all access and share content without conflict. The shares I created follow the user names plus a 'Common' one and the access is hierarchical with Principal able to see everything and students only able to see students stuff.

On the Mapping - that's as I thought, basically it's ok as long as I only have one of them on the network (with the sames details) at a time. I mentioned it because I wondered if someone might suggest having the two on together and getting one to either push or pull the data from the other.

Thanks again.

 

[Ericloewe]

On the first point (transferring data) I have the new box, disks etc. and am awaiting new USB cards to use for the OS, then will be ready to build the new unit. So from your point above, it sounds like you are suggesting I put the new disks in the old server, is that correct? Will the old v8 server be able to create a ZFS pool being the old version and with just 4GB RAM? (I thought it was a restriction). If it was possible and I did that, would I then be able to move these disks (ZFS Pool) into the new v11 server?

I'd recommend doing it on the new server, from the command line, with a temporary configuration. Then, upgrade your old install in steps (and keep a backup of the config): 8.02 -> latest 8.x -> 9.2.1.9 -> latest 9.3 -> 11.0-U2

 

[Aidan]

Ah. So to be clear you are saying about doing it on the new server:
1. Create the new server with a v11 ZFS pool on the new disks.

2. "Copy stuff over..." - is this the Import that is in the documentation? For this should I put the 2 mirrored disks that make up the v8 UFS volume currently in use, into the new v11 server? Would it be supported by v11?

3. Then you have "Upgrade the old install in steps....". For what it's worth, I was kind of hoping to create the new v11 one, get the data across (somehow, hence the questions!) and keep the old v8 server in case there was a problem - for a while at least. By the way, if RAM was a problem, the RAM in the new server might be compatible with the old motherboard (v8 server) so if a temporary increase to 8Gb allowed part of the process to complete, I could try it. I know the 4GB that the v8 server uses is partially used for video so it presents as about 3.8Gb or so.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ericloewe]

is this the Import that is in the documentation?

That might work, but there's enough manual labor involved that you might as well do it by hand (you have to setup datasets for the shares, for instance).

Then you have "Upgrade the old install in steps....". For what it's worth, I was kind of hoping to create the new v11 one, get the data across (somehow, hence the questions!) and keep the old v8

Sure, you just need to keep copies of the old config file.

You're probably best off doing the many upgrades in a VM or on the old hardware. What matters is that you get a 9.3 or 11 config that you can import in 11.

 

[gpsguy]

UFS isn't supported on FreeNAS 9.3 and later.*

If you want to temporarily mount the old disk in the new box, you'd need to follow the directions in part a of your opening message, ie, you'd need to split the current mirror.

For this should I put the 2 mirrored disks that make up the v8 UFS volume currently in use, into the new v11 server?

Edit:
*In the GUI. The OS tools are still there.

 

[Aidan]

Thanks folks, would you mind putting it in steps for me - maybe direct me to links where appropriate? I'm comfortable with all the hardware end, but as I don't have that much dealings with the Freenas on a day to day, details are very welcome (or directions to where I'd get them if you're more familiar with where they are). I really don't want to lose the data, but if I have to, I don't mind creating the shares and users from fresh again (as long as they can access the data in the new setup). If do this, do I need to ensure that they end up with the same user ID numbers for instance? I could maybe manage this, doing them in the same order etc. (I can probably have the original user and shares info on the screen of one server while I set up the other).

@gpsguy thanks for joining the conversation - I thought UFS might be a problem alright on the v11 server and ZFS on the v8, but I did see something in the documentation about importing UFS volumes into ZFS pools as single disks (hence the mirror split).

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ericloewe]

UFS isn't supported on FreeNAS 9.3 and later.

Well, the code is still there to mount the devices, so it's possible to just move the data from the shell.

 

[gpsguy]

Well, the code is still there to mount the devices, so it's possible to just move the data from the shell.

I gathered that he could copy the data from the shell. Do you think he'll be able to mount the mirrored set of UFS devices?

 

[Ericloewe]

GEOM is still there, too, so yeah.

 

[gpsguy]

Okay - I stand corrected. To the OP, please disregard my earlier message. Perhaps I can put strike through in the text when I get home tonight.

 

[Ericloewe]

Okay - I stand corrected. To the OP, please disregard my earlier message. Perhaps I can put strike through in the text when I get home tonight.

Fixed it for you, no need to worry about it.

 

[Aidan]

Thanks chaps,

So - from the above it looks like I could:
1. Build the v11 server (with the new disks set up as a ZFS pool),
2. On the other v8 server, break the mirror,
3. Put one of these drives into the v11 server
4. Import (?) the existing data from the v8 UFS volume.

Is that correct? Any chance you could ID the recommended steps, at this stage the back and forth is making it a bit less clear for my understanding. Also, from my involvement so far, I've not really had to do much with the shell so this in particular would not be clear to me. I was hoping it would be all in the GUI.....!
For what it's worth, I had a quick look at the v8 server yesterday and saw that it would allow me to create a ZFS pool - I don't know if this gives me an option of duplicating the UFS Volume data/ structures/ shares onto the new disks and then put them into the v11 server (though not sure if this would be an older version of ZFS or cause some other problem?).
Thanks.

 

[Stux]

I think the major work is actually going to be recreating the user accounts, and configuration.

 

[Ericloewe]

I think the major work is actually going to be recreating the user accounts, and configuration.

That's what this is for, because it's close to impossible to manually recreate such an insane configuration:

Then, upgrade your old install in steps (and keep a backup of the config): 8.02 -> latest 8.x -> 9.2.1.9 -> latest 9.3 -> 11.0-U2

 

[Aidan]

Guys, I appreciate the help but could do with more details if you can manage it at all as I'm not sure what the recommendation is yet.

Is it now to:
Backup the config on the v8 server
Backup the data on the v8 UFS drives sitting on the v8 server
Assemble the new kit, with both the new (blank) drives and old (v8 UFS) drives,
Put the old v8 boot device (a small HDD) in the new server that will be the v11 server
Boot the new server up into v8
Upgrade the v8 boot through the versions mentioned above (8.02 -> latest 8.x -> 9.2.1.9 -> latest 9.3 -> 11.0-U2)
Now with the boot device running v11, create the new ZFS pool
Import the v8 UFS volume into the new ZFS pool
Remove the old v8 UFS drives.
Because I'd be upgrading, I wouldn't have to recreate the configuration (insane or otherwise!).
I had planned to see about keeping the old v8 set up (in case it didn't work) but could do this if it is the best way, also I was planning to use mirrored USB flash drives as the new v11 boot so would want to see if I could replace the small HDD maybe at the end. For this bit, would I backup the new v11 config, put v11 on the USB drives, swop the USB flash drives for the old HDD and then import the v11 config file?
Is that it?

Thanks.

 

[Stux]

This is assuming that v8 can even boot the new server...

 

[Ericloewe]

Put the old v8 boot device (a small HDD) in the new server that will be the v11 server
Boot the new server up into v8
Upgrade the v8 boot through the versions mentioned above (8.02 -> latest 8.x -> 9.2.1.9 -> latest 9.3 -> 11.0-U2)

Instead of this, I recommend doing this in a VM. So, import the configuration backup in a VM running the latest 8.x and run the procedure there.

If that's not possible, do it on the old hardware with some USB drives.

 

[Aidan]

Instead of this, I recommend doing this in a VM. So, import the configuration backup in a VM running the latest 8.x and run the procedure there.

Perhaps I could but this is a world with which I am not at all familiar so would be learning about this (VMs) too which would undoubtedly be worthwhile would probably lead to issues that I wouldn't be able to tell were due to my VM ignorance or with my FreeNAS/ upgrade process ignorance....! I'm sure if I was familiar, it'd be a great way to test my options. As long as I don't lose the configuration and the data, I can play with the kit itself.

If that's not possible, do it on the old hardware with some USB drives.

Yep I thought afterwards that if I wanted to keep the original set up completely, I could put 8.02 on a USB flash drive, import the current v8 configuration onto that USB and then bring the v8 set up on the USB through the upgrade steps described above (probably in either the new or old server kit).
So would the steps above be in line with the recommendation (accepting your point about the USB flash drives)? Thanks.