Upgrading to 9.3 / Boot USB drives

[BlazeStar]

I was about to update to 9.3 and I've read these notes:

Because it is now possible to accumulate an arbitrary number of ZFS boot
environments, the recommended default installation media size is now 8GB.
For maximum reliability, at least a pair of 8GB devices is suggested.

First I only have a 4GB drive so I'll have to wait.

But what does it mean that a pair of 8GB devices is suggested?

You need two 8GB drives plugged in and then how do you make use of both?

Also, what's the best procedure to go from my 4GB usb drive to those two new 8GB drives?

Just backup the configuration, then do a fresh install, and restore configuration?


Thanks!

 

[dlavigne]

You'll also want to skim through the what's new, install, and boot sections of the 9.3 guide: http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/.

In a nutshell to address your questions, you can install on 4GB, but a larger boot device is recommended to hold the BEs that are created when you apply an update. 9.3 now supports a mirrored boot device, meaning if one boot device fails, the system will still boot. If you do a fresh install, you can select the new boot device(s) to install into. You can install on one boot device now and add a second device and mirror it later.

 

[BlazeStar]

Well, unless you advise against, I'll wait for my two new 16 GB keys to arrive and I'll do a fresh install, then import configuration and encryption keys.

Lot of nice new stuff in http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/ !!

Also, something I was wondering about: right now I have a INTEL RS2WC080 RAID card that I've cross flashed to an LSI9211-8i in IT mode.

The software version I used is P16 as this is what was recommended back then, and it was the version supported by FreeNAS.

Should I keep it that way of re-flash it to a newer version like P20 ?

 

[SweetAndLow]

Keep p16. P20 well not work.

 

[joeschmuck]

Search the forums about the P16, I think it did change but not to P20. And of course they must be the same revision which drives me nuts but it is what it is.

Wait for your new flash devices to come in and do a clean install if you can.

Edit: Nope, it's P16 still. I was thinking about others who didn't have the correct version.

 

[BlazeStar]

Alright thanks!!

Still a few boxing day deals so I bought two Kingston sticks which I think are good quality, just gotta be patient for the delivery now :)