11.1-U7 Config file support in TrueNAS 12.x

[The Hobbyist]

I have an old Freenas 11.1-U7 that I have kept back from the upgrade cycle as the project embarked on some rather substantial upgrades. I have a secondary TrueNAS server, I am loving the upgrades and I now feel comfortable upgrading the old 11.x box.

Question #1: Are the config files from Freenas 11.1-U7 fully supported in the latest TrueNAS 12.x?

I may end up just doing a fresh install, importing the zfs volume and importing the config file. I only have a bunch of NFS exports and maybe one or two SAMBA exports, no plugins and nothing hosted in jails.

Questtion #2: I have done a bunch of googling and it seems people have managed to upgrade in place from Freenas 11.x to Truenas 12.x successfully. Would anyone be able to speak to the inherent risk of going this route? Anyone successfully take that journey?

If I do attempt this, I will probably dd the drive over to another ssd just in case, but it would be neat to hear if anyone has done such a large jump between versions.

Thank you kindly.

 

[pschatz100]

I believe the recommended route would be to upgrade to 11.3-U5 first, then go to 12.x. I doubt there is much risk in following this path.

There will be no risk to your data, regardless. Just don't update the ZFS version until you are comfortable with the new TrueNAS installation. That way, you can always revert back to an earlier FreeNAS should there be a problem.

 

[mudshark]

Is this confirmed that simply upgrading FreeNAS 11.x to TrueNAS core 13.x works without issue?
Thanks.
I want to u/g my 11.1-u7 to the current core but saw somewhere that the current core requires all disks to be the same size. I started with (5) 4TB drives and am upgrading to 6TB drives one at a time as $$$ allows. Currently, I have (3) 4TB and (2) 6TB drives installed in a zfs-z3 configuration.
I have no plug-ins or jails, etc. It is a very straightforward configuration.
Is a guide needed to accomplish this?
Thanks.

 

[The Hobbyist]

Just jumping back in here to let you know that I have successfully upgraded Freenas 11.1 to Truenas 13.x. The process was very simple: DO NOT skip any upgrade steps and simply apply the sequential recommended updates.

I would not recommend jumping directly from 11.x to 13.x simply because there is NO ONE testing permutations of the upgrade process between greater than single sequential jump. The upgrade testing is done only sequentially and it is best to simply pay the price in time necessary to get this done.

I was lucky in that my server os is on an NVME so it was super quick and 6 reboots or so.

Of course, I had tons of backups of the config files and replicated storage and you should always have that on hand during an upgrade process.

All in all, this was quite eye opening. Freenas 11.1 was released in 2017 and being able to just upgrade through each of the releases so cleanly for a 5 year jump is really amazing. I am very thankful to the community at large, the users here and current and past employees of IX that make all of this possible.