SOLVED Add disks from previous installed FreeNas System

[Perino]

Hi,

today iam standing for this big question:
I have some disks in my server from a previous installed FreeNas system. This disks have the UFS filesystems and are full of data. How can I attach/import this disks into my new existing FreeNas 9.3 system without endager the existing data?

Thanks!

 

[dlavigne]

Assuming that you are on 9.3 and have a ZFS dataset to copy the data into, follow the instructions in http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#import-disk.

 

[Perino]

Yes, Iam on 9.3, but I dont have any ZFS datasets. This is because there is an underlying hardware storage controller and all disks (big raid6 storage) are formated as UFS from the previous FreeNas system (9.1).
So how can I get access to my data which were configured from the earlier installed FreeNas system?

 

[pirateghost]

Install an earlier version of FreeNAS, since, as the documentation tells you, ufs is not supported except as read only....

 

[Perino]

That's really great! No hints during the update and futhermore this is also not a major release upgrade.
Is there a way to mount the disks in read only mode? Then I would try to export the data to another system.

 

[pirateghost]

That's really great! No hints during the update and futhermore this is also not a major release upgrade.
Is there a way to mount the disks in read only mode? Then I would try to export the data to another system.

I literally told you the documentation covers exactly that and Dru pointed you to the exact page....

9.3 actually was a pretty major release and changed a lot of things. The least you could do is read up on it before jumping in and upgrading.

You have 2 choices:
Use the link Dru gave you, and utilize that info.
Or
Install 9.2.1.9 and use your ufs volume.

 

[joeschmuck]

You are better off to revert back to an older version to be honest.

EDIT: I just read Dru's suggestion which actually makes more sense if you have a ZFS pool already setup and it's a faster operation as well. I use Import Disk when I copy backup files of my laptop which reside on an external USB drive, copy those right to the NAS.

 

[hugovsky]

Yes, Iam on 9.3, but I dont have any ZFS datasets. This is because there is an underlying hardware storage controller and all disks (big raid6 storage) are formated as UFS from the previous FreeNas system (9.1).
So how can I get access to my data which were configured from the earlier installed FreeNas system?

Assuming a raid card, probably freenas can't recognize it correctly.

 

[Perino]

Ive also tried to install a previous version (dowloaded 9.2.1.9) but the iso images of the previous images don't seems to be complete. There is an error while booting with grub loader.
The systems shows up that a file is missing in the /boot/grub/i386_pc folder. But as I can see, in the previous image versions, there is no i386_pc directory at all :-(
So iam struggeling very hard to get my system running again and I remember the old sentence 'never touch a running system'.

First it was not possible to run the system with 9.3,
because our server has an internal USB stick and the booting routine hangs, with this version on during the boot procedure. After lots of hours it was possible to start with 9.3
on our Dell server again. Now we face the circumstances that we can not access our data on a system, which was earlier created by FreeNas itself. Finally, it seems to be very
hard to go back to an earlier version, because older iso images on download.freenas.org seems to be uncomplete.

Iam really frustrated :-(

 

[Perino]

Assuming a raid card, probably freenas can't recognize it correctly.

The raid card was well known in the previous versions of FreeNas and both FreeNas as well as the storage subsystem did a great job.

 

[joeschmuck]

Can you explain in detail the problem. Also you should have downloaded the iso from: http://download.freenas.org/9.2.1.9/RELEASE/x64/

 

[Perino]

Can you explain in detail the problem. Also you should have downloaded the iso from: http://download.freenas.org/9.2.1.9/RELEASE/x64/

Yes, I used the link you have mentioned. The system raise up with an boot error, because a xxxxx.mod file is missing in the /boot/grub/i386_pc folder. If you have a look into the .iso image, you can see, that there
are no folders in /boot/grub, only one file. If you compare it with e.g. version 9.3 iso image, than you will see, that there are several folders in /boot/grub/ are missing including i386_pc. I downloaded as well
some other previous versions of FreeNas iso images, with the same result.

 

[joeschmuck]

Let me check into it quickly. I'll post again in a few minutes.

 

[pirateghost]

If there is something wrong with the one on download.FreeNAS.org I have a copy I can upload somewhere.

 

[joeschmuck]

So I downloaded the iso image from the link provided and installed it without issue into a VM. I'd say the issue is on your end.

Suggestions... Use a different USB flash drive. Unplug all the hard drives and try the installation again.

Do you know what FreeNAS version you were running before?

 

[joeschmuck]

Also, what was the reason for upgrading FreeNAS to version 9.3? Did you have a hardware failure, software stopped working, etc...

 

[Perino]

I took the .usb image and changed the extension from .usb to .iso. This image is working now. But iam not able to get the server up with the
last 9.2.1.9 image. Iam not able to get the system up with an installation of FreeNas on disk nor on a usb stick.

I become desperated. Now I try to boot from DVD and try the whole procedure again. Iam working with three different USB sticks and
also with a storage subsystem connected to a PERC700 Controller. And the server is a DELL midrange server.

The reason for upgrading was on the one hand we had some permisson troubles on the CIFS shares and on the other hand I've tried to install
a fibre-channel HBA. But I wasn't successful with the HBA. So I thought upgrading to 9.3 could get me closer to resolve my problems.

Now I have much more troubles! We have around 24TB of data and several people cannot access them since a few days. :-(

 

[SweetAndLow]

How are you copying the image to the USB? Changing the .usb to an iso is very strange! It might work but it also tells me you don't know what you are doing and should maybe be paying someone else to do this for you. Did you verify the download using the hash provided?

 

[joeschmuck]

You should have a backup of all your data if you are a business, and definitely before you introduce any changes like you have been doing. Also, you should have used a new USB Flash drive when upgrading so that you could easily revert back to the original. 24TB of data gone, not good. Actually unless you did something very wrong, your data should all be there. FreeNAS doesn't like RAID controller, or should I say, it wasn't designed for RAID controller use.

Unfortunately the information you are providing makes you sound like you have no idea how FreeNAS operates and there is no way that you were the one who built your NAS. You need to get the person who built it to fix the issue.

I'm not sure but Cyberjock may still offer his services but it comes at a cost, and iXsystems will also help you out for a substantial fee.

My sincere advice is to find someone computer literate with FreeNAS/FreeBSD/Linux and have them take care of it because it sounds like you are on the verge of destroying all your data.

 

[Perino]

Yes, in some matters you are right. FreeNAS does not like Raid Controllers and update procedures with FreeNas seems to be very sensitive comparing to lots of other systems.

Finally I have to ride the bullet. Right now, it was possible to bring up a FreeNas System, although the boot wasn't completely clear. Now I should integrate the old disks to get access.
Which way would be the right one? Should I import the disks? There is also the UFS Volume Manager, but here here is the message, that existing data would be cleared?

How can I safely integrate my storage volumes from my previous FreeNas installation?

Thank you