Changing Hardware and Vdev configuration

[Cristian Barbuscia]

Hi,
searched a little bit but didn't find anything similar to my situation.
I'm in the need of both upgrading my hardware (from a HP Proliant to a Fujitsu Celsius Desktop) and changing my vdev configuration (3 disks Raidz to 4 disks Raidz)
I learned that once the vdev is created you cannot change his (her?) configuration and you can only add a different vdev to the pool. So, as in my case both the Proliant and the Celsius have only four 3.5" slots, I can add one more disk but without any fault tolerance.
I also learned that changing the hardware is somehow 'easy', saving the configuration from GUI, and importing it inside the new installation after switching the disks between the two.
So, I'm wondering if there's a path fitting my needs like, for example, saving the data (in this casa what data exactly, I guess not only the shares and the plugins ?!?) outside the freenas, create the new installation with the 4 disks raidz vdev and import the saved data in it.
Ok, I guess that's all.
Thanks to anyone who can help me in advance

P.S.
In case you'll ask: My first configuration with 3 disks was based on both testing and hardware availability at the moment.

 

[anodos]

Upgrading from a server to a desktop? Interesting choice. I assume it meets the hardware requirements for FreeNAS. :)

How many new disks do you have? If you are purchasing 4 new disks for the new server, then the simplest solution is to set up the new server and use ZFS replication to move the data over.

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_storage.html#replication-tasks

If you need to back up to a USB drive, then you can attach it locally, create a ZFS volume on the external drive and copy your data to it. Probably the easiest way to do this is through ZFS replication, but another dead-simple way is to just use "cp" through the command line.

In the latter case (using cp to move your data), you will probably want to use the CLI version of "warden" (jail management software) to export your jail to a file. Some sample commands:

• "warden list" - list your jails
• "warden export myjail --dir=/mnt/BackupDrive" - export your jail
• "warden import /mnt/BackupDrive/myjail.wdn" - import your jail

I assume that the above commands work for migrating jails, but have not tested them in production.

 

[Cristian Barbuscia]

Actually, it's always choices that come out of needs. The Proliant is at it bests when it comes to ram (8GB already installed).
The Fujitsu Celsius has a Xeon processor and 16 Gb Ram (expandable to 32 Gb in the future) so...
Anyway, I was planning to keep the same disks so the timeline should be:

- export
- create new installation with 4 raidz disks vdev (3 from the HP plus one new)
- import in it data backed up
- cross my fingers

Sounds crazy ?

 

[anodos]

Actually, it's always choices that come out of needs. The Proliant is at it bests when it comes to ram (8GB already installed).
The Fujitsu Celsius has a Xeon processor and 16 Gb Ram (expandable to 32 Gb in the future) so...
Anyway, I was planning to keep the same disks so the timeline should be:

- export
- create new installation with 4 raidz disks vdev (3 from the HP plus one new)
- import in it data backed up
- cross my fingers

Sounds crazy ?

Sounds like I probably got some pre-coffee wires crossed. What sort of backup medium do you have (i.e. external hard drives, tape, cloud, etc)? How much data are you trying to back up? How large is your backup medium? If you have to cross your fingers on backing up and restoring data, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Cristian Barbuscia]

Ok, some more info:
3 x 1Tb disks (0,7 Tib Free)
I'm supposed to use a USB external Disk (2 Tb Capacity)
Ok, no finger crossed (I'm not superstitious)