SOLVED CRON Scripts missing after 11.3-U5 upgrade

[linus12]

After upgrading to 11.3-U5 all of the scripts under /root are missing.

If I reboot using the saved boot environment (under System -> Boot) will they be there, to be copied somewhere else?

I never thought that the entire /boot directory would be replaced during an upgrade like this.

 

[linus12]

So yes. I rebooted into the 11.3-U1 boot environment and all the scripts are there ready to be
copied to the updated system.

Edit: completed the sentence.

 

[jgreco]

If you are placing anything within the system areas of a FreeNAS/TrueNAS system, you should expect that it could and may be replaced, moved, overwritten, removed, etc. This is an appliance OS and user modifications outside of the GUI are not supported. This used to be harsher when the system was distributed as a binary image to be installed on a 1GB USB drive, and now with ZFS it is easy to be fooled into thinking that it is just a plain FreeBSD system, but to be safe, you should always place any data, scripts, logs, etc., that are dear to you in the main pool.

 

[linus12]

If you are placing anything within the system areas of a FreeNAS/TrueNAS system, you should expect that it could and may be replaced, moved, overwritten, removed, etc. This is an appliance OS and user modifications outside of the GUI are not supported. This used to be harsher when the system was distributed as a binary image to be installed on a 1GB USB drive, and now with ZFS it is easy to be fooled into thinking that it is just a plain FreeBSD system, but to be safe, you should always place any data, scripts, logs, etc., that are dear to you in the main pool.

I get that....
Unfortunately, throughout the Forum the advice or "documented practice" is to put scripts like these in directories under /root. I know now that is not correct. Unfortunately, when searching the forums, the practice of placing them in the main (or other) pool is not given, even by long time users. Granted most of the entries seem to be from 3 or 4 (or longer) years ago, but they are the ones that show up when searching.

In my case, the scripts are not for modifying the OS or its features. They are used to control fans and monitor system temps and other hardware related items that the FreeNAS has chosen not to attempt to control or moderate; something I completely agree with given the wide variety of hardware that the OS can be run on.

The OS allows you to identify, setup, and run these scripts (as per Section 8 - Tasks of the Documentation). I guess my lament is more that the Documentation should suggest that these items should be kept in one of the pools. This is indicated in the Init/Shutdown Scripts section, but not in the Cron Jobs Section.

 

[jgreco]

I don't recall ever having seen advice to place scripts under /root that wasn't immediately corrected, although I'm sure that some may have slipped through. If you run across these, feel free to post a note and we can make sure correct information is posted.