don´t understand 11.2 beta and 11.2 stable-train

[luler]

hello,
please, can you explain me if freenas 11.2 from the stable train is safe for production use?

I don´t understand why there is first a beta-version you have to install and from this beta-version you can switch to 11.2-stable train and do an update. Is this update then beta too or is that for production use?
My machine is used as fileserver an a DC in a jail.

Thanks for your help!

 

[dlavigne]

11.2-STABLE is the name of the train for the lifecycle of the 11.2 series (from BETA to RC to RELEASE to U# updates). Historically trains have been called "STABLE" to indicate that they are built from FreeBSD STABLE, but we will be rethinking the terminology for the 11.3 train when that becomes a thing to help avoid confusion.

The Release Notes always indicate the state of a version and any known issues for that version. These are available in the UI and archived at https://www.ixsystems.com/blog/knowledgebase_category/freenas-release-notes/ .

 

[anmnz]

Historically trains have been called "STABLE" to indicate that they are built from FreeBSD STABLE

And if you want to know what "FreeBSD STABLE" means exactly, and why it does not mean "bug-free" or "production-ready", @wblock has a nice explanation here: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/stable.html

 

[kdragon75]

Yeah its "stable" from a programmer's perspective. The KPIs wont change and break anything you have written against them. Its a bit silly for most people but if that's the world you live and work in, it makes sense.

 

[spotcatbug]

I got caught out by this. I'm on 11.2-BETA1. Being relatively new to FreeNAS, I was unaware of this odd naming convention and I thought 11.2-STABLE was the latest stable release. Gosh, I feel dumb... not. But whatever.

Now that BETA2 is out on 11.2-STABLE, I've been meaning to ask - and this seems as good a place as any, rather than starting a whole new thread about a tiny little 11.2-STABLE question:

What's the general thought on how to move forward once you're accidentally on a beta release? I'm on BETA1, it's working. I don't want to go back to 11.1-U4 (U5 didn't work out for me). 11.2 has the encryption option for cloud sync. I really want to keep that. Everything is working for me (as far as I know.)

For a normal, actually stable release I would just upgrade, but... should I upgrade to BETA2? Or now, since it's working for me and I wouldn't have updated to 11.2 had I known it was beta, should I just stick at BETA1 until 11.2-STABLE hits release stage?

 

[anmnz]

Its a bit silly for most people but if that's the world you live and work in, it makes sense.

Exactly!

As part of a naming strategy for a operating system codebase's long-lived code branches -- perfect.

As a name that gets exposed to FreeNAS end users through the upgrade UI -- not so great...

 

[kdragon75]

Yeah.... Stay where you are unless you find an issue. Keep up on the releases and the changelogs. Once the "RELEASE" version or whatever they call it is out, then upgrade. It should be a simple update as its all the same train.