FreeNAS 8.x to 9.3 - Upgrade process

[Scharbag]

I have a buddy who I built a system for using the 8.3.2 release. It is just a simple file server and has worked great.

I would like to help him upgrade it and would like to know if there are any best practices for this upgrade.

From other readings it seems that it may be best to do a fresh install and then set all the stuff up again. Is there any other way? Unfortunately, the server is about 2700 miles from me :). If not, oh well. Not too much stuff to set-up again.

Any help would be totally cool.

Cheers,

 

[enemy85]

I'll start checking if the hw is appropriate for FN 9.3 (it's well known that the 8.x version used to need less resources...).
In case is ok, i think too the best would be a fresh install: the upgrade is ok between 9.2 and 9.3, but i think so many things have changed from 8.x version.

 

[Ericloewe]

All things considered, if there's not much to setup again, a fresh install might be faster and simpler than the tedious process of upgrading only a few version at a time.

Upgrades to 9.3 are safest from 9.2.1.6 and up.

 

[Scharbag]

Yeah, what I figured from other reading. Not a big deal.

The hardware should be good as the system was purchased right when 8.2.3 was at the end of its cycle. Intel i3 with 16GB of ram and 5 3TB HDDs running off the internal SATA ports. It is newer than my server.

Thanks for the info!!

 

[Scharbag]

Upgrade went well. Stepped through 9.1.1 to 9.2.1.1 to 9.2.1.6 to 9.3. Easier than teaching my buddy how to make a boot USB...

Cheers,