Freenas / ZFS pool to other hardware?

[asw2012]

Hi,
I've been using my own Freenas built box for 7 or so years. It's served me well. It's configured as RAIDz3, 8 disks.

I just do not have the time to upkeep the FREENAS box anymore and want to go over to a much simpler system (Synology / QNAP, etc).

Is there any hardware that I can simply unplug the 8 drives from my existing Freenas and plug them in? Will the new system recognize that pool? Or will I have to transfer all of the data to a temporary location, take the 8 drives out, plug them into the new system, start from fresh then re-transfer the data back onto the new pool/system?

thanks.

 

[Chris Moore]

Is it hardware maintenance that you are trying to skip? You could buy a diskless FreeNAS system. Have you looked at these:

FreeNAS Mini - iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers

www.ixsystems.com

The FreeNAS Mini XL would take your eight drives. You would need to import the pool and create a share. Pretty simple. Those other systems would also need periodic updates of the OS. I managed some QNAP systems where I used to work and they are running s customized version of Linux which they release an update for about once a month. FreeNAS updates are less frequent.

I guess I am not sure what upkeep you are looking to get free from.

 

[asw2012]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the information. I have been studying both the Synology and QNAP latest offerings. It seems like both of them have simplified the updating and maintaining process.

~7 years ago, when I wanted to transfer all of my DVD / Bluray collection to a NAS box, 15TB was very expensive to purchase outright, that's the reason I went to FREENAS. I built my own box.

Now, my problem is I don't access my server console but once every 6-8 months. I have to re-learn how to get around again, commands, etc. Updating from version to version, keeping up with the latest and stable version... it's a bit frustrating. Also, on the hardware side, I did do an upgrade about 3 years ago and I spent nearly 1 week (when I had time) getting it to run (I remember having to update firmware / bios etc).

I simply do not have the time anymore to "tinker" with FREENAS like I once did. I am wanting something to plug in, set up and leave alone, constant software upgrades being pushed to the system.... etc..... (and not hard to figure out after not being used for 8 months or so).

That iXsystems box is the same Freenas environment I am currently trying to avoid correct?

 

[jgreco]

The iXsystems box is just a prebuilt/preinstalled FreeNAS.

However, don't be fooling yourself about Synology/QNAP. There are definitely maintenance and upgrade issues when going that route as well. The big difference seems to be that when something goes awry with your vendor-provided NAS, your recourse is somewhat more limited in that you probably have to reach out to their tech support to walk you through a recovery process. We own a number of Synology NAS units here and they're fantastic when they work, but when things go sideways, it's teh suck. Major version upgrades (i.e. DSM 5->6) haven't been super-smooth in my experience. The requirement to have some external device running Synology Assistant to bootstrap the device is another big annoyance.

I'm not saying any particular thing is a good choice for you, but do be aware that the green grass on the other side of the fence might have some astroturf mixed in.

 

[Jessep]

To change from FreeNAS to Synology you would have to have temporary storage, there will be no way to import your current drives directly into Synology.

Likely easiest to buy new Synology/drives and copy over, leaving the old system as backup. More expensive, but much less work/risk.

FYI: I do agree with the other posts, I manage several Synology systems at work and I wouldn't say they are worth the cost. Then they age out they will be replaced with Dell boxes running hardware Raid6 and Windows. Since they are backup targets and require ReFS (Veeam) it will be MUCH easier to maintain. We also have a QNAP box for Veeam agent backups, of the two I prefer Synology.

 

[asw2012]

Thanks for the information so far. As I suspected, I would need temporary storage to transfer the data to (if I'm going to use Synology or QNAP). I'm going to do some more research. Thank you all for your responses, it will factor in my decision.