Hardware Swap

[NYRANGERS423]

Hi, So my Freenas has been doing great for a few months but I want to upgrade the MB/CPU/RAM. I have some sensitive data on my drives and I am not sure how I should swap out the motherboard. I keep thinking, would I have to remember the original ports for each drive connected to each sata port (Sata_0, Sata_1, etc) and connect it to the corresponding ports on the new motherboard? Or will Freenas import all the drives correctly anyway, regardless of the ports they are plugged into. If anyone can walk me through what i should do or any helpful information it will be greatly appreciated. THANKS!

I have a ZFS Pool and my drives are in a Raid-z2. Freenas is also installed on a USB flash drive.

 

[Spearfoot]

Hi, So my Freenas has been doing great for a few months but I want to upgrade the MB/CPU/RAM. I have some sensitive data on my drives and I am not sure how I should swap out the motherboard. I keep thinking, would I have to remember the original ports for each drive connected to each sata port (Sata_0, Sata_1, etc) and connect it to the corresponding ports on the new motherboard? Or will Freenas import all the drives correctly anyway, regardless of the ports they are plugged into. If anyone can walk me through what i should do or any helpful information it will be greatly appreciated. THANKS!

I have a ZFS Pool and my drives are in a Raid-z2. Freenas is also installed on a USB flash drive.

No, you don't have to use particular SATA ports. FreeNAS doesn't care which SATA ports, or in what order, your drives are plugged in -- it will import your pool regardless.

Save a copy of your FreeNAS system's configuration file before you swap the board (System->General->Save Config on the WebGUI), and if it were me, I would detach your pool when you shut down the old system for the last time, and plan on importing it when you've installed the new motherboard.

Good luck! And welcome to the forums!

 

[Stux]

And make sure you're not using encryption.

 

[Spearfoot]

And make sure you're not using encryption.

Right! And if you are using encryption, save a copy of the encryption key!

 

[NYRANGERS423]

No, you don't have to use particular SATA ports. FreeNAS doesn't care which SATA ports, or in what order, your drives are plugged in -- it will import your pool regardless.

Save a copy of your FreeNAS system's configuration file before you swap the board (System->General->Save Config on the WebGUI), and if it were me, I would detach your pool when you shut down the old system for the last time, and plan on importing it when you've installed the new motherboard.

Good luck! And welcome to the forums!

THANKS SO MUCH !!

I do have the config saved. If I don't have the config saved or I decide to start Freenas from scratch will that effect my import of my pool? Also, are my jails saved as a config on the Freenas OS drive or are the configurations saved on the pool. I am wondering this because if I decide to start Freenas from scratch I would want to keep some of my jails I have set up. THANKS AGAIN!

 

[danb35]

If I don't have the config saved or I decide to start Freenas from scratch will that effect my import of my pool?

Nope. Go to the GUI, Import Volume, and you're set.

Also, are my jails saved as a config on the Freenas OS drive or are the configurations saved on the pool.

The only thing saved in the config is the path to the jails root dataset. Import your pool to a clean install, set the jail root path to the correct location, and the system should pick up your existing jails automagically.

 

[NYRANGERS423]

Thanks everyone! You all were very helpful.