How should i transfer freenas from usb to ssd ?

[bradley o]

I have been running FreeNAS for a year now from a USB and have given up with the long boot times and the USB getting red hot. How should I transfer it from USB to SSD? thanks

 

[Redcoat]

Welcome to the forums.

If it were mine to do, I'd save my configuration, install FreeNAS on my SSD, boot up my server with the SSD and upload my saved configuration to the SSD - job done. All these steps are described in the docs for the version of FreeNAS you are running/will run.

 

[bradley o]

Thanks

 

[Ben Smith]

Redcoat,

Is the reinstall from scratch and then upload configuration a better approach than adding the SSDs to the existing boot pool, allow them to synch and then removing the USBs from the pool?

And if reinstalling from scratch does it have to be the exact same version? I'm one update behind but would rather move to SSD first before doing any upgrades.

Ben

 

[Redcoat]

Hi, @Ben Smith .

In theory it can be done the way that you suggest, but I have seen several reports of people not being successful adding drives to the boot pool, I have never tried it that way (that I can recall anyway) so I can't comment on it from experience.

If you install from scratch it does not have to be the same version. Of course it can be if you wish. Just download your preferred starting point.

 

[Ben Smith]

Thanks.

 

[artlessknave]

it was at one point not possible to add more than 2 drives total to the boot pool within the GUI. if you reinstall you generally dont want to restore a config backup from significantly differing versions (11.1 to 11.2) if at all possible.

 

[Constantin]

In the past, the boot pool could be lots of drives. Currently, it seems to be limited to two.

For the sake of simplicity, I'd use the boot pool method - i.e. install SSD, add it to the boot pool, then let it resilver the SSD. Finally, once the SSD transfer is done, detach the USB in the GUI and be done with it.

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

Yes, as of 11.3 the GUI will not allow more than 2 in the boot pool mirror, but resilvering a new (same or bigger) SSD into the boot pool and then removing the USB should be fine.

 

[Constantin]

Once the resilver is done and the USB device has been detached, you can expand the boot pool into the remaining space on the SSD. That in turn should allow you to store more versions of FreeNAS and/or expand scratch space for the OS.

 

[artlessknave]

Yes, as of 11.3 the GUI will not allow more than 2 in the boot pool mirror, but resilvering a new (same or bigger) SSD into the boot pool and then removing the USB should be fine.

this is hardly new in 11.3, there was at least one relatively recent but previous version with this limitation of 2 drive boot pool

 

[Constantin]

I don’t think this is being reported as “new”. I had the same issue in 11.2 and IIRC, in past revisions of FreeNAS more drives were allowed.

I should check to see what the bug status is, as this was allegedly reported.

 

[artlessknave]

I don’t think this is being reported as “new”.

Yes, as of 11.3 the GUI will not allow more than 2

it isn't new, that is my point. was merely highlighting that saying that this is new in 11.3 is demonstrably incorrect.

 

[pschatz100]

Once the resilver is done and the USB device has been detached, you can expand the boot pool into the remaining space on the SSD. That in turn should allow you to store more versions of FreeNAS and/or expand scratch space for the OS.

Is this actually easier than doing a new install and restoring a saved configuration? Can it be done through the FreeNAS GUI?

 

[artlessknave]

Is this actually easier

it's about the same really, both are braindead easy, because, yes it can be done in the gui up to 2 drives; you CAN do more at the command line but then you are working outside the GUI and thats not recomended). I'm really sure why they decided to force 2 drives as the limit.

 

[Constantin]

Is this actually easier than doing a new install and restoring a saved configuration? Can it be done through the FreeNAS GUI?

Yes to both. Though getting the boot pool mirrored is not 100% intuitive. Post upgrade, don’t forget to check the expand box.

 

[artlessknave]

hmm. actually, you can have 3x mirror boot if you select so on install. you just can't expand to 3x mirror from 2 from the GUI for whatever reason that seems arbitrary.
for the record, the boot pool mirroring itself is fairly intuitive...it's the getting to the screen for doing so that isn't.
11.2: system>boot environments>boot pool status>3 dots on pool>attach>select drive (attach fails if 2 exist)
11.3: system>boot>actions>boot pool status>3 dots on existing drive>attach>select a drive (no attach option if 2 exist)

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

this is hardly new in 11.3, there was at least one relatively recent but previous version with this limitation of 2 drive boot pool

Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was a new issue, just that, as of latest version on the bleeding edge you're still limited to two. I think it's just GUI logic that nobody questioned.

 

[artlessknave]

except it's not GUI logic, that would imply to me that they did it because the GUI needs it to, but the GUI already did this and they removed it. I have no idea why.

 

[Tsaukpaetra]

except it's not GUI logic

I think it actually is. You get one set of options for "Has only one disk in the vdev" and another set of options for "Has more than one disk in the vdev". That the "Attach a disk" option isn't present when there are more than one disk present is a GUI error, and I'm reasonably certain if you "hack" the option back in it will probably work as expected, hence a GUI logic issue.

Sadly I can't attempt this because I was dumb and moved the boot pool to drives that are ever-so-slightly-larger than my other flash drives, so I'll be going the reinstall route myself momentarily to get myself out of a stupid situation with drives that can't handle being scrubbed...

Edit: I will note that now I've searched the JIRA I note that 2+ boot mirror is indeed intentionally not supported.

https://jira.ixsystems.com/browse/NAS-103937

https://jira.ixsystems.com/browse/NAS-101200?focusedCommentId=89038&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-89038