How to move Freenas - from ESXI to bare metal

[runevn]

During the last year I have ran Freenas as a VM on my Dell r720XD with HBA card in IT-mode. However I want to delete Esxi from my server and then run Freenas directly on the Dell r720XD. I don't have any need for adding additional disks. But I just want to ask the following questions to ensure that I don't mess up. And by the way I have a backup :)

My questions are as follows:

• How should I do this move/migration on the best possible way?
• One of my pools is encrypted with passphrase and encryption key are there special concerns that I should take?
• My Dell r720XD has a dual/mirrored SD-card adapter - can I run Freenas from these SD cards or should I avoid this? And if so what solution should I
• If I save the config file is that everything that I need to save?
• When I import the config file after a fresh install are my pools automatically imported?
• Are there anything else that I should consider before starting the migration/moving?

Any advice is highly appreciated - thanks.

 

[jgreco]

Well, if you followed the directions in

https://www.ixsystems.com/community...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/

then you're probably not too terribly far astray.

So I don't know anything about the current state of encrypted pools. Sorry. :-(

SD cards are a poor choice for FreeNAS because most of them do not have wear leveling, and will tend to burn out quickly. SSD is much better. If the Dell's SD card adapter is recognized by FreeNAS, that's probably the main issue you would run into.

What you generally want to do is to save the configuration from the old system, then export your pools. On the newly installed system, import your pools. THEN load the config.

The main pain point is that both Dell and HP have a tendency to use Broadcom ethernets, so you will need to do some screwing around to reconfigure your networking. This may be unpleasant and you probably have to do it from the console.

 

[runevn]

Well, if you followed the directions in

https://www.ixsystems.com/community...ide-to-not-completely-losing-your-data.12714/

then you're probably not too terribly far astray.

So I don't know anything about the current state of encrypted pools. Sorry. :-(

SD cards are a poor choice for FreeNAS because most of them do not have wear leveling, and will tend to burn out quickly. SSD is much better. If the Dell's SD card adapter is recognized by FreeNAS, that's probably the main issue you would run into.

What you generally want to do is to save the configuration from the old system, then export your pools. On the newly installed system, import your pools. THEN load the config.

The main pain point is that both Dell and HP have a tendency to use Broadcom ethernets, so you will need to do some screwing around to reconfigure your networking. This may be unpleasant and you probably have to do it from the console.

@jgreco - thanks for your reply and for the tip of FIRST import my pool and then the config file.

I just have one question that I want to hear if anyone can help me clarify this note in the manual under section 10.2.8 Importing a pool it says the following:
"For security reasons, encrypted pool keys are not saved in a configuration backup file. When FreeNAS® has been installed to a new device and a saved configuration file restored to it, the keys for encrypted disks will not be present, and the system will not request them. To correct this, export the encrypted pool with (Configure) ➞ Export/Disconnect, making sure that "Destroy data on this pool?" is not set. Then import the pool again. During the import, the encryption keys can be entered as described above."

As I read it I should:

1. Import my encrypted pool
2. Export/disconnected it
3. Import the pool again to be able to add the encryption key.

I'm just want to be sure that I understand it correctly.

 

[jgreco]

As I said, "So I don't know anything about the current state of encrypted pools. Sorry. :-( ".

Still sorry.

 

[runevn]

@jgreco no worry - but thanks for your reply.

Regarding installing Freenas on a SSD - how much of a performance penalty will I experience if I run it from an ordinary spinning disk. I don't know if it matters but I will have 64GB RAM in the machine.

 

[jgreco]

You can install FreeNAS on HDD without issue, but you won't be able to use that HDD for data storage. This is, therefore, extremely wasteful and almost no one does it.