Install FreeNAS over TrueNAS

[alkyred]

I have a server that was originally our production TrueNAS server and it has TrueNAS 9.10.2 currently installed. This server has now been moved to a backup\archive role for us and the TrueNAS support has run out. I would like to upgrade the server to the latest stable FreeNAS version. Has anyone done this before?

It currently has 21TB of data and I hope I can do an in place upgrade. Really don;t want to copy all that data.

Thanks,

Todd

 

[Chris Moore]

I would like to upgrade the server to the latest stable FreeNAS version. Has anyone done this before?

Depending on the exact nature of the hardware, it may not be possible. Although iXsystems makes both software packages, in their TrueNAS lineup, they sell some hardware configurations that are not supported in FreeNAS.
To answer, it would take hardware details that you have not provided.

 

[alkyred]

Depending on the exact nature of the hardware, it may not be possible. Although iXsystems makes both software packages, in their TrueNAS lineup, they sell some hardware configurations that are not supported in FreeNAS.
To answer, it would take hardware details that you have not provided.

Sorry for I ignorance but when you say hardware, you mean the motherboard and HBA cause the processor, memory and drives should be anything unique right?

 

[HoneyBadger]

Sorry for I ignorance but when you say hardware, you mean the motherboard and HBA cause the processor, memory and drives should be anything unique right?

Basically the full system configuration - while the hardware itself is likely to be supported, the way it's being used might not be. For example, TrueNAS has official, built-in support for fibre channel; FreeNAS does not.

I'm not sure at all if the TrueNAS configuration is compatible (or can be edited in order to be compatible) with the FreeNAS import process, but my hunch is "not without a lot of work" - so your "upgrade path" would likely involve manually recording all of the configuration (eg: NFS exports, iSCSI targets, LUN mappings, etc) inside of TrueNAS, removing the old boot device, installing FreeNAS 11.1-U6 (don't use betas in production!) and then importing the TrueNAS pool. Don't upgrade the pool version itself, in case you need to go back, but then re-configure the FreeNAS install to do the same thing.

This might or might not be viable depending on the degree of configuration necessary; if it's just a couple simple NFS exports then it might be a five-minute job, but if it's multiple iSCSI ZVOLs with CHAP and a bunch of SMB/NFS directories with specific permissions, it is likely going to be a painful exercise.

 

[Chris Moore]

Sorry for I ignorance but when you say hardware, you mean the motherboard and HBA

That, and we need to know if there is any hardware fail-over or other special things like @HoneyBadger mentioned. TrueNAS has 'dual head' configurations where (effectively) two servers are running all the time with one of them accessing the drives and the other just on standby waiting for the first to fail so it can take over and pickup where the other left off.
It might be possible to put FreeNAS on a hardware configuration like that, but you would not be able to get the same functionality because FreeNAS has no fail-over capability.

 

[HoneyBadger]

It might be possible to put FreeNAS on a hardware configuration like that, but you would not be able to get the same functionality because FreeNAS has no fail-over capability.

Also very important. If it's a dual-headed TrueNAS HA system, you would only be able to use one of the two halves with FreeNAS. Running both at once would likely result in both FreeNAS systems trying to import and manage the pool at the same time. Which would result in Very Bad Things happening to your data.

 

[alkyred]

The good news is the system I have is a very simple implementation of TrueNAS not a dual-headed HA system. This is an archive server with only AFS running, and cloud sync to Amazon S3. Nothing fancy. My concern is really only data. The configuration is so simple that I could recreate the configuration. I just don't want to loose the 21Tb of data.

 

[kdragon75]

LUN mappings

Don't forget the extent serial numbers. Otherwise VMware will make a mess of things. That is if you used it with this server.

 

[HoneyBadger]

The good news is the system I have is a very simple implementation of TrueNAS not a dual-headed HA system.

Wonderful. In all likelihood then, you can do a manual upgrade as I outlined before (manually recording the config, using new boot media, and using FreeNAS 11.1-U6) - your data should not be lost, because both systems are speaking OpenZFS v5000 and your old pool won't have any feature flags that the new system can't figure out. Like I mentioned though; don't upgrade the pool until you're 100% certain the new one is working.

Don't forget the extent serial numbers. Otherwise VMware will make a mess of things. That is if you used it with this server.

Good catch. I know the upgrade from 9.2 to 9.3 and the switch in iSCSI targets broke a lot of things; but a net new install would have the same issues. Thankfully OP didn't use iSCSI, only AFP, so unless there's a similar property (which I don't think so) it should be safe.

 

[alkyred]

I did throw out a request to iXsystems to see if they had insight on installing FreeNAS over a TrueNAS installation. They responded that they will get back to me.

I will update this post with their answer and the outcome of my upgrade.

 

[Chris Moore]

I did throw out a request to iXsystems to see if they had insight on installing FreeNAS over a TrueNAS installation. They responded that they will get back to me.

I will update this post with their answer and the outcome of my upgrade.

They will probably tell you it is not supported, but I am still not sure if we have enough details about the hardware to ensure FreeNAS will work. Are there any special interface cards in the unit? What model system board is it? Have you popped the lid off and looked inside?

 

[alkyred]

They will probably tell you it is not supported, but I am still not sure if we have enough details about the hardware to ensure FreeNAS will work. Are there any special interface cards in the unit? What model system board is it? Have you popped the lid off and looked inside?

per support:

The Answer is yes, he needs to use a FreeNAS version of equal or more recent. (Hint TrueNAS 11.1-U6= FreeNAS 11.1-U6, so any FreeNAS more recent then that.) He needs to Import the pool not create a new one. As far as the pool is concerned his data will be fine. He may have to configure Shares/Networking, but all his data/datasets will be there.

 

[Chris Moore]

The Answer is yes

Thanks for getting back to us on this.