(Long Overdue) Updgrade from FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201412240734, help appreciated

[eldo]

I'm looking for some rough direction on the best way to upgrade my machine to the current stable.
I've currently got various jails configured, but have been thinking about re-making them anyway.

All of my jails I have configured to use storage outside of their respective jails except Plex metadata.
The only jail data I'm really concerned about is plex metadata (which I can easily transfer off into a non-jail vol) and owncloud db and files which are each in their own respective volumes.

I well understand I've got to do some research on owncloud upgrade, as i'm /way/ out of date on that install as well, but of more concern is the proper operating of the machine itself.

I've started to notice weird issues, like SMB faulting out and dumping core, vbox VMs locking up with cryptic storage messages, etc. After checking both smart and zpool health all looks good with 0 logged errors, so I think it may well just be an extra reason to finally do what should have been done long ago and get more current.

My question is what's the best way to move forward?
I don't relish the idea of multiple updates through the 9.3 tree then into 9.10.
Assuming I have a weekend set aside to do everything, does the following path make sense?

Using a new usb (for warm and fuzzies), do a fresh current stable (9.10.2-U4) install and boot into a fresh, clean system.
Import my pool/vols
configure the system settings as required -- email settings, scrub/smart scheduling, snapshot scheduling
re-create my existing jails (considering consolidating into one jail for all of my media server software instead of having each server in its own jail).

Is there anything that I'm missing or misunderstand, or is there a better way to accomplish what I'm after?

Any relevant advice would be most appreciated, thanks all for your time.

For mobile users, system specs below:
BUILD: FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201412240734
MOBO/CPU: Asrock C2750D4I
HDD: 6x 2TB WD20EFRX RED RAIDZ2
RAM: 2x 8GB Kingston ECC DDR3

 

[danb35]

Is there anything that I'm missing or misunderstand

Since you mention vbox VMs, are you aware that support for VirtualBox has gone away? Those would need to be migrated to bhyve/iohyve to continue working with 9.10.2 and later.

is there a better way to accomplish what I'm after?

Clean install of 9.10.2-U4, upload your saved config file?

 

[eldo]

Since you mention vbox VMs, are you aware that support for VirtualBox has gone away? Those would need to be migrated to bhyve/iohyve to continue working with 9.10.2 and later.

I was testing out a ubuntu/mssql VM yesterday on a new vbox jail and it wouldn't be stable, so I moved the VM over to a Probook G2 I have sitting around the house. Otherwise, I haven't used VMs, so vbox going away isn't an issue so long as I have a hypervisor that'll work.

Clean install of 9.10.2-U4, upload your saved config file?

No, it couldn't be /that/ easy, could it?!

Looking at the release notes it seems that the existing 9.3 jails may well just chug right along easy peasy, does that sound right?

 

[danb35]

No, it couldn't be /that/ easy, could it?!

I think it would.

Looking at the release notes it seems that the existing 9.3 jails may well just chug right along easy peasy, does that sound right?

I believe so, but updates in those jails might not work. And if you were going to rebuild them, you might want to wait for the release of 11.0, upgrade to that, and rebuild the jails there instead.

 

[eldo]

I think it would.

I believe so, but updates in those jails might not work. And if you were going to rebuild them, you might want to wait for the release of 11.0, upgrade to that, and rebuild the jails there instead.

I was considering just holding tight until 11.0 release, but I am pretty conservative on updating to new releases and I recall seeing stories after the 9.10 stable release causing issues, etc...

As I was looking around in my system->updates tab, I noticed a selection for Freenas 11 STABLE

thttp://update.freenas.org/FreeNAS/trains.txt
FreeNAS-11-STABLE Release Train for FreeNAS 11.

I don't see FN11 as the provided download off the main site, can anyone explain to me what this means?

 

[danb35]

can anyone explain to me what this means?

iX put the 11 Release Candidates into the STABLE train. Discussed here, among other places.

 

[eldo]

iX put the 11 Release Candidates into the STABLE train. Discussed here, among other places.

Thank you very much! I didn't know where to look, and haven't been active on the forums lately.