Migration from Scale to Core

[Patrick_3000]

I might need to migrate from Scale back to Core, and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice as to whether I should do so and any tips on how to do so.

As some brief background, I have a home lab that's used to store not only my personal and work data, but also my spouse's home-based business data. Until last year, I used Truenas Core (and before that Freenas). However, last year, I switched to Scale. The only reasons I switched are that I'm more familiar with Linux than FreeBSD, and I thought Scale would be easier to maintain. I don't use any containers or VMs.

As it turns out, I was wrong about maintainability. I learned recently that rsync modules are being phased out of Scale in the next version, Cobia, which is due out later this year. The reason has to do with security, which is not an issue in my case since the rsync modules I use back up to other (non-Truenas) clients that are behind an OPNSense firewall in my house. Switching to SSH rsync, rather than module rsync, would be unnecessarily complex and would slow down backups.

So, I'm considering migrating back to Core. My questions are: (1) is Core continuing to support rsync modules? (2) how can I do the migration? Is there any way to do so automatically (like by restoring a config file)? Or would I need to manually reconfigure everything? (3) Is Core expected to be supported long term?

 

[winnielinnie]

(1) is Core continuing to support rsync modules?

I really hope they leave this one alone.

For a local network, security is a moot point, as much as NFS is "insecure". (To be more nuanced, if the Rsync Modules are considered "insecure", then so too should NFS be considered the same.)

 

[Patrick_3000]

Winnielinie well said. I agree: Rsync modules are no less secure than NFS. I think it's more about code maintainability, which they hint at on the Scale page that talks about phasing out modules. Their enterprise customers use SSH with rsync, and they probably don't want to maintain two separate sets of code, which is a drag for non-enterprise users.

 

[winnielinnie]

Their enterprise customers use SSH with rsync, and they probably don't want to maintain two separate sets of code, which is a drag for non-enterprise users.

It's a finished feature, and simpler in comparison to other features in the middleware. I don't understand how much there is to maintain.

 

[Patrick_3000]

Winnielinie good point. I agree. I really wish they weren't getting rid of it. Sadly, all I have are bad options: (1) set up and maintain a complex rsync SSH system for a local network; (2) Install a third-party rsync app in Scale that allows modules but which is likely to be buggy and which won't have the notification features I've come to rely on; or (3) migrate back to CORE, which is what I'll probably do even though it will involve a bunch of work.

Is Core expected to be maintained long term? That's one of the reasons I switched to Scale. I wasn't sure how long Core would be maintained since Scale does everything that Core does and then some. But now, it seems that Core may be better for home labs.