Move to TrueNAS Core 12 - some questions

Harrisonm65

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Hi all

Recently I built a small FreeNAS 11.3 machine just for home use. However, it had some issues with the boot pool which was made up of 2 WD Green SSDs. TRIM was an issue. As the machine was freshly built and didnt really have anything on it yet bar a few test files for Plex, I havent done too much with it and its stoof powered off for a few weeks while life took up more time than I would have liked.

I was just reading up on the TRIM issue now and working out how to fix it with a view of sorting it out tonight or over the weekend. Thats when I saw that TrueNAS 12 is released.

So, my questions are:
1) Im thinking it would be better to just scrap the 11.3 build and start over with a fresh 12 build. There no major data I would lose etc so thats not an issue. I presume I can just do a fresh install and overwrite the existing 11.3 install.
2) At install, can I still disable TRIM through the configure boot options, then also in the GUI once installed?
3) If I do 1 & 2 as above, I take it I can also create a new storage pool with the existing 4 drives I have? Again, losing jails etc that are on them currently from the 11.3 build is fine. I can put those on again and transfer the little data back to them thats on currently. I just want to know if I can somehow flatten the storage pool already on them and create a new one in the 12 install.

Hope that makes sense and sorry if they are noob questions, but Im pretty green to all this and learning on the job. Go easy!

Thanks in advance.
 

sretalla

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1) Im thinking it would be better to just scrap the 11.3 build and start over with a fresh 12 build. There no major data I would lose etc so thats not an issue. I presume I can just do a fresh install and overwrite the existing 11.3 install.
Yes

2) At install, can I still disable TRIM through the configure boot options, then also in the GUI once installed?
Don't rush to do that as the TRIM support that should be in FreeBSD 12 might mean it's actually OK to stay on (and it's generally good for performance if it does)

3) If I do 1 & 2 as above, I take it I can also create a new storage pool with the existing 4 drives I have? Again, losing jails etc that are on them currently from the 11.3 build is fine. I can put those on again and transfer the little data back to them thats on currently. I just want to know if I can somehow flatten the storage pool already on them and create a new one in the 12 install.
If you like what you already had, just save the config from the 11.3 install before you shut it down, then install over it with 12 and try restoring your config. It may just be able to pull in your pool and all the jails too.

If it doesn't work, reset the config, destroy the data pool and do as you describe.
 

Harrisonm65

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Awesome. Nice and easy :)

Don't rush to do that as the TRIM support that should be in FreeBSD 12 might mean it's actually OK to stay on (and it's generally good for performance if it does)
Ah really? Now this is interesting. Dont suppose you know of anywhere I may be able to check this out? Especially seeing as its the WD Green with the problematic (to FreeNAS anyway) controller

If you like what you already had, just save the config from the 11.3 install before you shut it down, then install over it with 12 and try restoring your config. It may just be able to pull in your pool and all the jails too.

If it doesn't work, reset the config, destroy the data pool and do as you describe.
Theres literally a Plex jail on there and thats about it. Couple of media files just to test it out and thats that. I do have a config backup anyway, so may try to restore that. If it doesnt work or is problematic, then I can always trash the storage pool and start it afresh.
 

sretalla

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Ah really? Now this is interesting. Dont suppose you know of anywhere I may be able to check this out?
It's listed here on the line titled Data Reduction:

You see it in blue as a newly added feature to 12.
 

Harrisonm65

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Thats amazing news! I think Im going to go down the route of a fresh install, leaving TRIM enabled. The errors from the TRIM in the older version were apparent pretty much overnight, so I guess it shouldnt take too long for them to appear if something was to go wrong. I'll be delighted if TRIM can stay on though and not smash my SSDs to oblivion!
 

Harrisonm65

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Well, I think Im almost there, but am missing a final step I think.

I reinstalled the old 11.3 version but disbaled TRIM at the configure boot options part when installing. I went down this route after seeing how easy the upgrade was from that to 12. All went well, upgrade went fine and all looked good. I noticed that a scrub was due at midnight just gone so thought I would leave that to run its course. That went fine too - no email alerts this morning and no checksum errors when I manually checked too.

All good - so I thought! I remembered someone mentioned in this forum a while back that they had been in a similar situation. They rebooted and then tried a manual scrub which resulted in checksum errors once again. Ive done the same this morning and low and behold, 2 checksum errors now on my boot pool.

I think I have 2 options. 1) Reinstall again like I just have done, but there must be an extra step at the end to somehow permanently disable TRIM. Im guessing the reboot has somehow re-enabled it. Is it a tuneable by any chance? If so, does anyone know how to set a tuneable up to permanently disable TRIM even after a reboot. 2) Do a fresh clean install of 12, leave everything at default and hope the new TRIM features work correctly.

Now, Im happy to try either but would love to know that tuneable set up if poss, just then its another option if the v12 install doesnt work.

Thanks in advance.
 

sretalla

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2) Do a fresh clean install of 12, leave everything at default and hope the new TRIM features work correctly.
I would do this.

1) Reinstall again like I just have done, but there must be an extra step at the end to somehow permanently disable TRIM. Im guessing the reboot has somehow re-enabled it. Is it a tuneable by any chance? If so, does anyone know how to set a tuneable up to permanently disable TRIM even after a reboot.
If you really must... https://www.truenas.com/community/t...ssd-delays-during-start-up.85459/#post-591634
 

Harrisonm65

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OK, cool and thanks for that link. Ive been looking and found a little bit of conflicting info about how to create the tuneable but that link clears things up.

Right, Im going to make a v12 install USB and go all in on that. I really hope it works. Wish me luck! If worst comes to the worst, I can always do what Ive done so far and add that tuneable in afterwards.
 
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