New to FreeNAS. Start with 9.3, or use ol' reliable 9.2?

[alheim]

I'm not really asking about the learning curve, more so I'm wondering if there's any reason to think that the new 9.3 release (slated for tomorrow 12/08/2014) would be less reliable than the current 9.2.1.9 release.

I'm using a new Lenovo TS140 Server, with 8 GB ECC RAM & 4x 3 TB WD Red's. RAIDZ2 is the intent.

Cheers.

 

[BigDave]

I personally will not move over to 9.3 for about two weeks after the release,
being "experience limited", I prefer letting the BIG DOGS in here chew on
that bone for awhile before I make the switch ;)
I don't have a test platform at the moment (building one soon though), so
I'm taking a bit more conservative approach with my data.
However, if I was just starting out with blank drives, I would go with 9.3
without even thinking about it

 

[Ericloewe]

Since you're new, you might as well start with 9.3. You'll be burning the server in for a while, anyway.

 

[cyberjock]

Here's what I'm expecting will happen (assuming history is any indicator)

1. 9.3-RELEASE comes out.
2. Bunch of new threads with bugs will pop in. The threads will have temporary workarounds and such if the issue is a major concern for you.
3. Updates will come out in fairly short order for the biggest issues. In the past this has been 1 week to a month or two, but with the new updating system who knows how fast they'll be pushed out.

I personally won't upgrade my main system to 9.3 on release day. Not because I don't have faith it won't do what I want it to. But because I prefer to be sure of any weird bugs that are a PITA before I throw my primary server on it. I sat on 9.2.0 for 6 months or so until 9.2.1.6 came out. I did that because 9.2.1.x had major problems that made things very difficult to even do the basic functions I wanted my server to do.

Keep in mind one thing though. This testing period has been much open and "in your face" with the testing section of the forum. This may be the largest public beta test in all of FreeNAS' history. On the flipside we're also going from BETA to RELEASE without the release candidates. Anyone that has been around in the past knows that the release candidates have often been unsuitable (and sometimes weren't installable).

I've been running 9.3 on my FreeNAS Mini since it was alpha and had major problems (I kept using it though so I could provide bug fixes and such). I'm pretty confident if I installed the latest 9.3 build on my main server right now it would work just fine. I'm just very cautious about doing upgrades. I like to do it once and not have problems. ;)

So use your own judgment. Try 9.3 when it comes out. If you have major problems you can always go back to 9.2.1.9. But if you plan to use iSCSI I'd just start with 9.3 right off the bat because it's changed so much from 9.2.1.x.

 

[L]

9.3 is so much easier for a new user. many processes are streamlined. I would start with 9.3

Also so far I have found the 9.3 beta code to more stable than 9.2.1.8 or 9.

 

[alheim]

Folks, thank you for your input.

I think I will start with 9.3, but I'll wait a couple of weeks before I put it on my main system.

This way the main bugs can be worked out, and I won't waste time learning old software.

Enjoy the new release!

 

[pjc]

Since you're new, you might as well start with 9.3. You'll be burning the server in for a while, anyway.

This.

 

[Oko]

I am very conservative and my typical waiting times range from one month for OpenBSD releases to about 1.5-2 years for Red Hat. FreeBSD falls somewhere in between but more close to Red Hat (it took me about a year to move from 9.xxx to 10.xxx). FreeNAS 9.3 is not evolutionary release so I would expect to have major bugs or at least rough edges. IIRC some of highlights include root on ZFS, NFSv4, major GUI revamp, installer revamp and first boot configuration wizard. Just one of this features could be a major party spoiler. For me NFS is bread and butter so this is a very important release. At this point I would be less scared to import my zfspool into FreeBSD 101. release than to upgrade to FreeNAS 9.3. That being said if people don't run 9.3 bugs will never be found. It all depends on the value of your data.

 

[pjc]

Right, if I already had a server deployed, I'd be sitting out waiting for a while.

But mine is still in burn-in, so I can bang on 9.3 as much as I want for now, and if 9.3 isn't ready for production when I am, I can always fall back to 9.2.1.9.

 

[alheim]

You folks keep talking about 'burn in' (testing), which makes sense, but I hadn't really planned to do.

What do you recommend? This thread has some suggestions: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/building-burn-in-and-testing-your-freenas-system.17750/

Basically:

- Exhaustive memtest
- CPU stress testing
- SMART testing
- And more HDD testing. I'm not clear on how to do this, at least not from the command line.

 

[Ericloewe]

You folks keep talking about 'burn in' (testing), which makes sense, but I hadn't really planned to do.

What do you recommend? This thread has some suggestions: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/building-burn-in-and-testing-your-freenas-system.17750/

Basically:

- Exhaustive memtest
- CPU stress testing
- SMART testing
- And more HDD testing. I'm not clear on how to do this, at least not from the command line.

Jgreco has an HDD test script. Give it a try.

 

[alheim]

I would try it, but when I try to access the relevant link (https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/solnet-array-test.1/), I see the restriction "You do not have permission to view the full content of this resource".

It seems that I am not allowed access to the "Home > Resources > Example Category" section of the board.

 

[depasseg]

ftp://ftp.sol.net/incoming/solnet-array-test-v2.sh
The forum sometimes screws up ftp links, so confirm that the beginning of the URL is ftp://