Purchase Advice: Mini XL+ with SCALE?

Arliee

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I apologize if this information exists; I've done some searches and can't seem to find any information. I'm looking to purchase a Mini XL+ box in the near future, but SCALE sounds like it'd be much more useful to us than Core (Containers being a pretty important and integral feature). Will these storage servers eventually be available to purchase with SCALE pre-installed/configured? I'm happy to wait a bit if that's something that's meant to be officially supported.

I know ultimately I could probably just purchase it and install it myself, but I feel a bit better about it coming the way I intend to use it if at all possible.

Thanks for your help and feedback!
 

morganL

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Hi Arliee,

It's a good question that we have not answered yet.

The TrueNAS Mini Series (E, X, XL) will all work just fine with TrueNAS SCALE. Because SCALE is still ALPHA, iXsystems is not yet selling the Minis with SCALE installed (we can't afford to accept hardware returns because the software is not yet mature).

Yes, you can buy a Mini, test it with CORE, accept the unit, and then migrate the platform to SCALE. We'd love to get the feedback.

We do plan to enable TrueNAS Minis to ship with SCALE during 3rd quarter of the year. We'll also provide a web-based migration path for existing TrueNAS CORE users to move to SCALE if they wish.
 

Arliee

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Thank you for your response! I don't know that I'm feeling adventurous enough to try running it in production in order to give you feedback on the process, to be honest. I also completely understand you not wanting to take a hit on people refunding perfectly good hardware for what amounts to a software "problem".

Out of curiosity, on the last statement you made: Will your web-based migration involve reformatting and starting from scratch? Or is the idea that the storage pools would be unaffected, and only the internal device that's actually hosting TrueNAS itself would be wiped/reinstalled? If that's the case, I might have to give serious consideration to that as an option; I wouldn't mind, temporarily at least, running a docker VM until SCALE is mature and flipping over.
 

morganL

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Yes, the plan is to migrate the pool, the configuration and the primary storage services..... not VMs and plugins.
 
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Hi,

I just wanted to come in on this thread and ask please if there is any update or further background information freshly available on Mini series units, later being able to be upgraded to SCALE?

A few friends are contemplating possibly purchasing some of the pre-built mini series, and would like to know more please on this aspect, or whether we are better to just build ourselves with a view to SCALE migration later, or could sensibly by minis now?

TIA,
Paul
 

sretalla

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I'm not sure you can call it an upgrade... migration is what was promised (and is still in the works).

I think there's sufficient information in this thread to give you confidence about what's coming.

I would recommend avoiding plugins/jails/VMs on CORE if the intent is to later move to SCALE.

Data will be fine to migrate along with SMB and NFS shares, but the app model in SCALE is totally different to CORE, so best to leave that until you're already there.
 

morganL

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Hi,

I just wanted to come in on this thread and ask please if there is any update or further background information freshly available on Mini series units, later being able to be upgraded to SCALE?

A few friends are contemplating possibly purchasing some of the pre-built mini series, and would like to know more please on this aspect, or whether we are better to just build ourselves with a view to SCALE migration later, or could sensibly by minis now?

TIA,
Paul

Yes, the plan is that Minis will be able to have a migration from CORE to SCALE 21.06. It is being actively tested and we expect to document this in July.
 

mballe

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Yes, the plan is that Minis will be able to have a migration from CORE to SCALE 21.06. It is being actively tested and we expect to document this in July.
Being new to TrueNAS, having just recently received my Mini XL, is there a simple guide for migrating the Mini XL to TrueNAS SCALE beta?
 

morganL

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Being new to TrueNAS, having just recently received my Mini XL, is there a simple guide for migrating the Mini XL to TrueNAS SCALE beta?
Do you have data to migrate?
Are you OK with SCALE BETA software?
 

mballe

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Do you have data to migrate?
Are you OK with SCALE BETA software?
I have a pool setup that I have moved data to, and have played a little with VM and Jails. As far as I know, the pool should migrate fine, and that it is the jails and possibly the VM's that will not. I am fine with that. I also have a backup of the data.

I am fully aware that Scale being beta, means I can run into bugs (I am a software developer myself).

I suspect that I have to download the latest Scale Beta ISO, put it on a USB key of some sorts, and then reboot the mini. I then imaging that I have to attach the IPMI port to my network and when connecting to the IPMI port, I will be able to see the console setup dialogs. Is that about right?
 

morganL

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I have a pool setup that I have moved data to, and have played a little with VM and Jails. As far as I know, the pool should migrate fine, and that it is the jails and possibly the VM's that will not. I am fine with that. I also have a backup of the data.

I am fully aware that Scale being beta, means I can run into bugs (I am a software developer myself).

I suspect that I have to download the latest Scale Beta ISO, put it on a USB key of some sorts, and then reboot the mini. I then imaging that I have to attach the IPMI port to my network and when connecting to the IPMI port, I will be able to see the console setup dialogs. Is that about right?
Yes, that's how to do it.
We've decided 21.08 is the first release where this is recommended. It has a UEFI boot bug fixed and support for Windows ACL editing. So waiting to August 24 is recommended. Nightlies are available, but not recommended, except for developers

The is a "Migrating from CORE" section on the TrueNAS SCALE install instructions. https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/gettingstarted/installingscale/
 
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sretalla

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Am I missing something or there's still no Mini with TrueNAS SCALE?
The Mini is unlikely to sell/ship with SCALE on it due to SCALE still being in Beta...

What has been advised so far is that it should be workable enough at 21.08 Beta to get a reasonably good experience with a Mini, so feel free to install it if you like Beta software and the complications that can come with it.
 

morganL

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Am I missing something or there's still no Mini with TrueNAS SCALE?
TrueNAS Minis can run SCALE BETA
The missing capability is Graphical Enclosure management.. which is not essential.
 

Arliee

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Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I figured it might be an apt place to ask: Now that SCALE has launched and I'm sure some updates have gone out, curious if iXsystems has any thoughts yet on when the Mini XL with SCALE on it will be launched. Or, perhaps more importantly, will an announcement be made when that happens? Basically instead of asking here every few months, is there a place that information will come from that I should keep my eyes open for? :smile:
 

morganL

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Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I figured it might be an apt place to ask: Now that SCALE has launched and I'm sure some updates have gone out, curious if iXsystems has any thoughts yet on when the Mini XL with SCALE on it will be launched. Or, perhaps more importantly, will an announcement be made when that happens? Basically instead of asking here every few months, is there a place that information will come from that I should keep my eyes open for? :smile:

The Minis operate with SCALE, but without enclosure management... just like any other server.
The missing driver is in development, but has not been completed. It may make U1, but otherwise U2.
 
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