Questions and Concerns about a fresh FreeNAS install.

[Zeus]

I want to clarify I am an extreme noob who has barely used Linux or FreeNAS.

As it currently stands my FreeNAS build is throwing errors for my boot SSD. Saying that it is degrading. I had quite a few issues with the install anyways so I took this opportunity to do a mirrored USB drive install.

With that said. I have a few questions regarding data transfer and config files. I saved the config file onto a seperate system already but I'm wondering if that would bring jail configuration too? I plan to import the pools as they are so idk if that would also bring the data for the pools with them? I have a Plex jail running and would like to save the data for it so I'm unsure what my best approach would be.

All in all what I would like is a complete copy of the original FreeNAS build just on a different drive. I'm sure it's easy but I have no clue, so any advice would help.

Thank you.

 

[garm]

What you backup when you download the FreeNAS config is a copy of the FreeNAS configuration database. With that you can restore your system back to the state at the time of the backup. If the data drives are in the system you will have everything back. If the data drives are missing you can connect them afterwards.
Jails are for the purpose of this discussion a completely separate instance of vanilla FreeBSD (not Linux!!). Plex is running in a jail, either one you created or as a plugin. In both cases the jails have nothing to do with the boot drive(s) but live in what ever pool you designated for iocage. If you haven’t messed with nullfs all the data is kept inside the jail. When you restore your config FreeNAS will import the pool containing the jails and sins it restored the jail pool designation your jails will be visible in the UI. But, this does not protect you from a loss of pool. If a complete backup of the pool is not possible, there are ways of backing up services discretely. Just follow what ever procedures outlined by the documentation for each service. There might be limitations when using the plugins in this regard..
Any backup strategy needs validation through practice. So set it up in theory then attempt to perform it in practice and see if it meets your expectations. I have worked for big companies who only did backups in theory, they never worked when attempting to practice them... with ZFS there are fewer excuses for bad backups then in many other situations.

 

[Zeus]

Ok I'm glad I got that confirmed. I just wanted to make sure before I went through with it. I'll make sure to back up my pools and anything else I can so I don't lose any data just incase. Thanks for the advice.