Replacing my boot drive... is it really this easy?

[Tom2112]

I'm about to replace my boot drive. The old drive is an old HDD that is starting to give SMART warnings. So I bought a new SSD to replace it. My plan is:
1) Backup the config
2) Shutdown FreeNAS machine and disconnect old boot drive (HDD).
3) Connect new boot drive (SSD)
4) Do a fresh install of FreeNAS on new SSD
5) Restore the config file.

Is swapping out the old boot drive for the new really going to be that easy or am I missing something?

 

[shamo316]

Yea thats all you have to do.

 

[Tom2112]

It just seems too easy! LOL

Notes for anyone finding this thread later:

• When backing up the config, make sure to select the option to "export password secret seed", or all of your passwords will get reset!!!
  
• If you stored any scripts on your boot drive, don't forget to copy them to a USB first, and note where you had them, so you can put them back. Even better, store them on your ZFS volume, and you won't have to do anything when you replace the boot drive.

 

[Ericloewe]

When backing up the config, make sure to select the option to "export password secret seed", or all of your passwords will get reset!!!

Corollary: Keep it hidden, otherwise, the Russian Mafia might pay your stuff a visit.

Also, extremely important:
Make sure all your encryption keys and metadata is backed-up and up -to-date, if you're using encrypted pools.

 

[Ryan Allen]

I have used a command and run it as a Cron job for backing it up for a little while now but it only saves the config file WITHOUT the secret seed.

cp /data/freenas-v1.db "`date '+/mnt/tank/test/config/%Y-%m-%d'`_`cut -d'-' -f2,3 /etc/version`.db"

Anyone know how to make this run WITH the secret seed?

 

[Ericloewe]

Does't the API do that?

 

[costwisewpg]

I'm less than a rookie but, my boot drive bit the dust a couple days ago. Not panicked, I've everything backed up off site. Regardless, having never done this before (IT guy set this up for my company then went out of business a couple weeks later) I did pretty much exactly what you listed. However, I switched from SSD to two USB 3.0 keys. Installed 11.2 (it asked me with drive or drives I wanted to install on, so I picked both USB's and it worked fine), restored backup config (which was saved with keys) and I was back up and running. I'm sure I missed a couple things here, I didn't take notes.

I'm amazed at how easy it was. Everything seems to be working (except for another, non-related issue I'm having with Win 10 Pro).

Good luck.

 

[Apollo]

Process is supposed to be somewhat straightforward, but I found many times the Freenas root key is causing issues with SSH and remote replication due to different fingerprints because every new fresh install is causing the key to be generated from scratch.
Once replication fingerprint on remote and/or local server is updated, as well as SSH key are updated, everything is back to normal.

 

[Evertb1]

I'm about to replace my boot drive. The old drive is an old HDD that is starting to give SMART warnings. So I bought a new SSD to replace it. My plan is:
1) Backup the config
2) Shutdown FreeNAS machine and disconnect old boot drive (HDD).
3) Connect new boot drive (SSD)
4) Do a fresh install of FreeNAS on new SSD
5) Restore the config file.

Is swapping out the old boot drive for the new really going to be that easy or am I missing something?

Nothing wrong with your plan but... make it an habit to save your config after installing and with every change/update. You are able to save your config now because your system is still up and running but what if your boot device died without warning?

 

[Ryan Allen]

Does't the API do that?

By API do you mean the web interface (sorry.. still real new to all this)?
Yes, I know how to manually back that up.

BUT.. do you know if I can run it in a script to make it save the .tar file w/ the secret seed?
I do appreciate all your help!

 

[Ericloewe]

By API do you mean the web interface

No, the API: https://www.ixsystems.com/documentation/freenas/11.2/api.html