Two questions: Migrating freenas from harddrive to usb drive? Also some alert

[nattan]

Question 1:
I am unsure about how I would move my freenas from a harddrive to a usb 3.0 drive. Do I just clone the data off the harddrive? Or can I do a clean install from windows following the guide and just import my raid z array?

Question 2:
I am getting this alert, but I am not sure what to do for it.

Code:

May 21 18:25:08 freenas root: /etc/rc: WARNING: Dump device does not exist.  Savecore not run.
May 21 18:25:08 freenas root: /etc/rc: WARNING: failed precmd routine for vmware_guestd
May 21 18:25:08 freenas ntpd[1973]: ntpd 4.2.4p5-a (1)
May 21 18:25:18 freenas ntpd[1974]: time reset +0.605201 s
May 21 18:25:18 freenas avahi-daemon[2369]: WARNING: No NSS support for mDNS detected, consider installing nss-mdns!
May 21 18:40:33 freenas ntpd[1974]: kernel time sync status change 2001

 

[jgreco]

You installed the FreeNAS OS image on a hard drive and you want to move that to USB? Or are you talking about your datastore?

As for the error messages, in the business we call that "log noise" or "unimportant cruft."

 

[nattan]

I currently have freenas running off a harddrive, and i would like to install or copy the freenas from the harddrive to run off a usb 3.0 drive.

 

[travalon]

Just do a fresh install on the flash drive after writing down all the pertinent info. for your set up then auto import the volumes. It will probably be the quickest.

 

[titan_rw]

Why reconfigure from scratch if you don't have to.

Save config from currently running freenas. Write freenas to a new usb flash drive. Bootup new flash drive. Restore config. Done.

 

[nattan]

Why reconfigure from scratch if you don't have to.

Save config from currently running freenas. Write freenas to a new usb flash drive. Bootup new flash drive. Restore config. Done.

I am unsure how to save it, how exactly is that done?

Edit: is there an option to do so via the webgui or do i have to do something off the machine itself?

Edit2:
I am able to save the config but its only 215KB, is that normal?

 

[gpsguy]

Yes. It's a tiny file.

I am able to save the config but its only 215KB, is that normal?

 

[Pablo Niklas]

Hi people,

I have the same issue.
I have a server with 6x2TB SATA3 drives... Because I was in a hurry, I installed FreeNAS in the first disk.
Today I've got a 4GB NANO USB2 pen drive.
I've followed these instructions (http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Burning_an_IMG_File#Using_xzcat_and_dd_on_a_FreeBSD_or_Linux_System).
The operation itself was OK, I configure the machine BIOS so it was able to boot from USB, that worked OK.
The issue is that while the FreeNAS in the PEN is booting, at some point in the process, it acknowledges the OS (& configuration), that resides on the HDD, and mount thos filesystems and the programs on them.
At the webconfigurator, I can't see this particular drive, to add it to an already configured ZFS volume.
I've tried booting in single user and dd'ing the partition table, I wasn't able neither ("Operation not permitted"). When I've googled for this, I arrive here, so I think this is the place:
What can I do? Could you help me please?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[cyberjock]

Well...

1. Adding single drives to ZFS volumes is usually not smart. Read my presentation(link in my sig) and you'll understand why.
2. If it is somehow finding the config file on your hard drive, why not do a config backup and restore and wipe the hard drive that had FreeNAS on it on another machine? Then the USB boot definitely won't find the config file. The reality of it is deleting the partition table from the HDD will be enough to make the data on it unusable.

 

[Pablo Niklas]

1. Ok, I've read it, it was very interesting. What do you suggest, instead of adding to the existing volume, having it configured as a spare drive?
2. Instead of removing the drive, Can I boot with a rescue distro and dd'ing the partition from there? Of course I have already made the config backup.

Thanks for your quick answer.

 

[cyberjock]

1. I have no recommendation. Hot spares do not auto-add themselves yet(FreeBSD 10 hopefully). I'd just pull it out of the system(or leave it in.. your choice) and keep it as a spare.
2. You could boot from a linux live CD and DD the partition table from there. FreeNAS just prevents you from writing to the partition tables on accident, hence your error messages when you try to write to it from the CLI.

 

[Pablo Niklas]

Thanks, cyberjock.

 

[paleoN]

The issue is that while the FreeNAS in the PEN is booting, at some point in the process, it acknowledges the OS (& configuration), that resides on the HDD, and mount thos filesystems and the programs on them.

The problem is the HDD is enumerated first. The solution, as mentioned, is to remove/wipe the drive. If you remove the drive be sure to still wipe it otherwise you will have the same problem later.