Upgrading from 8.3.1 to 9.1.1 by fresh install & db copy?

[TheSmoker]

Hi,

I want to upgrade to 9.1.1 from 8.3.1 by doing a "fresh install".
At the same time i want to keep old usb stick available for just in case.
I have created a new USB3 stick with fresh install of 9.1.1.

The question is:
If i copy the old config file freenas-v1.db from the old 8.3.1 stick to the news 9.1.1 stick, at next boot, will load the configuration?

Thanks and regards!

 

[pirateghost]

You can save the config from the GUI to your PC and then upload it to the fresh install through the GUI

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[TheSmoker]

It is a headless system and no remote hands, although i found someone who could just replace the stick.
If someone can confirm the db structure for sqlite db is the same that would help a lot. Of course the config has to be applied at startup/runtime... Can anyone confirm this?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Dusan]

Why can't you use the GUI upgrade? The upgrade process will preserve the previous FreeNAS version in a separate partition on the USB stick. If anything goes wrong, you can always boot the previous version. (http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Upgrading_FreeNAS#If_Something_Goes_Wrong)

 

[TheSmoker]

Two reasons:
1. I want to keep intact the current usb stick (just in case)
2. I want to move a new usb 3 stick.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Dusan]

OK, I checked the source tree and there are two DB changes when you go from 8.3.1 to 9.1.0.
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/storage/migrations
Migrations 39 & 40 were added for 9.1.0. New column task_enabled in table storage_task, new column repl_enabled in table storage_replication and a change to the encrypted_disk_id column in table storage_encrypteddisk. Not having the two new columns in the DB would definitely break the snapshot & replication functionality.

 

[Dusan]

I looked closer and there are actually many additional DB changes related to Jails & Plugins, Services, ...
The two changes above are just an example.
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/jails/migrations
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/plugins/migrations
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/services/migrations
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/support/migrations
https://github.com/freenas/freenas/tree/master/gui/system/migrations
8.3.1 was released ~5 months ago, so any migration committed in the last 5 months is relevant.

 

[Whattteva]

I don't see any reason why it's necessary for you to keep the USB stick image really. It's so easy to revert back if you so choose as long as you still have the original image and the config file.
If you have both images and your backed up config, you could bounce back and forth between the two versions to your heart's content with only a delay of 5 minutes or so for burning the image to the drive.

 

[cyberjock]

USB 3 disks don't affect the bootup time appreciably. I tested this a while back when USB3 support was first added and it only saves about 10 seconds from the bootup. Overall system performance is unchanged since the USB stick is cached in RAM>

 

[TheSmoker]

Thank you all for all the valuable feedback!
Will try to fetch the server for the upgrade via config file upload.

[Thread closed, question answered.]