Upgrading from 9.10.2-U6 to 11.1 - Help me make an informed decision

[Tony Self]

Hi Guys,

I need some help.

I am currently running 9.10.2-U6 to host my Plex Media Server. I have a number of plugins installed (Plex, Sabnzbd, Sickrage, Transmission, Couchpotato) and additional jails for RClone and OpenVPN.

The Sickrage and Couchpotato plugins automatically update. Plex and Sabnzbd are manual updates. They are on the most up to date plugin at the moment, but not on the most up to date version of the apps.

First question - Are the plugins for 9.10.2 still being worked on or do i need to upgrade to 11.1 to be available to upgrade Plex and Sabnzbd?

Everything is running fine on 9.10.2-U6 as far as I am concerned (apart from app upgrades mentioned above), but from what I have read 11.1 will give me some performance improvements and the new Cloud Sync feature will potentially improve my syncing ability with my Google Drive over using RClone.

Second Question (and probably the most important one) - Is now the time for me to upgrade or do I follow the mantra "if it ain't broke, leave it alone". I know at sometime I will have to upgrade, but what I don't want to do is upgrade and then run into problems with my Plugins and Jails.

Third Question - From what I have read, my warden based jails will continue to function without issue under 11.1. Am I correct in this understanding.

Final Question - If I do upgrade am I right is saying all I have to do is change to the FreeNAS-11-STABLE stream and check for updates and proceed from there? And if I do run into problems is the upgrade irreversible, will I be able to revert back to the 9.10 stream?

I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks

Tony Self

 

[Jailer]

Are the plugins for 9.10.2 still being worked on or do I need to upgrade to 11.1 to be available to upgrade Plex and Sabnzbd?

No. 9.10.2 is no longer being developed and neither are the plugins for it.

Is now the time for me to upgrade

Depends on how much work you want to do to get your jails/plugins back up and running. The jails system is not feature complete in the new GUI yet so much of the work needs to be done at the CLI to get them running.

From what I have read, my warden based jails will continue to function without issue under 11.1. Am I correct in this understanding.

Maybe, they work for some and not foe others.

If I do upgrade am I right is saying all I have to do is change to the FreeNAS-11-STABLE stream and check for updates and proceed from there?

Yes.

And if I do run into problems is the upgrade irreversible, will I be able to revert back to the 9.10 stream?

Yes, activate a previous boot environment from the GUI and reboot. Make sure you don't update the feature flags for your pool until you're absolutely certain that you won't be rolling back to a previous boot environment.

 

[Tony Self]

Jailer thanks for your quick reply. That helps a lot, but it does prompt a couple of extras questions.

Firstly, if I upgrade I presume I will still not be able to upgrade the plugins until their respective jails have been upgraded to iocage?

Secondly what is the experience of others that have upgraded from 9.10.2-U6 to 11.1 that have jails containing Plex and Sickrage plugins?

I have one jail that contains the Sickrage, Sabnzbd, Transmission and Couchpotato plugins and the NZBMedia scripts and another containing the Plex plugin where I have also installed Webtools 2.0 and PlexPy.

My main concerning are maintaining my Sickrage and Plex databases. I do not want to have to recreate those.

The additional jails containing RClone and OpenVPN are relatively straightforward to recreate, so no real concerns there.

All your comments are greatly appreciated.

Regards

Tony Self

 

[Jailer]

Firstly, if I upgrade I presume I will still not be able to upgrade the plugins until their respective jails have been upgraded to iocage?

Correct, those will have to be re created. The plugin system is changing with the new GUI.

Secondly what is the experience of others that have upgraded from 9.10.2-U6 to 11.1 that have jails containing Plex and Sickrage plugins?

Searching the forums will provide a better answer to that than I can. I'm still on 910.2 and don't run any plugins so I don't have any first hand experience with that.

My main concerning are maintaining my Sickrage and Plex databases.

If you re create your Plex jail/plugin you can copy over the database and metadata and maintain your settings/watched status. I've never used Sickrage so I can't comment on that.

 

[diedrichg]

...and an upgrade would then give you the opportunity you to move up to Sonarr and Radarr since you would be starting fresh. I switched to those a few years ago and haven't looked back at CP or SB. Sonarr and Radarr are fantastic and imo, superior.

 

[Tony Self]

Jailer thanks for your response. That's great information. Can I ask why you haven't upgraded to 11.1?

 

[Jailer]

I'm waiting for the jails section to be feature complete in the new GUI before I make the move. I have several jails and only want to have to rebuild them once.

 

[Tony Self]

diedrichg, thanks for your comments on Sonarr and Radarr. I hadn't come across these before. Are there any instructions anywhere on the best way to install on FreeNAS? I can see there is a Sonarr plugin, but I can't see one for Radarr. On my current install I have Sickrage, Sabnzbd, Transmission and Couchpotato all installed in the same jail.

 

[Tony Self]

So, Jailer, would you recommend that I hang back as well until the new jail features are complete?

 

[Jailer]

That is entirely up to you on what you want to do. I have a couple web facing jails that I don't want any downtime so it imperative to me that everything is working before I make the move. Others have already made the move without issue but I'm just playing it safe.

 

[Tony Self]

That is entirely up to you on what you want to do. I have a couple web facing jails that I don't want any downtime so it imperative to me that everything is working before I make the move. Others have already made the move without issue but I'm just playing it safe.

Thanks for your feedback jailer, it is much appreciated

 

[diedrichg]

FreeNAS? I can see there is a Sonarr plugin, but I can't see one for Radarr.

I am still holding out on FN v11.0 and have not used iocage, so I have no knowledge of the new plugin system. As for Sonarr and Radar, I have those on my HTPC (which is a Windows machine). Installing them in a jail would be no different than installing CP or SR in a FreeNAS jail. Sonarr and Radarr are both packages on freshports and can be installed with pkg install sonarr and pkg install radarr. Give them a go in a new jail, I’d like to hear your thoughts. And yes, Radarr can import your CP Wanted list.

 

[Tony Self]

.... Give them a go in a new jail, I’d like to hear your thoughts. And yes, Radarr can import your CP Wanted list.

Thanks diedrichg, I will give this a try on my old server and report back.