Upgrading from 9.3 stable to current version 11

[MarkS-Indy]

I am currently running version 9.3 and I am considering upgrading (is it an upgrade?) to version 11 (whatever is the current).
Questions: 1) In doing the upgrade, am I placing my pool at risk? I would certainly be devastated at losing 40+TB of data that is currently resident on the server. 2) What, if any, are the advantages of upgrading to version 11?

Thanks in advance.

Mark S

 

[danb35]

In doing the upgrade, am I placing my pool at risk?

No.

What, if any, are the advantages of upgrading to version 11?

It's a bump of two major versions of the underlying OS. There's going to be a lot of security fixes, bug fixes, etc. As far as features and performance enhancements, take a look at the 9.10 release notes and the FN11 announcement. Caveat: If you're using a VirtualBox jail to run virtual machines, that ability is lost with FN 9.10.2.

You should be able to safely update through the GUI--go to the updates screen, set the train to 11-STABLE, check for updates, and install the update. If you want to be more cautious, you can download your config file from your existing installation, install 11 to a fresh boot device, and upload the saved config file. If you have issues, you can just plug in the old boot device and you're back in business.

 

[Ericloewe]

Even when upgrading in place, you can easily rollback to your previous boot environment, so there's little risk involved.

 

[MarkS-Indy]

No.

It's a bump of two major versions of the underlying OS. There's going to be a lot of security fixes, bug fixes, etc. As far as features and performance enhancements, take a look at the 9.10 release notes and the FN11 announcement. Caveat: If you're using a VirtualBox jail to run virtual machines, that ability is lost with FN 9.10.2.

You should be able to safely update through the GUI--go to the updates screen, set the train to 11-STABLE, check for updates, and install the update. If you want to be more cautious, you can download your config file from your existing installation, install 11 to a fresh boot device, and upload the saved config file. If you have issues, you can just plug in the old boot device and you're back in business.

Jumping 9.10 will not be an issue, or should I update to that, then 11?

 

[danb35]

Jumping 9.10 will not be an issue

Shouldn't be.

 

[Ericloewe]

Upgrades from 9.3 to 11.x are officially supported. What that means, in practice, is that bug reports for any issue arising from that won't be ignored and that some testing has been done.

 

[kooper2015]

Upgrades from 9.3 to 11.x are officially supported. What that means, in practice, is that bug reports for any issue arising from that won't be ignored and that some testing has been done.

Does this include encrypted pools, so no problems *should* arise when upgrading 9.3 to 11? I was reluctant until now because there was some guide related to GELI pools shortly after 11 was released, but can't find that any more (blog?).

 

[Ericloewe]

Does this include encrypted pools

Yes.

there was some guide related to GELI pools shortly after 11 was released

That might've been just fallout from Corral. There were a few weird issues, but they've been fixed.

 

[kooper2015]

Yes.
That might've been just fallout from Corral. There were a few weird issues, but they've been fixed.

Thanks, Eric. Successfully upgraded to 11U4, without hickups (just for XP the new option 'NTLM1 auth' had to be enabled for SMB).
Apart from that, writing-speed to the pool seems to have increased a lot.