Upgrade from 10.2.0.3.3105 to 11.0.0.4.4141

[Alice]

Sorry if this question has been asked before:
I am confused about the new releases as follows -
2017-03-28: NAS4Free 11.0.0.4.4141 - released
2017-03-24: NAS4Free 10.3.0.3.4107 - released

Which version should I use for my current 10.2.0.3.3105?
I always do the Full installation, not embedded for certain reasons.

Thank you.

[JoseMR]

Hello you have to upgrade with the same exact branch of your target system, i.e if you running 10.3, then upgrade with latest 10.3 branch, unless you willing to do a fresh install.

P.S Just to inform you, NAS4Free Full RootOnZFS now fully supports hassle free WebGUI firmware upgrades as well, and will be available on upcoming release.

More info here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=12304#p76994

[Alice]

Many thanks. I must have missed it somewhere but why are there two different
systems 10.xx and 11.xx?

[JoseMR]

Many thanks. I must have missed it somewhere but why are there two different
systems 10.xx and 11.xx?

NAS4Free 11.x is the new branch based on the newer FreeBSD 11.0 release, NAS4Free 10.3 is based on the older FreeBSD 10.3, and is now in maintenance mode only until end of life.

Regards

[Alice]

Many thanks. Would you advise me to replace 10.3 with 11.0 rather than keep upgrading 10.3?

Regards

[JoseMR]

Many thanks. Would you advise me to replace 10.3 with 11.0 rather than keep upgrading 10.3?

Regards

Hello, While an upgrade is not mandatory is recommend to upgrade if you want to get the latest features and most important security patches, remember that you need to save current config file to your desktop if you want to jump to the current NAS4Free 11.x development branch, then restore config after installation.

If you will use the latest NAS4Free Full RootOnZFS, I could help guide you on the install, also for the next release including Full WenGUI Firmware upgrades, what you will need is just a last Full upgrade from the LiveMedia, then the rest of the upgrades can be done from the WebGUI withoug hassle.

Regards

[Alice]

Great, many thanks - very much appreciated.
I'll study all options first and then get back to you when I do the upgrade -
I will go for the full install of 11.0.
Regards

[Alice]

Hello again,

I looked at the options and I'd like to verufy my next steps:

As I will be doing the Full installation (which I prefer to embedded), I take it that
I would have to go for Full instalation from Live CD rather than upgrade in this case
as it is from 10.02 to 11.0.0?
My current configuration is very simple - one hard disk with UFS - GPT and soft updates (no ZFS).
This new upgrade gives me a choice for Creating GPT with 4 partitions (with partition 2 using UFS
and partition 3 as SWAP etc). Should I just accept the defaults and carry on?

Many thanks in advance.

Regards

[raulfg3]

MY suggest is that select new full ZFSonRoot install, because you can upgrade from webGUI
pro: you can do next updates from webGUI. <- really easy like embeded installs)
Contra: You need to start from scratch = you need to configure all, but no data are lost. ( in fact you can load your previosly saved config like option full)

If you select full install
Pro: none
contra: you need to shutdown and boot from liveUSB / liveCD to do next updates. and you need to load previosly saved config to restore your config because you need to do a full install

[Alice]

Thanks very much. I went into the LiveCD disk again and see the option
for installing NAS4Free RootonZSF Disk. Is this what you mean?
If so, I'll go for it, but is there anything after this step what I should
be aware of - such as configuring the disk etc?
JoseMR had a very helpful post in 2014 viewtopic.php?f=66&t=9522
I would very much need something like this for my current task,
Thanks.

[raulfg3]

Thanks very much. I went into the LiveCD disk again and see the option
for installing NAS4Free RootonZSF Disk. Is this what you mean?

YES

[raulfg3]

but is there anything after this step what I should
be aware of - such as configuring the disk etc?

only save your actual working config in plain text and in encrypted mode.

And I allways save screen capture of all my config for the rare case that I need to configure by hand ( rare case is that previously saved config do not load).

[JoseMR]

Hello Alice, as raul previously mentioned, I will suggest you to go RootOnZFS route for NAS4Free Full platform(HDD,SSD and USB3.0 recommended), while one of the shinny features is the ability to upgrade firmware from WebGUI, the most important features are the high protection level for the OS, for example you will be able to schedule periodic snapshots and revert back wen something goes wrong, you will be able to upgrade into a new boot environment while leaving your previous working environment intact, so you can revert revert back wen something goes wrong or just switch between them, and last but not least you will be able to scrub your OS on mirrored installations etc etc.

Wen selecting to install on RootOnZFS select "Disk" for a single target or "Mirror" for two drives(redundancy) and the rest just leave defaults and you will be fine, just double check you are installing to the correct target disk as usual regardless of the platform of choice.

Note: After install and restoring back your previous 10.3 configuration file, simply go to "Disks > ZFS > Configuration > Synchronize" and synchronize the zroot pool, so you can take full advantages from the ZFS WebGUI features.

Regards

[Alice]

Thank you both for your advice.
I have now carried out the installation Full on ZSF, choosing Disk
with default Swap - I didn't change anything.
The server rebooted fine, I only had to reconfigure the IP address.
I restored the config file fine.
Howevei I am afraid that there is a problem :
When I go to Disk Management, it shows the disk with USF. It seems that
the mnt point for my Storage folder is not working

When I try to save the Mount Poit in Disk it shows this error:
The following input errors were detected:

Wrong partition type or partition number.
/dev/ada0s3: Can't get UFS ID.
dumpfs: /dev/ada0s3: could not find special device

Partition type 3
Partition 3
File system USF

I synchronised the ZSF in Disk
Mount point management Status shows that there is Error - Retry.

Can you please help?
Many thanks.

[JoseMR]

When I try to save the Mount Poit in Disk it shows this error:
The following input errors were detected:

Wrong partition type or partition number.
/dev/ada0s3: Can't get UFS ID.
dumpfs: /dev/ada0s3: could not find special device

Partition type 3
Partition 3
File system USF

I synchronised the ZSF in Disk
Mount point management Status shows that there is Error - Retry.

Can you please help?
Many thanks.

Hello, to refresh the old configuration you have to go to "Disks > Management > HDD Management" then check the box for "Clear Configuration" then click on "Import", this will not harm your DATA disk(s), then repeat the same steps for "Import Software RAID Disks".

Also let me note that Synchronize ZFS disks is not related to "Mount point management" which is for Legacy UFS file system.

I just hope that you don't have a single disk for both the OS and the DATA, this mixture is a bad practice and the user need to backup first the DATA before reinstall and/or Upgrade anything on that drive regardless of the platform of choice.

Please post the output of the below command to see the disk/partition configuration:

Code: Select all

# gpart show

Regards

[Alice]

Thanks for this. I had to leave - I won't be able to get back to the
computer for two weeks. I'll let you know how I progress.
Also, I backed up all the data, so nothing is lost really.
Thanks.

[raulfg3]

perhaps this post can help you too: viewtopic.php?p=76144#p76144

[Alice]

Thank you raulfg3 and JoseMR for your replies.
When I get back to the computer in two weeks' time, we will probably
not be able to communicate quickly due to the time difference, so
I would like to try to clarify the situation as much as possible before that.
Yes, there is only one disk - there was a reason for this. I think
the original OS was installed without SWAP, so it most
probably had 2 partitions. As I posted before the upgraded disk showed
that there is a third partition which shows MBR - hence the error
I am getting:

Partition type 3
Partition 3
File system USF

as described before in post #14

Should I do the step ""Clear Configuration" then click on "Import" as suggested
in post #15 above? Or reinstall the upgrade again without the SWAP?
Or something else?
Many thanks.

[JoseMR]

Thank you raulfg3 and JoseMR for your replies.
When I get back to the computer in two weeks' time, we will probably
not be able to communicate quickly due to the time difference, so
I would like to try to clarify the situation as much as possible before that.
Yes, there is only one disk - there was a reason for this. I think
the original OS was installed without SWAP, so it most
probably had 2 partitions. As I posted before the upgraded disk showed
that there is a third partition which shows MBR - hence the error
I am getting:

Partition type 3
Partition 3
File system USF

as described before in post #14

Should I do the step ""Clear Configuration" then click on "Import" as suggested
in post #15 above? Or reinstall the upgrade again without the SWAP?
Or something else?
Many thanks.

I am really sorry about my senseless comment regarding this before, I guess I'm off my drinking limits today and started mixing things up , since your requirements are very simple, I will suggest you to install standard NAS4Free Full UFS or stick with NAS4Free Embedded instead thus avoid confusion.

[Alice]

Thanks. Does this mean that the data had on this particular disk with Mount
is now overwritten? If I do the full UFS install will I have to reformat the disk
- in other words do everything from scratch?

I thought that Full on ZSF was recommended because upgrades can be done from webGUI?

Regards.

[JoseMR]

Thanks. Does this mean that the data had on this particular disk with Mount
is now overwritten? If I do the full UFS install will I have to reformat the disk
- in other words do everything from scratch?

I thought that Full on ZSF was recommended because upgrades can be done from webGUI?

Regards.

Yes Alice, RootOnZFS is the way to go for a vast many reasons over the feature less old UFS(webGUI upgrades is one of them), but since you are keeping your DATA on a UFS disk(s) you are fine with either NAS4Free Full UFS(legacy) or RootOnZFS if you just want to upgrade over webGUI, personally I would completely ditch UFS for my DATA drives, but that's just me.


Regards

[Alice]

OK, JoseMR, in that case if I want to go for RootonZFS, do I go for
your earlier suggestion

Hello, to refresh the old configuration you have to go to "Disks > Management > HDD Management" then check the box for "Clear Configuration" then click on "Import", this will not harm your DATA disk(s), then repeat the same steps for "Import Software RAID Disks".

or do I reformat/partition the disk? Many thanks for your patience.
Regards.

[JoseMR]

OK, JoseMR, in that case if I want to go for RootonZFS, do I go for
your earlier suggestion

Hello, to refresh the old configuration you have to go to "Disks > Management > HDD Management" then check the box for "Clear Configuration" then click on "Import", this will not harm your DATA disk(s), then repeat the same steps for "Import Software RAID Disks".

or do I reformat/partition the disk? Many thanks for your patience.
Regards.

Hi, with NAS4Free RootOnZFS you have the choice to install on "whole" disk or just specify a smaller "partition" for the OS(advanced), however if we are talking about just a single drive for all, "OS + DATA" just install on whole drive and make a directory below "/mnt" for the shared data i.e "/mnt/shared", this way your DATA will be also indirectly protected by snaps by default as well.

Regards

[Alice]

Thanks. Very sorry that I still have to clarify this:
if I install on whole drive (OS + DATA), I still have to have two partitions - MBR the first
one for OS and what would be the second one?
Also, do I have to reformat the whole disk again?
I am sorry but I have no experience with RootonZFS.
Regards

[JoseMR]

Thanks. Very sorry that I still have to clarify this:
if I install on whole drive (OS + DATA), I still have to have two partitions - MBR the first
one for OS and what would be the second one?
Also, do I have to reformat the whole disk again?
I am sorry but I have no experience with RootonZFS.
Regards

Let me clarify that NAS4Free RootOnZFS uses GPT/UEFI, though EFI is temporary disabled(no MBR), since "EFI" is currently deactivated first partition is for boot(512K) second partition for swap(2048M by default) and third for OS(rest of space), there is no need for a partition for your data if you "opt" to use just a single drive, unless you want to customize.

However sincerely speaking, if all you want is to share DATA of a single disk(non recommended) and you don't need for any special needs, I personally recommend you to stick with "NAS4Free Embedded", so you can later do more research and familiarize yourself a bit more in the ZFS camp.

Regards