Core to Scale upgrade questions and concerns

I have been using a very basic Truenas Core 13.0-U6.2 I built for about 6 months now without any issues other than it won’t work on any PC that has a VPN running. I am a novice with this and only did enough to get the NAS up and running for my PCs in the house. I am considering upgrading to the latest Scale version because it’s fully supported and updated but I’m concerned about what Pandora’s Box I may be opening. I have read the migration document and don’t believe I am using anything that won;t migrate unless it’s a default configuration I am not aware of.

netcli, for example. It is the default in Core so what is the effect in Scale? This concern applies to all features that won’t migrate. I did not specify any encryption but is there a default? Does the upgrade change anything in the data stores? Anyway, some tips and feedback would be appreciated.

The PC is an Intel I5 with 16GB of RAM and 5 Seagate Ironwolf 12TB drives of which 3 are in use. It has a PCI 2.5GB network interface and one dataset. I am also considering using it for a cloud server but that is for another time.

If you really just have a single ZFS pool with a single dataset that you’re exposing with something like a SMB share or soemthing, then yes, it should be relatively seemless. If you’re using Apps and VMs, things can get a little interesting. Save your configuration and all the associated keys just in case. If the upgrade goes sideways you should be able to reinstall Core and restore your config.

Also, maybe backup your data before you do anything, just in case it all explodes. It’s very unlikely, but being a good data custodian means being ultra paranoid. :stuck_out_tongue:

I would attempt here with my similar doubts, what does mean (info from migration document):

  1. Remove all SMB auxiliary parameter settings before migrating. In TrueNAS 23.10 (Cobia) or newer, the SMB Auxiliary Parameters option is unavailable in the UI. Attempting to migrate with these settings can result in broken SMB shares post-upgrade that require CLI access to fix.

does it mean all groups must be removed (see picture)?
grupsaux

No, it is referring specifically to SMB Auxiliary Parameters, which are entered through the SMB Other Options settings: SMB Share Screen | TrueNAS Documentation Hub

Clear. Thank you for explanation.

I was considering backing up my NAS data to an external USB drive. I really overestimated the amount of storage I needed as I’m only using 6.7TB of the 60TB but as I mentioned I am also considering other services like cloud storage and a media server. Can you tell me how to back up to an external USB drive?

If everything you want to back up needs to be readable, by default, on Windows, etc. Just copy everything using SMB sharing. Another option is create a new pool and VDEV using a single, usb drive and your can use replication or just copy all your files. That option will only be readable by a system set up with ZFS, like TrueNAS.

1 Like