[Not Accepted] Mirroring inital zfs datasets on a new install using data from another syncing tool

Feature Requests
1

Problem/Justification
Updating a Remote 12TB backup server and a Locally hosted 12TB server from Linux servers syncing previously with rsync to a Truenas Server syncing with zfs send/receive

When upgrading multiple servers to truenas on both a local and remote location with zfs I would like to update both servers to have the same zfs dataset at Site A and Site B. Without having to pull a complete 12TB of data again from the remote server.

Both Sever A and Server B have an existing complete 12TB copy of the same data but currently being kept in sync using rsync

Could a tool be created that can rebuild this existing data/recreate as a zfs dataset using the structure of the remote servers zfs dataset but rebuilding the local dataset using data from a local existing copy of the data. Rebuilding the dataset to match the remote zfs dataset

Impact
Would save money having to pull down a brand new copy of data between data centers and rebuild data from a local copy instead.

User Story
Using an existing rsync mirrored copy of data from Site A and Site B. Convert data from both over to an identical zfs datasets without having to copy 12TB between both sites.

2

Is there a reason you don’t want to use ZFS snapshots and ZFS replication?

3

I probably didn’t explain it correctly

I have existing servers (not truenas) that are at separate physical locations currently with the same matching data on both locations currently using rsync.

I want to replace both of these old servers with two truenas servers running the same matching zfs dataset on both at both locations

I want to convert my existing data at both these locations to zfs datasets without having to re-transfer the whole complete copy of the dataset between the two locations.

I have the same data at both locations its just the structure/layout of data between these two zfs datasets is different between these two hosts. Is there a tool/feature that looks at one of the servers uses the layout/structure of the first server then reorganizes the layout by moving the existing data around to create an identical zfs dataset on the other server.

I am talking about a feature / tool used for the initial creation of the zfs dataset to rebuild a matching zfs dataset layout between two locations using whats already on the disk.

4

You can’t.

It’s the same reason why this cannot be done switching from Ext4 to XFS or from NTFS to exFAT.

5

Are you physically replacing the servers? Can you get all three servers in one location and set up the ZFS replication, do the initial load over the local network and then put the servers back to where they belong and carry on with the regular replication schedule?

6

Thank you for submitting this feature request. After keeping it open to gauge community interest, we’re closing it as it hasn’t received enough votes to prioritize for development.