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Where to BuyPreparing to Migrate TrueNAS CORE to SCALE
9 minute read.
Last Modified 2023-11-17 15:28 ESTTrueNAS Enterprise
Migrating TrueNAS from CORE to SCALE is a one-way operation. Attempting to activate or roll back to a CORE boot environment can break the system.
Upgrade your CORE system to the latest publicly-available 13.0-Ux release before attempting to migrate from CORE to SCALE.
SCALE Bluefin deprecates and Cobia removes the built-in DDNS, OpenVPN server and client, rsync, S3, and TFTP service. The WebDAV service and share feature are also deprecated in Bluefin and removed in Cobia. New applications are available in Bluefin to serve as replacements for the functions these services provided.
To migrate from CORE to SCALE Cobia, first upgrade to and migrate from the latest CORE release to the latest release of SCALE 22.12 (Bluefin). While running SCALE Bluefin, take the necessary steps to transition from these deprecated services to the applications that replace them, then upgrade to SCALE 23.10 (Cobia). The replacement applications are available in SCALE 22.12 and 23.10.
Although TrueNAS attempts to keep most of your CORE configuration data when upgrading to SCALE, some CORE-specific items do not transfer. These are the items that don’t migrate from CORE:
- FreeBSD GELI encryption. If you have GELI-encrypted pools on your system that you plan to import into SCALE, you must migrate your data from the GELI pool to a non-GELI encrypted pool before migrating to SCALE.
- Malformed certificates. TrueNAS SCALE validates the system certificates when a CORE system migrates to SCALE. When a malformed certificate is found, SCALE generates a new self-signed certificate to ensure system accessibility.
- CORE plugins and jails. Save the configuration information for your plugin and back up any stored data. After completing the SCALE install, add the equivalent SCALE application using the Apps option. If your CORE plugin is not listed as an available application in SCALE, use the Launch Docker Image option to add it as an application and import data from the backup into a new SCALE dataset for the application.
- NIS data.
- System tunables.
- ZFS boot environments.
- AFP shares also do not transfer, but migrate into an SMB share with AFP compatibility enabled.
- CORE
netcliutility. A new CLI utility is used for the Console Setup Menu and other commands issued in a CLI. By default, any TrueNAS user account with netcli as the chosen Shell updates to use the nologin option instead. See the Users Screens reference article for descriptions of all Shell options. - SAS multipath is not supported in TrueNAS SCALE.
- TrueNAS CORE account names beginning with a number are not supported in TrueNAS SCALE.
Usernames in SCALE must begin with a letter or an underscore.
Before attempting a CORE to SCALE migration, review the local user accounts and rename or replace any accounts that begin with a numeric character (
0-9).
VM storage and its basic configuration transfer over during a migration, but you need to double-check the VM configuration and the network interface settings specifically before starting the VM.
Init/shutdown scripts transfer, but can break. Review them before use.
Before you attempt to migrate your CORE system to the latest release of SCALE Bluefin (22.12.3.4):
Upgrade your CORE system to the most recent publicly-available CORE version. TrueNAS systems on 12.0x or earlier should upgrade to the latest CORE 13.0 release (e.g 13.0-U4 or newer) prior to migrating to SCALE. CORE systems at the latest 13.0 release can use the iso upgrade method to migrate to SCALE.
Verify the root user is not locked. Go to Accounts > Users, use Edit for the root user to view current settings and confirm Lock User is not selected.
After updating to the latest publicly-available release of CORE, download your system configuration file and a debug file. Keep these files in a safe place in case you need to revert back to CORE with a clean install of the CORE iso file.
Back up your stored data files. If you need to do a clean install with the SCALE iso file, you can import your data pools into SCALE.
Write down your network configuration information to use if you do a clean install of SCALE from an iso file.
TrueNAS uses DHCP to assign the IP address to the primary system network interface. DHCP only provisions one IP address. You can use this DHCP-provided address or you can assign a static IP address. You must assign each network interface cards (NICs) installed in your system and wired to your network an IP address if you want to communicate over your network using the interfaces. To configure your TrueNAS server to work with your network, you need:
- DHCP broadcast messages enabled on the network or the subnet(s) in your network where TrueNAS is installed
- DNS name sever IP addresses in your network (SCALE can accommodate up to three name server IP addresses)
- IP address for the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server you use to synchronize time across your servers and network
- Main domain name or the domain name for the portion of your network where the TrueNAS SCALE server is deployed
- Host name you want to use if not using the default-assigned host name in SCALE (truenas is the default host name in SCALE)
- IP address for each additional network interface added in your system and connected to your network (static IP not provided by DHCP)
- IP address assigned to the controller. Either allow DHCP to assign the IP address or assign a static IP.
Back up any critical data!
Record the settings for any service deprecated in SCALE Bluefin to use when you install the application that replaces the functionality of the service.
Download the SCALE ISO file or the SCALE upgrade file and save it to your computer or a USB drive (see the Physical Hardware tab in Installing SCALE) to use if you upgrade from the physical system.
Migrating from deprecated services requires disabling active services and could result in service outages. Schedule the migration time accordingly.
After installing or updating to the latest SCALE 22.12 (Bluefin) release, disable the service and the Start Automatically option. This prevents the service from re-enabling after a system restart. Click Edit and take note of the settings configured for the service.
Click on the service below for details on transitioning from that service to an application that provides the functionality of the deprecated service. You can install an application replacing the service in either Bluefin or Cobia.