FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part Three - Upgrading
You can find my FreeNAS posts/Tutorials here:
- FreeNAS - switching back. About my decision to move back to FreeNAS from Windows Home Server.
- FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part One - Installation - installing the FreeNAS server onto a PC. (this post)
- FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part Two - Configuration - configuring FreeNAS and Windows File Sharing.
- FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part Three - Upgrading - Upgrading your FreeNAS Server.
- Using Microsoft SyncToy 2 with FreeNAS - Automating your backups - for free.
- FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part Five - XBOX 360 - Using FreeNAS with your XBOX 360
- FreeNAS Tutorial for Windows Users - Part 6 - Adding another drive
Note: I had meant for my next FreeNAS post to cover using Microsoft SyncToy 2.0 with FreeNAS. A new version of FreeNAS was released though, and I decided to upgrade my server first.
Upgrading FreeNAS is a fairly straightforward procedure.
Before continuing, please make sure that your FreeNAS server is not being used. If the server is upgraded while data is being read/written then that data could get corrupted!
The first thing to do is to back up your existing FreeNAS configuration. This is done from the browser on any Windows machine on your network.
Navigate to the server (see tutorial part 2 for information on this - link at bottom of this post).
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You will see the standard FreeNAS interface. From the left hand navigation menu select “Backup/Restore” under System. |
| Click on the “Download configuration” button |  |
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Save the file to your computer (remember where you saved it!) |
Before continuing, please make sure that your FreeNAS server is not being used. If the server is upgraded while data is being read/written then that data could get corrupted!
Now that you have a backup you can go ahead and insert the new FreeNAS install CDROM and restart your FreeNAS server. Make sure you boot from the CDROM.
| Allow the CDROM to boot until the FreeNAS Screen is displayed. Press enter and you will see the following screen (you may need to wait a minute for it to fully load): |  |
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We will be selecting option #9 - “Install/Upgrade to an hard drive/flash device, etc”Assuming you followed my FreeNAS install tutorial, we’ll want to select option 5 - “Upgrade existing installed ‘full’ release from CDROM”. |
| Enter 5 and press enter. You may get an error of “WARNING: / was not properly dismounted”. It is safe to ignore this error.Your CDROM name will be displayed (in my example it is called acdo. Type the displayed CDROM name at the prompt |  |
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FreeNAS will now display the name of the drive FreeNAS is installed on. Make sure this is correct and type Y and press enter. |
| You may see a couple more warnings about failure to dismount drives. Ignore these errors as FreeNAS is already updating the FreeNAS system on your drive. This only takes a minute.When complete, you will see a similar screen to the image here. As suggested, remove the CDROM and press enter. |  |
Press 7 to return to the main FreeNAS window, then press 7 again to reboot the FreeNAS server.
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Once the FreeNAS server completely reboots you will need to note the configured IP address (which will probably be different from what FreeNAS was previously configured for). |
Type that IP address into your browser (in my case the IP Address is 192.168.1.250, as show in the image above. If prompted for a login FreeNAS may be set to the factory defaults of login name: admin and password: freenas. In my case, the original password I assigned was intact.
Click Backup/Restore from the FreeNAS menu in your browser.
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Using the Browse button select the file you saved during the backup process. Click on Restore configuration.The restore will automatically restart your FreeNAS server. |
That’s it. You just backed up, upgraded, and restored your FreeNAS server!
It is important to keep the server up to date as the FreeNAS development team continues to add features, fix bugs and improve performance.
If you have any comments or questions please feel free to share them below!
*** Random Post ***
January 15th, 2008 at 1:36 am
[...] Rob Lagesse has published the 3rd follow up in his “FreeNAS Tutorials for Windows Users” series: upgrading FreeNAS [...]
June 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Have been playing around with Freenas a little while and am looking at upgrading. Forgive my ihgnorance, but what precautions should I take for all the data that is on the FreeNas machine at this time? Give or take 100 Gb of files I really would be unhappy to lose. I will probably move them to another drive to be sure but am curious.
As an aside, have you made use of the email reports function at all? Can’t get it to connect.
Thanks
G
June 14th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
@Gary - is your FreeNAS install on the same drive as the data? (If it is, I don’t recommend it - not because I have had any issues with this configuration, but because it is better (easier) to keep the OS separate from the data.
If it is on different drives, you have no worries - FreeNAS is easily downgraded if an update cause a problem (as long as you back up the previous config first).
But assuming you have just one drive - if you select UPGRADE from the install CD and do not reformat any drives you will be fine - I’ve done this myself with good results.
And no - never used the email feature. I’ll try and play with it and see if I can figure out any “gotchya’s” - but no promises.
Rob
June 14th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Gee Rob, it took 11 minutes for you to reply… What took ya so long!!
When I set it up, I chose to let FreeNas create a small partition on the drive for it’s system files. I was wondering about the various options (USB, Floppy, CD etc) for config files and just went with the HD.
Once I give it a shot with the new system, I think I’ll go with the separation you speak of. Any great hints on explaining the different versions (Full, Embedded, Live etc)
Thanks
June 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
@Gary - I replied in 6 minutes - you were busy reading my About and FAQ pages
Sorry for the delay (hee).
Full version is what you want - it is meant for Hard Drives. Embedded is meant for installing on USB drives, etc. Live is just something you boot from (live CD boot)
I think you are safe to select an “Upgrade to Full” from the current boot CD (I am testing the 0.79 beta and it looks fine to me).
I still recommend the separate physical drive for the OS though just because it makes it easy to play with the OS without worrying about nuking your data.
Of course, I still can’t get the uPnP working for my XBOX on anything past 0.86 - but if that isn’t a concern, go with the latest 0.79.
Rob