As previously posted, I run much of my home network (and this website) on a FreeNAS server, currently running version 9 after a recent downgrade from the failed version 10 release. Recently, FreeNAS 11 was released as a stable version, so I have been eager to upgrade to the new functionality – but hesitant due to the prior problems with 10.
With my work travel plans disrupted this week, and the kids off at Cub Scout day camp, I found I had a lot of spare time, so I gambled and took the plunge. Fortunately there is a direct upgrade path from 9.10.2 of FreeNAS to the latest version 11, so the upgrade itself was fairly painless. Just had to update the train setting to point to the 11.x stable train, delect download and install, and click “go”. A short time later, the files were downloaded and the system was rebooting.
Of course, with my hardware, I have an issue with the OS-based reboots from FreeNAS not cooperating with the motherboard 100%, so I had to manually power off and back on once or twice (not an unusual step). Otherwise, the upgrade actually ran very smoothly, and I would say that after about 30 minutes, the system was fully updated and running again. More importantly, all of the jails transferred cleanly, so there was no rebuild or reconfiguration needed on my part.
I might not yet be taking full advantage of any new features, but at least for me, I can say that the upgrade process from 9.10.2 to 11 of FreeNAS is very simple and smooth, as promised.
