[zfs-discuss] Server upgrade

David Dyer-Bennet
2012-02-15T17:16:10Z

While I''m not in need of upgrading my server at an emergency level,
I''m
starting to think about it -- to be prepared (and an upgrade could be
triggered by a failure at this point; my server dates to 2006).

I''m actually more concerned with software than hardware.  My load is
small, the current hardware is handling it no problem.  I don''t see
myself
as a candidate for dedup, so I don''t need to add huge quantities of
RAM.
I''m handling compression on backups just fine (the USB external disks
are
the choke-point, so compression actually speeds up the backups).

I''d like to be on a current software stream that I can easily update
with
bug-fixes and new features.  The way I used to do that got broke in the
Oracle takeover.

I''m interested in encryption for my backups, if that''s
functional (and
safe) in current software versions.  I take copies off-site, so that''s
a
useful precaution.

Whatever I do, I''ll of course make sure my backups are ALL up-to-date
and
at least one is back off-site before I do anything drastic.

Is there an upgrade path from (I think I''m running Solaris Express) to
something modern?  (That could be an Oracle distribution, or the free
software fork, or some Nexenta distribution; my current data pool is 1.8T,
and I don''t expect it to grow terribly fast, so the fully-featured free
version fits my needs for example.)  Upgrading might perhaps save me from
changing all the user passwords (half a dozen, not a huge problem) and
software packages I''ve added.

(uname -a says "SunOS fsfs 5.11 snv_134 i86pc i386 i86pc").

Or should I just export my pool and do a from-scratch install of
something?  (Then recreate the users and install any missing software.
I''ve got some cron jobs, too.)

AND, what "something" should I upgrade to or install?  I''ve
tried a couple
of times to figure out the alternatives and it''s never really clear to
me
what my good options are.

--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
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