Move license to new server and new disks.

[mdr6273]

I'm looking to deploy a new unraid server, migrate all my data, then decommission the old unraid server.

 

Is it possible to do this without purchasing a second license while I have both servers online?  Can I do this with a trial license then after I shutdown the old server move my existing license to the new server and flash drive?

[JonathanM]

1 minute ago, mdr6273 said:

I'm looking to deploy a new unraid server, migrate all my data, then decommission the old unraid server.

 

Is it possible to do this without purchasing a second license while I have both servers online?  Can I do this with a trial license then after I shutdown the old server move my existing license to the new server and flash drive?

Yes, or you can continue to use the old flash drive and license. You can freely move the config folder minus the license file from stick to stick.

[mdr6273]

56 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

Yes, or you can continue to use the old flash drive and license. You can freely move the config folder minus the license file from stick to stick.

If I move the config file, won’t that invalidate config of the new server?

 

with the old config, it would be looking for the old disks if I’m not mistaken. 

[JonathanM]

You can use a trial key to set up the new server, get it running, then when you are ready to decommission the old server move the config folder from the trial USB to your original licensed USB, just be sure to keep the old license key file. The rest of the config would be from the new server.

[mdr6273]

I was under the impression that the license file was bow to the guid of the USB drive.  Is there a way to reassociate the license file to the new GUID?

[JonathanM]

1 minute ago, mdr6273 said:

I was under the impression that the license file was bow to the guid of the USB drive.  Is there a way to reassociate the license file to the new GUID?

Yes, I was saying you could avoid the license transfer by continuing to use the old USB stick. If you put the old license file on a new stick it will prompt you to transfer the license, blacklisting the old USB GUID. You can do that automated transfer once a year, if you do it sooner you have to contact support and tell them your situation. Why not continue to use the old stick? In my experience it's hard to find a good quality USB stick, I'd prefer to keep using a known good one than take a gamble on a new one until forced to by failure. If you keep a current backup it's a matter of minutes to do a transfer to a new stick.

 

I'm not sure what happens if you try to move an existing license to a stick that has been issued a valid trial. Presumably you could do that, but the automated system might not work, forcing you to contact support to get it moved.

@SpencerJ?

[mdr6273]

The only reason is this server is an old soul and the USB stick is quite slow, not that is gets written to much...

If I understand correctly the process is:

1. Setup new server with new USB stick using trial license.
2. Transfer data and configuration to new server
3. Backup OLD USB stick config directory
4. Shutdown old server
5. Transfer (overwrite) config directory only to OLD stick
6. Restore backed up file to old USB stick: /config/Pro.key
7. Move old stick to new server
8. Boot

Anything I missed?

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, mdr6273 said:

Anything I missed?

Can't think of anything major. Just remember to delete the trial key from the new config when you put it on the old key. Are you planning on running the same version (6.11.5) of Unraid on both servers while you do the data transfer?

[mdr6273]

Both will be up to date, but I have really simple docker configs and no VM's so the only real issue will be moving the files, would it matter if they had disparate versions?

 

<tangent>

   Could I theoretically do a job that copied from remote unraid directly to a disk inside the array and bypass cache/mover/slow array operations?  My data is FAR larger than my cache....  Or maybe copy the data to the array BEFORE I create cache and parity?

</tangent>

[JonathanM]

Different versions wouldn't "matter", but could effect which files you wanted to copy from one USB to the other. Having the same version means just the config folder is all that needs to move.

 

5 minutes ago, mdr6273 said:

copy the data to the array BEFORE I create cache and parity?

This, partially. Definitely wait to assign parity, since all your data is going to be a copy anyway. If a drive in the new server pukes during transfer, just replace it and move on, no data lost. Pools, on the other hand, I would create initially, as you will usually want your docker containers and system files to go there. I would NOT, however, set any of your shares to use the pools as the initial place for the transferred data, set those shares to cache:no, or set the array as the primary destination with no secondary if you are using 6.12.X when you get around to doing the transfer.

 

Initial data loading from the old array drives should bypass any pools and go directly to the new array, then build parity after all the data is safely across.