Expand pool on new system

[mgrunwald]

Hi,
I currently have a 4-Bay Server with 4 disks in RAIDZ1. All data on it is backed up to another TrueNAS system. The boot environment is on a USB SSD connected to an internal header.
I would like to add four more drives but my current hardware doesn't have any more drive slots. So I need to migrate the data (or the pool?) to new hardware.
My new server of choice is a Dell R720xd. I know I need to flash the RAID controller first to get direct access to the connected drives. Also, I want to utilize the SD card reader to install TrueNAS on two redundant SD cards. Then I would like to import my pool and config from the old server and add a new RAIDZ1 vdev with my new drives afterwards. The finished setup would be two RAIDZ1 vdevs with four drives each.
Should I import pool and config? Or rather wipe the disks, create a new pool with two VDEVs first and then copy the data over from the backup NAS?

 

[jgreco]

Dell R720xd. I know I need to flash the RAID controller

Generally these have PERC RAID controllers in it. The H710 can be crossflashed to an HBA, but most others cannot. Replace the controller if need be.

 

[mgrunwald]

Generally these have PERC RAID controllers in it. The H710 can be crossflashed to an HBA, but most others cannot. Replace the controller if need be.

I have done flashing of these before, but thanks for the advice. My main concern was whether to import or to start fresh, though

 

[shredder]

After flashing the PERC H710; Can't you just take all the drives including the USB Boot drive, install them in the new R720xd and fire it up?

 

[Arwen]

After flashing the PERC H710; Can't you just take all the drives including the USB Boot drive, install them in the new R720xd and fire it up?

Yes, and no.

It is almost certain that the network needs to be re-configured from the console if you attempt to preserve the existing configuration. (The NIC manufacturer and model will likely change, but even if not, it's PCIe address will almost certainly change.)

...
Also, I want to utilize the SD card reader to install TrueNAS on two redundant SD cards.
...

From reading here in the forums, these SD card readers are not very robust. Further, using a SD card as a boot-pool will likely burn through the limited amount of writes that a SD card can handle. I wish they made SD cards that had full blown error detection and spare sectors, like normal SSDs and HDDs. But, that does not appear to be the case.

It is better to use a SATA SSD with a USB to SATA adapter than to use a SD card for the boot-pool.