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Forum Discussion
migrating from a Pro6 (OS4) to a 516 (OS6)
Hi, I have a problem, I have a client with a venerable ReadyNAS Pro6 in situ and wants it replaced. I went with a ReadyNAS 516 hoping the migration between the two would be realitively sim...
Ouch !!! That is so massively painful !!!
So I have to recreate all shares
recreate all users
recreate all groups
recreate all security settings for each user/group
ask all users on the system to take a default password and set their own (or set passwords for them)
setup all backup jobs again
..... and then migrate the data across (which is the easy bit)
there is no migration tool or assistance ?
Wow !!!!
So when upgrading OS's with ReadyNAS units we should budget for many hours of manual data re-entry !!!!
There has to be a better way - surely ? this is an SME targetted NAS !?!!
Regards,
Mark
Normally we have had a more straightforward upgrade process for environments with large numbers of local users/groups on the NAS and/or shares.
But with OS6 we decided to make a revolutionary change, doing a major redesign to put us in good stead for the future.
A new OS, with a new web interface, with a different filesystem etc.
This is not a decision that we took lightly and is a very rare one.
Hi mdgm,
Thanks for the reply .....
I understand the need for progress and progression in products - but as a user and someone who is now in hour 3 of manually recreating all settings, backup jobs, users, shares etc ..... (with many hours more to go thanks to the "non-optimal-for-bulk-data-entry" interface of OS6) and after having to factory reset the 516 three times after import ettempts ..... I also very much understand the need for some backward compatability or at least a migration tool to soften these "rare" events impacting critical product function.
Wearing my other hat (as a software engineer) I have to write migration kinds of tools for my clients when I perform a major upgrade to tools and products I support ..... I kind of hoped Netgear would offer the same courtesy :-(
Lesson learned (and now factored into future "upgrade" reccomendations)
Regards,
MarkThanks for the feedback. I will pass it on.
You may also wish to post this suggestion in the Ideas Exchange
Most users with lots of users use AD, and a large number of ordinary shares is not a common deployment scenario.
We don't support installing OS6 on legacy systems (though it can be installed on the Pro 6 using a special image - a factory reset is required)
With the size of the change we also now have new and different settings for the new products.
If we were able to make a migration tool it would likely need regular updates to account for backend config changes in the new OS.
I would not expect a similar revolutionary change for quite some time, so I would expect once you have upgraded to the 516 migrating to a newer box again at some point in the future should be more straightforward. However I cannot predict what will happen in the future and would suggest you seek some pre-sales advice on the community about what would be involved in migration ahead of your future purchases.
Hi again,
As you state .....
".... Most users with lots of users use AD, and a large number of ordinary shares is not a common deployment scenario."
It is for SME's who are growing and have not yet required an investment in AD. As in this case. Also (although not a "lot" of users in the system - but potentially a lot of shares depending on organisation) every home user without AD in their house (which is pretty much all of them less the extra tech savvy ones).
This is not my primary role but over the years I have installed (or reccomended then helped install) in SME's and homes in the area 5x516's (this is the first migrating from an OS4 predecessor), 2x316's, three Pro 6's, 4x NV+ (going back a while when they were new), a handfull of Duos and 3x 104's (Shudder). Not a lot by commercial standards but due to the size of the development cells, small businesses and homes in question NONE have used AD. I appreciate this is not a market segment the ReadyNAS is apparently targetting.
"....would suggest you seek some pre-sales advice on the community about what would be involved in migration ahead of your future purchases"
..... could not agree more .... thank you for the advice but in this case it is a week and $3500 late.
My sticking with a Netgear ReadyNAS solution in this case was based on a false premace (ease of transition). There are a lot of storage providers out there and pro's and cons of each. Netgear is not the cheapest nor the fastest nor the best supported apparently.
The effort penalty for changing vendors (usually a significant barrier for transition) is apparently the same as purchasing another ReadyNAS across the OS4 to OS6 boundary. I won't be reccomending the ReadyNAS family of products to anyone further who does not run AD in their business or home.
Regards,
Mark
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