Migrate installed proxmox to new hardware - ZFS pools

[bo3ek]

Hi.
I am facing the problem of migrating the proxmox node to new hardware. In the present configuration I gave mirror ZFS for proxmox and another mirrored ZFS pool for all my VMs. The problem is that I have only one set of HDDs/SSDs which I am using on the present proxmox installation. Would be possible to phisicaly move the all existing HDDs/SSDs with proxmox on it to the new hardware? Would it work that way? I know that single drive installation would be ok but will it work with configuration where hypervisor is on ZFS pool and also another ZFS pool is with all VMs?

If this is bad idea, what would be the best one in my scenario when no spare drives to migrate.
Thanks in advance for any hints.

1. ZFS pool for proxmox hypervisor
2. ZFS pool for all guests machines

 

[ky41083]

As long as:

- The current kernel supports the new hardware
- The ZFS pools are using disk IDs
- The boot mode is the same (BIOS vs UEFI)
- The disk controller is an HBA on the old and new servers
* Anything else I'm overlooking ;-)

You should be able to just move all the drives to the new system and boot. Someone please chime in if I missed anything.

 

[bo3ek]

@ky41083 thank you for your info. I checked the configuration and if I am right the pools are created by id?




So it might work this way. I have the latest updates so Kernel is 6.8.12-2-pve.
I am going to move from the intel to AMD platform, both are desktop PCs with no special hardware in them. Would change from Intel to AMD could cause some problems?
The only thing might be a bios version on the old server which is probably not UEFI :/

 

[ky41083]

You said you had 2 pools, I only see one in the screen shot but yes, it is using disk IDs.

Going from Intel to AMD shouldn't cause issues outside of different platforms having different quirks you may need to work through, same as a new install. If the old system is not UEFI then you would need to set the new system to BIOS / CSM boot.

Changing platforms you would want to remove the Intel microcode package and install the AMD one, if you have it installed (it is not installed by default).

Ah and you will likely need to reconfigure your networking if the adapters are different. You may have to do this at the console if you can't access the webui.

 

[bo3ek]

I think my biggest problem would be the BIOS. I am aware of the networking interfaces change and needing recoonfiguration via console.

Lets presume that I have non UEFI machine, and when will swap the drives to the new one, it will not boot in worst case? Without doing any harm?

Thank you very much @ky41083 for your answers to that.

 

[ky41083]

I've not come across a desktop board that supported UEFI but not CSM, so you should be fine as long as you set it correctly.

Worst case I think so yes it will just fail to boot. I can't think of any reason it would hurt anything, but that doesn't mean one does not exist ;-)

 

[bo3ek]

Yes, you are right.
I will make all possible backups and will give it a go. Will also place in here the outcome of my swap for the future reference if someone will come across the same idea

 

[bo3ek]

Hi.
I am back with some results. I managed to migrate/move all my present installation of proxmox to the new hardware. I moved 2 ssd drives and 2 hdd drives to the new server with no major issues. My ZFS pooles were created by using the disk ids what made it possible. The only thing which I had to correct were the interfaces but after adjusting them through the console all went back to working state. I still have some scripts to be corrected but all seems to be working fine. Thank you very much @ky41083 for your hints.