Need advice on vague requirement for Migration Assistant.

[denmalley]

Synology Migration assistant has listed this "suggestion" in their requirements, and I am trying to understand what the implications are of not adhering to this:

 

"We recommend updating the source device to DSM 6.0.3, 6.1.7, or 6.2.4, as well as updating all packages to the latest version."

 

I am on 6.2.1 on the source device and from what I'm reading on this forum, going up to 6.2.4 doesn't look like a good option (mostly seeing failures in the updates reporting threads and most are jumping ship with the availability of the shiny new 7x and TCRP).  Not sure if I should move forward with the version I have (and what problems might be associated) or if I should try to go through the trouble of possibly downgrading to a lesser version to meet the subversion requirement/suggestion.  Anyone have any insight on why synology is making that recommendation?

 

The TLDR of what I'm doing if you need context or have further insight/alternate methods:

 

I have DSM running baremetal on a Dell T30 server that has been rock solid for several years.  Current version  DSM 6.2.1-23824 Update 6.    I am trying to upgrade my storage pool with all new disks and opted to make an SHR volume with 2 x 8TB and 2 x 14TB disks.  Since my current setup is running 4 x 8 TB disks in two RAID1 pairs, and no extra room for disks, I opted to pull out an old PC that was up to the task and managed to create a new baremetal DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 2 using ARPL.  I am building the SHR pool on that PC with the intent of running migration assistant to pull the data/settings from the T30 and then using ARPL to build a new loader on the t30 and swapping disks after the setup is done.  Once everything looks good there I'll probably reformat my old disks to a new SHR volume and use the old PC as a test/backup box.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by denmalley

[IG-88]

10 hours ago, denmalley said:

"We recommend updating the source device to DSM 6.0.3, 6.1.7, or 6.2.4, as well as updating all packages to the latest version."

these list the last/latest versions of the dsm main lines in question (6.0/6.1/6.2) and i guess that just suggested to keep possible problems as much out as it can be

in case of 6.2.1 you can keep that or update to the max. possible version for that (xpenology) loader, 6.2.3 update3 (aka 25426 u3)

 

also in syno's kb its "... The DSM version required for the source device is DSM 6.0 or above. However, we recommended upgrading to DSM 6.0.3, 6.1.7, or 6.2.4...."

so no worries, just keep your 6.2.1 as it fulfills the min. requirements

also its "...Please install Migration Assistant on the destination device..."  so the old device is just there for reading from it, no problem to expect it it runs all the tasks you ask for

 

i have not used it yet but for me it looks like as you are good to go (with 6.2.1 on the old system)

just check after the migration that everything you nee is there (all files, that usually easy to "count") and other things you need, as there is some change with the packages its possible that 3rd party or some syno packages are not possible to transfer but i guess the assistant will give you some advice on that and you might find a newer 7.x capable version in some other repositorys (i even changed one manually after a in place update to get it working with 7.x, so there is some room for tinkering if its really needed)

Edited December 10, 2022 by IG-88

[denmalley]

Ah yeah that makes sense.  I'll probably skip the source update then, I see a lot of successes in the updates reporting thread but one guy lost all his settings on the upgrade which is really the whole point for me to do the migration.  If the migration fails for whatever reason I still have the data (plus backups) and can do all my setups again if I have to.

 

Actually this old PC has six sata ports so I could always bring over one raid volume at a time and move the shared folders.

[IG-88]

16 hours ago, denmalley said:

Actually this old PC has six sata ports so I could always bring over one raid volume at a time and move the shared folders.

the nice thing about the migration assistant is that it does not change the old system and it also transfers users/groups, if you have the new hardware with a fresh/new install and add the raid/data disks from the old system then its the same as you would have done new install on the old hardware (system partition with its settings an the old data disks  is overwritten with the new system partition from the new install)

the migration is like a in place upgrade but without the risks or "no way back" problem, kind of a additional 1:1 backup that can be checked/compared before using it

[denmalley]

Agreed, it will be a LOT easier to configure everything when I can keep looking back at the old system to see how things were set up.  Moving the physical drives would be a last-resort type of scenario. 

 

Migration assistant has been up and running for 2-1/2 hours as of now, approximately 46 hours to complete.