Moving NIC and SSD

jpetovello

Is it possible to move my NIC and SDD (with pfSense installed), without having to reinstall/reconfigure?

SteveITS

@jpetovello Restoring from backup is so easy I've never tried that. :) Probably? And if it doesn't work then reinstall.

A new install will use ZFS, which, in Plus, gets you Boot Environments.

stephenw10

Yeah, I would just re-install unless you have a very good reason not to. But, yes, generally you can move a drive to new hardware and as long as the assigned interfaces exist there it will boot.

Steve

rcoleman-netgate

@stephenw10 And the drivers for everything... but the NIC is the most important one.
Interface order might be an issue, though, so you might want to verify the MAC addresses of your interfaces after the initial boot and reassign accordingly.

Of note:

If you have a TAC subscription this will likely break that so please open a ticket before proceeding
If you are using a pfSense Plus upgrade from CE this will likely break your future upgrade path as well.

Both are tied to the Netgate Device ID of your installation and it is quite possibly going to change the NDI.

jpetovello

I have decided against doing things this way, and will do a clean install instead.