FreeNAS Questions

[Ranulf]

If set on Windows, there are NAS boxes with versions of 2012 as well. Thecus and Buffalo brands that I know of. For low end hardware that is just file sharing I don't think I'd go with FreeNAS but worth a shot if you feel like a learning experience. It did not endear itself to me, mostly because of the forum community there and zfs restrictions. The ECC requirement for zfs is overhyped there but wise if you get serious with it. And then I'd be serious about just buying a FreeNAS box from iX directly for support.

 

[aigomorla]

if its for play and you have the spare hardware, just play with a freenas for a week.

You really have nothing to lose.
FreeNAS installs on a USB Drive.

that is how i got into freenas.

I spent a month trying out unRAID, NAS4FREE, OMV, and FreeNAS.

NAS4FREE and FreeNAS were almost the same thing, except FreeNAS got way more updates.
unRAID i hear a lot of good things about it, and ive gave the trial a go, its nice, but it to me isnt honestly worth the extra subscription cost over FreeNAS.

OMV (Open Media Vault) i heard a lot of great things about this.
However at the time i was sampling out all those NAS software, OMV wasnt as polished as FreeNAS 8 at the time, and definitely no where near as great as unRAID.

I went with FreeNAS because i have enterprise gear, and used enterprise gear is dirt cheap when they are being retired out.

 

[mxnerd]

Read that you have to use high quality USB flash for FreeNAS, or the USB drive probably will die quickly.

A small 32GB SSD might be better.

NAS4Free has a new modernized version called XigmaNAS.

 

[frowertr]

Good to know that most people assume these days. I am an IT Professional...

At this point in time I will most likely do Server 2016 with Storage Pools, or Ubuntu with MDADM. I am going to use the 'file server' purely as file shares, all the compute will be done on another machine.

Using a Linux distro with MDADM is really the easiest way to go. I’d never consider FreeNAS... For anything really... I mean, you can do everything better by using straight FreeBSD if you want to go the ZFS route.

Linux/MDADM will allow you to use Frankenstein parts and roll your own storage NAS with minimal hardware requirements. Share it out via SMB and you’re done.

 

[dclevy1]

I'm trying to possibly get a freenas machine built. I came across a proliant ml150 G6 an obviously old machine that have a Xeon e5520. Am I able to use this?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Fallen Kell]

It should be entirely possible to create a build out of that proliant. There are obviously other choices, but it all comes down to your own needs. The proliant has room for 8 hard drives. You might need to pickup a different SATA/SAS controller card (I am not familiar with the HP controllers that seem to be in the proliant).

But it does seem to use ECC memory, which is good. This is something I want to bring up because I think too many people don't understand the real reason for ECC (especially given answers and statements in this thread). Some of the arguments go along the lines of, "well your other system that is sending the data to the FreeNas box isn't using ECC, so a memory error can occur there and corrupt the data". That has nothing to do with why ECC is requested to be used in ZFS setups. It is because the system RAM is used by ZFS for read and write caching. The RAM will have data placed in it (unless explicitly instructed to require all writes be immediately written to disk), and hold the data and reorder disk write operations to optimize disk usage. It might hold onto that data in RAM for a long time (speaking relatively compared to data being written to a disk). This allows for external factors to have a higher chance to corrupt it, or a bad/failing memory chip to corrupt it, all while ZFS is doing what ZFS does to write it to disk. Now, is it is big risk? Probably not, if you are using new hardware that you have run through benchmarks and tests to confirm things are operating correctly (i.e. memtest). But you will want to periodically run memtest on your system to make sure it is all still good if you are not running ECC, otherwise, you are just corrupting your data (data that was important enough to you to want to use something more robust than a USB drive, off-the-shelf storage product, or "the cloud").

Again, the proliant would work. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I have different needs and different resources (i.e. I have a mini-rack in my basement below the steps which is network central in my house with UPS backup). So I picked up a cheap Supermicro CSE-846 complete server used off ebay, and am in the process of modding/refurbishing it (its not a bad system, 2x Intel Xeon E5-2630Lv2 which typically use less than 50W of power each and 128GB ECC). Mostly I am working to quiet it down some since it is a datacenter class server, with high speed fans, but the nice thing about this case is that you can pop out the fan wall behind the hot-swap hard drive bays and fairly easily rig up 3x120mm fans together to replace the 80mm screamers, keeping or increasing the CFM and cut the noise by 10-12db all at the same time.

 

[sdifox]

It should be entirely possible to create a build out of that proliant. There are obviously other choices, but it all comes down to your own needs. The proliant has room for 8 hard drives. You might need to pickup a different SATA/SAS controller card (I am not familiar with the HP controllers that seem to be in the proliant).

But it does seem to use ECC memory, which is good. This is something I want to bring up because I think too many people don't understand the real reason for ECC (especially given answers and statements in this thread). Some of the arguments go along the lines of, "well your other system that is sending the data to the FreeNas box isn't using ECC, so a memory error can occur there and corrupt the data". That has nothing to do with why ECC is requested to be used in ZFS setups. It is because the system RAM is used by ZFS for read and write caching. The RAM will have data placed in it (unless explicitly instructed to require all writes be immediately written to disk), and hold the data and reorder disk write operations to optimize disk usage. It might hold onto that data in RAM for a long time (speaking relatively compared to data being written to a disk). This allows for external factors to have a higher chance to corrupt it, or a bad/failing memory chip to corrupt it, all while ZFS is doing what ZFS does to write it to disk. Now, is it is big risk? Probably not, if you are using new hardware that you have run through benchmarks and tests to confirm things are operating correctly (i.e. memtest). But you will want to periodically run memtest on your system to make sure it is all still good if you are not running ECC, otherwise, you are just corrupting your data (data that was important enough to you to want to use something more robust than a USB drive, off-the-shelf storage product, or "the cloud").

Again, the proliant would work. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I have different needs and different resources (i.e. I have a mini-rack in my basement below the steps which is network central in my house with UPS backup). So I picked up a cheap Supermicro CSE-846 complete server used off ebay, and am in the process of modding/refurbishing it (its not a bad system, 2x Intel Xeon E5-2630Lv2 which typically use less than 50W of power each and 128GB ECC). Mostly I am working to quiet it down some since it is a datacenter class server, with high speed fans, but the nice thing about this case is that you can pop out the fan wall behind the hot-swap hard drive bays and fairly easily rig up 3x120mm fans together to replace the 80mm screamers, keeping or increasing the CFM and cut the noise by 10-12db all at the same time.

Why not just put it somewhere else. My stack is next to the electric panel in the basement :shrug:

 

[Fallen Kell]

Why not just put it somewhere else. My stack is next to the electric panel in the basement :shrug:

Because in a different location, I don't have access to the 20 network drops that were terminated in a patch panel there, along with a cable drop for cable modem, phone jack to connect VOIP to analog, and backup UPS to keep the network/phones running. Modding the case is simple and easy (pop out the existing hot-swap fans, unscrew 4-5 screws to remove the old fan mounts and ziptie 3x120mm fans together with a piece of foam or wood on top for added stability/air dam and wow, you just cut 14db, swap out the rear fans for several more db. Swap out the power supplies with SQ versions for another 8-10db, and all of a sudden you have a system you can run in a bedroom if you want...)

 

[aigomorla]

unscrew 4-5 screws to remove the old fan mounts and ziptie 3x120mm fans together with a piece of foam or wood on top for added stability/air dam and wow, you just cut 14db, swap out the rear fans for several more db. Swap out the power supplies with SQ versions for another 8-10db, and all of a sudden you have a system you can run in a bedroom if you want...)

WHAT KELL? I CANT HEAR YOU WITH IN MY SERVER ROOM WITH SAN ACES SCREAMING AT 3K+ RPMS on a 90F+ DAY.



I gave up trying to silence enterprise eq.
Its far easier to make the room colder, then to make the stuff quieter.
However its a lot more expensive on the maintenance of said eq.

I also moved all my stuff into a very small partitioned off room, that messures 4x8 feet, double insulated, and sound padded all over.
(cheap ebay ones, dont know if they really work, or if its the double insulated drywall.)

I have HVAC filters on 2 inlet and 2 high powered duct fans they use in hydroponics at the top pumping the hot air out.

Works really well, until the ambients shoot up past 85F, which then i need to strap the Spot portable 10kBTU AC unit into one of the inlets.

I turn my gear off when ambients hit over 100F. (not common in that location.)
Its just not worth it past that, to keep it on, so i go on minimum, unless i absolutely need to have it on.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I gave up trying to silence enterprise eq.
Its far easier to make the room colder, then to make the stuff quieter.
However its a lot more expensive on the maintenance of said eq.

Yeah, in general it is many times an exercise in futility trying to quiet enterprise class hardware. But every now and then there is a particular piece of enterprise gear that can be fairly easily modified (which is why I picked up the particular case that I did and not the one that supported 36 hot swap bays, since that case changed the internals such that it was essentially 2x2U cases forcing the use of 60mm screamers. There are a few videos on youtube which convinced me that the CSE-846 was the way to go, even though it is "older", it is the most flexible. There is a fairly large modding community for it as well, with people who have created 3D plans printing various plastic connectors/holders to make life easier (including someone who has a front grill for 3x140mm fans for even quieter operations), as well as plenty of fan speed control scripts.

As stated, it is all about picking the right enterprise gear