SOLVED FreeNAS build question?

[killmasta93]

Hi,
I was wondering if someone could shed some light as im new to FreeNAS, the idea to is to iscsi to a windows server for my home lab. My question is, for ZFS which is software most cpu boards can implement it? As right now on my home lab i have a CPU asus z87 gryphon which has windows servers and no redundancy in disks. It has 1tb as the os and 4tb disk for data. Im worried if the 4tb dies i lose all the info which the idea to create a backup on the FreeNAS. Or i was wondering maybe just buy a dell t130 and convert my old server into FreeNAS?

Thank you

 

[eldo]

Could you clarify your question? I'm getting confused trying to understand what it is you're trying to accomplish.

you're asking something nonspecific about ZFS. ZFS is a filesystem, any modern computer should be capable of supporting ZFS given the proper OS/FS Drivers. In the case of FreeNAS, all of your configured data will be ZFS underneath (from what I understand).

So you're currently trying to figure out a backup solution for your current 4TB data drive on your windows server install which is on the asus z87 gryphon board, correct?

I see you mention running FreeNAS on something you currently have (but I don't see what that is), or purchasing a new platform for FreeNAS to live on.

The general recommendations encourage running server-class mobo/ram/cpu which supports ECC memory. Intel based storage is also highly recommended. . Your asus z87 gryphon which you're considering does not meet the RAM recommendation of ECC from what I can tell. That's not to say it won't work well for you, but that you're not going to be covered as well as you would be otherwise.

 

[killmasta93]

Thank you for the reply and sorry for not being very clear

"So you're currently trying to figure out a backup solution for your current 4TB data drive on your windows server install which is on the asus z87 gryphon board, correct?"
Yes that is correct

"I see you mention running FreeNAS on something you currently have (but I don't see what that is), or purchasing a new platform for FreeNAS to live on."

the idea is to have a backup solution for my 4TB information but I would like to install FreeNAS on Hyper V for the OS and the drives and board would be separate. Would that be possible? From what i read FreeNAS OS cannot be installed on the same disk storage has to be separate.

"The general recommendations encourage running server-class mobo/ram/cpu which supports ECC memory. Intel based storage is also highly recommended. . Your asus z87 gryphon which you're considering does not meet the RAM recommendation of ECC from what I can tell. That's not to say it won't work well for you, but that you're not going to be covered as well as you would be otherwise."

Well i guess for home backup solution wont be too shabby, I meant if its better to buy a dell t130 or a better suitable home server to put my VM and data and leave my old server (the asus z87) as a FreeNAS, or buy the parts to build a FreeNAS?

Thank you

 

[eldo]

the idea is to have a backup solution for my 4TB information but I would like to install FreeNAS on Hyper V for the OS and the drives and board would be separate. Would that be possible? From what i read FreeNAS OS cannot be installed on the same disk storage has to be separate.

Ok, now it's a little clearer.
FreeNAS REALLY wants direct, raw access to your storage pool drives. I'm not very familiar with HyperV, but from what I understand it runs on top of windows. If this is the case, it will likely give you virtualized access to your disks, and this will prevent FN from getting accurate data, like smart data and (more importantly) block level access. FN needs this to ensure everything is running smoothly. if HyperV provides direct access to the raw physical i/o ports, then disregard this warning.

You're correct that the FN boot device is separate from your storage pool. This is by design, and from what I've seen around it would be unwise to try and force boot/storage on the same device.

I understand that Esxi nicely virtualizes and provides direct access to drives for FN, you'd just need to buy a HBA and configure it for PCI pass through. This would possibly allow you to keep everything on the same physical box while allowing FN to chug along happily.

If your plan is to host FN in HyperV(or any other platform) inside the asus windows system that currently has the 4TB of data, and you're trying to use it to backup that data, I would recommend against it for at least one reason.
If you have a PSU issue that zaps your windows 4TB data, it would very likely zap your FN backup of the asus data as well. To me that's not worth the risk, though I don't see why it's not possible.

Well i guess for home backup solution wont be too shabby, I meant if its better to buy a dell t130 or a better suitable home server to put my VM and data and leave my old server (the asus z87) as a FreeNAS, or buy the parts to build a FreeNAS?
Thank you

It's up to you to define what 'better' means in your situation. If you're comfortable with the increased risk of using non ECC memory, then better for you may be using your asus as a FN server.

Personally, since my FN acts as the primary storage for my important data, I would purchase a sensible ECC capable system and populate it accordingly. (minimum 16GB ECC, the more the better), with a mobo/cpu combo that are known as ECC complaint and usable.
This link https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/download&version=58 should help you understand what type of HW is recommended, and what you might need for your use case. If all you're doing is backing up data and not using any other services, and 4TB is your target, you should be able to put something together at a nice price.
Here's DrKK's thread on pricing: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ll-a-proper-home-freenas-setup-cost-me.28936/

This would allow you to keep your asus for whatever it's currently doing just fine.

If the above is unclear or you have further questions, fire away.

 

[killmasta93]

Thank you for the quick reply, as this really helped me out, your correct its better to buy the build and invest, i was looking toward Proxmox and using FN as the data storage, My last question, if I would get a dell R330 install it Proxmox and use the data storage (VM, data etc) of FN on another board (using microstar X10SLL-F, intel processor g3220,ram ECC 8 gigs) What are the recommended Speeds read and write? As the Dell R330 has Fiber Ports would I use that to connect to the FN or using CAT6 would be enough?

Thank you

 

[eldo]

So you're asking whether cat6 would handle the traffic between your proxmox box and the FN system?

Here you're getting out of my depth, 1G cat5e has been fast enough for me, but I'm not using isci or anything advanced like that.
My wild ass guess is that unless you're hitting the link between proxmox and FN pretty hard cat6 may well be good enough for you. But that's a WAG on a topic i'm ignorant in.

Since this is getting out of the scope of your original question, you may want to think about very clearly stating your current question in a new topic.
I'm not sure where the best place to ask that would be, but you may check out the networking subforum.

 

[Stux]

I think it sounds like your should buy an HP Proliant ML10 for 179$

If you want to play with VMs and Hypervisors with FreeNAS then you should install ESXi and pass-through an HBA to FreeNAS.

For *just* backing up 4TB, gigabit should be fine. It will just take a while the first time.

Once you have FreeNAS installed, install Veeam Windows Backup on your PC and point it at your SMB backup share.

Configure FreeNAS as per recommendations.

Congratulations, you're now backed up.

For bonus points, set up automated off-site backup for your truly important data.

 

[killmasta93]

Thanks for replies, as for the eldo is right might got off track but this really helped me out to start out, and for Stux your right its cheep that server but the issue its pretty big id rather make 150 dollars more to get a well suited FN But really want to give it a go with proxmox also

Thank you again