Any Suggestions On A NIC?

[ArcticWolf_11]

Yeah, about that...

So, you might need to tune it. By default I believe the incoming buffer is 4GB, (ie 1 second at 40gbit), and if that doesn't fill, Transaction groups flush out at 5 second intervals. I've never tested it, but I believe if a second transaction group needs to be written before the first finishes writing, it'll block your server until it is written.

So, in order to not block, your pool will need to be capable of writing at 4GB/s. Which is a non-trivial data rate... since 8x PCIe2 (what the SAS2 cards normally use) is 32gbps, and 4 lane SAS2 is 24gbps.

Just FYI, and you may need to do some tuning.

40gbit is faster than most of the rest of the system.

My XeonD 8 core doesn't seem to be capable of going much past 1.5GB/s or so.

Oh, so it won't say fill up my ram first before it starts to block traffic until it's written? The server I have has 2x E5-2450L in them and I have 4 8TB WD Reds. New to FreeNAS so I don't know how I would be able to tune the settings. :(

 

[Stux]

Oh, so it won't say fill up my ram first before it starts to block traffic until it's written? The server I have has 2x E5-2450L in them and I have 4 8TB WD Reds. New to FreeNAS so I don't know how I would be able to tune the settings. :(

That's tunable. There are threads on 40gbit tuning.

 

[ArcticWolf_11]

That's tunable. There are threads on 40gbit tuning.

Alright, thanks! :)

 

[Pezo]

I found a 40GB NIC for $20 on ebay

A 40Gbit/s NIC for $20?? What model is that?

 

[Ericloewe]

Super China Happy Sun Great Quality Premium Network Intel Card

 

[ArcticWolf_11]

A 40Gbit/s NIC for $20?? What model is that?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mellanox-Si...I-E-MHQH19B-XTR-/302425247648?epid=1066565217

Super China Happy Sun Great Quality Premium Network Intel Card

XD

 

[Stux]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mellanox-Si...I-E-MHQH19B-XTR-/302425247648?epid=1066565217

XD

Infiniband is not Ethernet

 

[ArcticWolf_11]

Infiniband is not Ethernet

Yeah I know, ill be using it for file transfers to my NAS and not to connect it to the internet.

 

[Chris Moore]

Yeah, initially I was thinking that if I ever needed to transfer a large amount of files. It would clog up my internet and make everything really slow. But now that i've had more time to think of it, my PC has dual 1Gb NICS and the server has 4 so I really could just get a 50 foot cat 6 cable and use that. But I was also thinking of 10Gb for future proofing.

The transfer speed of my pool is around 654 megabytes per second (MB/s), not quite as fast as 10 gig network, but it makes my 14 TB NAS almost like having a very big SSD. The only trouble with that is I can only see that speed from the one desktop computer I have equipped with a 10 gig card and from the Virtual Machines that live inside the NAS. I wish there was a way to add 10 gig network to my laptop, but I don't think anyone is making that hardware yet.

 

[Ericloewe]

I think there are Thunderbolt 3 10GbE NICs, so that might be an option for some laptops.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

just realized that I had a 100mbps switch in the middle of it...

1. Replace or bypass the 100mbps switch with a 1000mpbs switch. That's your problem.

2. We had FreeNAS on 1000mbps host a dozen XenServer VMs as well as provide file services to an office of more than a hundred people. Trust me, you don't need 10000mbps at your house let alone 40000mbps.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Chris Moore]

I think there are Thunderbolt 3 10GbE NICs, so that might be an option for some laptops.

When I get a new laptop, that will certainly be one of the things I will look for. It will not happen this year though. $$$

I will be lucky if I can afford the last five drives I need to buy to complete the upgrade from 2TB to 4TB in my primary NAS.

 

[ArcticWolf_11]

1. Replace or bypass the 100mbps switch with a 1000mpbs switch. That's your problem.

2. We had FreeNAS on 1000mbps host a dozen XenServer VMs as well as provide file services to an office of more than a hundred people. Trust me, you don't need 10000mbps at your house let alone 40000mbps.

Cheers,
Matt

Yeah I know, I just forgot I had it in the network when setting FreeNAS up. Also yeah, I really don't need 40Gb, but I mean for an extra $30 to get 2 NICs just to connect my PC to the NAS (excluding the price of the cable). I just went for it for that extra bit of transfer speed using my NVME drive in my PC.

When I get a new laptop, that will certainly be one of the things I will look for. It will not happen this year though. $$$

I will be lucky if I can afford the last five drives I need to buy to complete the upgrade from 2TB to 4TB in my primary NAS.

I think I remember seeing 3TB hard drives for $60. Might want to take a look at that, just keep your eyes peeled for deals like I did lol. :)

 

[Chris Moore]

I think I remember seeing 3TB hard drives for $60. Might want to take a look at that, just keep your eyes peeled for deals like I did

I already have seven of the twelve 4TB drives I am planning to install, I just need 5 more. It only takes money...
You can see the current config in my signature, but it is two systems with each having 12 x 2TB drives.
I am replacing all the 2TB drives in the Irene-NAS with 4TB drives to double the capacity. It is also the system where I do my snapshots. Once I have freed the 12 x 2TB drives from that system, I will put them and the 12 x 2TB drives from the Emily-NAS all into the new (to me) 24bay chassis I picked from eBay.