First Ever Server Build & FreeNas Newbie

[Stux]

Clear!
And how to mirror: you mirror it with hardware RAID (yes, I know, not for NAS data, only for OS) or BIOS Software RAID or is FreeNAS able during install time to mirror two (small) SSD's and then install?

When you install FreeNAS, just select the two drives and it will set them up as mirror.

If you have already installed FreeNAS, then you can also add a second drive, and tell it to use the drive as a mirror.

(USB specific, but should apply to SSD)
http://blog.brianmoses.net/2016/04/mirroring-the-freenas-usb-boot-device.html

I believe FreeNAS won't automatically expand the boot mirror to fill the full SSD. You can do this after the fact, and it will allow extra upgrades and rollbacks and logs/statistics to be stored on the boot disk, rather than on your pools.... whcih will allow your pool to spin down, if thats what you want.

 

[jgreco]

You really never want Hardware Raid

That's not quite true. If you use a nice controller like the BR10i flashed over to IR mode, you'll find your RAID devices show up under the totally stable and usable mpt driver, which removes that little bit of ambiguity from the boot process about what happens if you've got a partially failed member device. I wouldn't suggest going out of your way to acquire that last little bit of coverage though.

 

[Mirfster]

That's not quite true.

Okay, I stand corrected. But for the most part would still steer clear personally. However, I have used your "unorthodox" method for SLOG in some testing. ;)

 

[jgreco]

Okay, I stand corrected. But for the most part would still steer clear personally. However, I have used your "unorthodox" method for SLOG in some testing. ;)

How'd that work out for you? I think it probably isn't worth the effort in many cases now that we have inexpensive NVMe like the 750 available.

 

[Mirfster]

Appeared to work fine but I don't recall the actual numbers. I am going to mess around using the 200 GB Intel DC S3710's that I got from eBay (the New Condition "Engineering Sample" ones). This is all on a test machine so I can always run some different scenarios.

Once I get around to it I will try to post numbers for the different configurations; however all of this is mainly testing the concept of running ESXi 6.0 U2 as the main OS, FreeNAS as a VM and leveraging pass-through (Perc H200 HBA, SSDs via MB SATA and Intel 10 GB NIC).

Got 13 HGST 4TB SAS drives coming in too so those will get tossed in the mix as well. Also, may leverage some Intel DC S3500 (160 GB) SSDs and a LSI 9260-8I (for ESXi OS Mirror). Final design is TBD... :)

 

[jgreco]

The Intel 10G probably won't pass through if you're doing it as a VF. Which is unfortunate since that'd rock. Maybe that's been fixed, so if you have success with that, please follow up. I don't actually have time to experiment with all the things I'd like to...

 

[Mirfster]

I was able to pass the NIC through physically (one port to each VM), but did not go in-depth with SR-IOV. Never even crossed my mind until you just mentioned it. So it seems I have a bit more to learn in this regard and more testing to do. I did run a few tests before (that I need to revisit) over here.

Thanks for mentioning it, for sure looks interesting (if I can get it to work).

/Edit: Oooo... the 10 GB "Mezzanine" NIC I am using is an Intel 82599EB; so according to Intel ARK it does have "VMDq and SR-IOV" support. :)

 

[Z300M]

The cheapest place to buy this in the US is from SuperBiz. I have posted this before a few times. And I would recommend purchasing a pair at a time. Consult the user manual of the motherboard to see if it allows a single stick. I can say that the X11SSM-F will allow a single module to be installed but it MUST be installed in slot DIMMB2.


Even/Odd, doesn't really matter for your usage. What matters are two factors, configure they system to a RAIDZ2 configuration if you would rather not reinstall all your data in case you have a 2 drive failure (1 drive fails and you replace it but while that drive is rebuilding you have another drive failure, yes it happens) and if you don't mind reloading all your data, RAIDZ1 will do. But we will all talk you into RAIDZ2. And how much capacity you need. Use one of the RAID calculators (two are in my signature) and ensure you choose the correct RAID configuration. This will give you an approximate USABLE storage capacity. So if you are currently needing to store 6TB of storage, then double it and buy enough hard drives. There is more to it than that but this should get you started.

You are better off using a SSD but if you can use a normal SATA SSD, then you will be not committed to a unique form factor and since you said SATA DOM, I'd just shoot for a cheap 60 to 128 GB SSD. When I say cheap, I mean cheap. Visit NewEgg and find something cheap like this (I own the 128 model and it works great, meaning no problems)

When did you get your SSD? According to the review on TweakTown, Silicon Power has done a bait-and-switch with those S60 SSDs: they've switched to inferior components without changing the model number.

 

[joeschmuck]

Me, a newbee too, would like to ask: is FreeNAS able to use this SSD where one might install FreeNAS on, as the disk for L2ARC too? Or must the install disk be another disk than the disk used for L2ARC?

Well I know you can do it nut then it becomes a non-standard setup and subject to destruction upon any software update so it's not a smart thing to do. Also, running an L2ARC should only be done once you have maxed out your RAM (meaning 64GB or more), and if you have a real need for an L2ARC.

 

[joeschmuck]

When did you get your SSD? According to the review on TweakTown, Silicon Power has done a bait-and-switch with those S60 SSDs: they've switched to inferior components without changing the model number.

I purchased mine Nov 2014. Still runs like a champ.

 

[Z300M]

I purchased mine Nov 2014. Still runs like a champ.

I just ordered the 120GB SanDisk Z410 from NewEgg; US$39.99 with a subscriber-only promo code. Three-year warranty rather than the Silicon Power S55's one year.

 

[Z300M]

Will I be able to copy the FreeNAS system from the (mirrored) USB sticks to the SSD, or should I install from scratch to the SSD and reimport?

 

[joeschmuck]

Will I be able to copy the FreeNAS system from the (mirrored) USB sticks to the SSD, or should I install from scratch to the SSD and reimport?

Save your current configuration and then perform a clean install on the SSD and restore your configuration. That is what I'd do. You don't want to mess around with copying anything, it can lead to a mess, especially when a clean install is easier and faster.

 

[Stux]

Will I be able to copy the FreeNAS system from the (mirrored) USB sticks to the SSD, or should I install from scratch to the SSD and reimport?

If you add the ssd to the usb as a mirror using the gui it will become a perfect copy.

Then you can use the terminal to split the boot zpool into two.

Then you remove the usb and reboot to the ssd.

 

[jgreco]

Then you remove the usb and reboot to the ssd.

Maybe it's just too early in the morning and I'm missing something obvious, but is there a point to the "reboot"? Or is it just to test that it actually does?

 

[Jailer]

I know that the list for the X11SSH-LN4F doesn't list Crucial

Crucial=Micron

 

[joeschmuck]

Maybe it's just too early in the morning and I'm missing something obvious, but is there a point to the "reboot"? Or is it just to test that it actually does?

It must to be check that is does reboot to the SSD but this is way too complicated to add a SSD to a mirror and then split it and reboot and.... You know.

 

[Stux]

Maybe it's just too early in the morning and I'm missing something obvious, but is there a point to the "reboot"? Or is it just to test that it actually does?

Yes. Better to find out you have an issue now, rather than later.

I also didn't specify how to split the zpool. If you split the usb off, rather than the ssd, then you can grow the zpool and yes there is no need to reboot, unless you actually want to check your system will boot, which with bios settings is not always the case.

Pity you can't remove the last mirror of a vdev except by splitting...

 

[Wouter]

Yep, when installing FreeNAS just select the two drives and it will "automagically" create the Mirror for you. Otherwise you can just select one drive and add the 2nd later (but that is just making more work for yourself).


Neither of these, FreeNAS is very capable of handling it. You really never want Hardware Raid or BIOS Software Raid anywhere in the mix. Just let FreeNAS have direct access to the drives.

*** It actually took me a while to get that through my thick skull at first as well, coming from a Hardware Raid background. :)

Ok thanx. I just read https://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_install.html
and now better understand the install process. Two questions though: selecting two (identical) USB flash drives as the install target; is this a good idea, just as two ssd's? The benifit would be costs but also having two SATA ports free for storage.
Second question: in the previous mentioned installation guide there is no mention of encrypting the installation target (like with Ubuntu server, full disk crypto with LUKS). FreeNAS doesnt support this?
Note: I mean crypting the install, not the storage / pools.

 

[Mirfster]

selecting two (identical) USB flash drives as the install target; is this a good idea, just as two ssd's? The benifit would be costs but also having two SATA ports free for storage.

Yep, no real issues with using two USB Sticks. Only difficulty I could foresee is if one of them should fail, it may be hard to determine which one has failed. This is opposed to when you use an actual drive since you can track/trace it easier based on Serial Number. Of course, I have never used USB drives myself (I all *uppity* like that... ;) ); but others may have more insight.

I totally understand about not wanting to consume SATA ports as well as costs, as long as you keep backups of your Configuration then actual re-installing and uploading a save Configuration is pretty painless.

in the previous mentioned installation guide there is no mention of encrypting the installation target (like with Ubuntu server, full disk crypto with LUKS). FreeNAS doesnt support this?
Note: I mean crypting the install, not the storage / pools.

Not that I am aware of. I am not sure why one would need to worry about encrypting the OS drives personally. As far as encryption itself (for the pools/datasets); I prefer to steer clear of that in FreeNAS as well. May want to search the forums first regarding Encryption if you are entertaining that idea.