FreeNAS keeps reboot if N54L RAID enabled

[Wong KY]

Dear all,

I got my N54L 2 days ago, since my original plan is using all 4 harddisk as a RAID set , then install FREENAS into usb flash drive for better performance.

howerver, i found i cant not install after enable RAID in BIOS.
and same result appears even install FREENAS in AHCI mode first., then change to RAID afterward.

please advise~
thanks

 

[jgreco]

Why are you trying to do that? I think you should maybe go read the documentation for FreeNAS. You don't want or need their crummy RAID.

 

[Wong KY]

what do you mean ?
but i'm wondering the performance when comparing embedded hardware raid and software raid by freenas.....

 

[gpsguy]

The RAID in your N54L is Fake RAID.

jgreco's an expert on the forum. While he has expensive server hardware in his shop, he does have a N36L to play with. I run FreeNAS on a N40L and and ESXi 5.1 on a 54.

btw, how much RAM did you buy? I've got 16Gb of ECC RAM in my N54L and recognizes all the RAM on every boot.

 

[jgreco]

what do you mean ?
but i'm wondering the performance when comparing embedded hardware raid and software raid by freenas.....

There's no embedded hardware RAID in your setup. What you have is a gadget that uses some SATA ports and, if I recall correctly, AMD's RAIDXpert driver along with a custom BIOS to provide software RAID. You can absolutely jam a hardware RAID controller in there though. Our N36L is populated with an IBM ServeRAID BR10i crossflashed to IR mode, which services a 6 bay 2.5"-to-5.25" in the optical bay. A pair of cheap SSD's for the OS in RAID1, an Intel 320 for ZIL (because we do writes over NFS from ESXi), and a random MLC SSD for dedup L2ARC, plus two free bays. The built-in SATA ports are fine for the 3.5" bays; ZFS thrives on that.

btw, how much RAM did you buy? I've got 16Gb of ECC RAM in my N54L and recognizes all the RAM on every boot.

A double vote for as much RAM as you can cram into that N54L.