FreeNAS noob build. I RTFM'd but...

[tprelog]

Greetings! I am currently switching my home server from a Linux based system (already using ZFS on Linux) to a proper FreeNAS server. I have been reading through the forums and also covered the standard links for noobs found in the signatures of seasoned forum members. Thank you for taking time to provide such great information! I am (hopefully) looking forward to a great reliable server for the next few years to come. I started out just thinking I'd switch to ZFS because I heard about this redundancy and error correcting feature it had. So when the time came to increase my storage I used ZFS. Thanks to this great forum and guides I have realized I am currently just under a very dangerous false sense of security, fortunately my enlightenment comes from education and not experience! I figure a purpose built FreeNAS is a good way to spend this years tax return.

Here's my new build and issues I already know to expect.
MB: SuperMicro X11-SSH-F:
- No USB 3.0 until FreeNAS10 -Instead boot from SSD
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 v5
RAM: Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CPB 16GB x2
HDD: Western Digital RED 3TB x6: RaidZ2
I already have these last two items laying around and I hope to put them to use
Corsair Nova 30GB SSD: - FreeNAS goes here
Samsung SM951 M.2 128GB (AHCI version Not NVME): Jails installed here
- Stripe with one drive has no redundancy!
- I expect half speed because MB is only PCI-E 2x
Im pretty sure there are no other issues but I am a noob. If you see cause for concern, please let me know.

I have had many questions along the way and most I have been able to find answers for in guides and the forum but I still have a few things Im not sure of. I apologize if these have been gone over before but I either didn't understand or missed it altogether.

I am switching from a 4 disk RAIDZ to a 6 disk RAIDZ2 pool. I plan to create the new RAIDZ2 from scratch after I build the FreeNAS. When I created a zpool in Linux the guides mentioned using ashift9 or ashift12 when dealing with advanced format 4K disks. Do I need to ashift something when I create a pool with FreeNAS? If FreeNAS assumes 4K format do I need to do some different ashift for the stripe on the M2 drive used for Jails?

I realize Im loosing redundancy by moving my Jails. Will setting the dataset to 2 copies offer any redundancy against that or is that just a false sense of security? I do however realize any number of copies with never protect from total drive fail. Is there any advantage or recommendation to move the system-dataset to M2 as well? What about the reporting database? Unless it's bad practice, I'd really like to keep all jails and system stuff separate from my main storage pool.

Also I need some clarification on best practice for sharing the same shares between Windows and Linux. The guide says create a Windows dataset for cifs and 'Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC for noobs' further details with samba4 not to mix Unix and Windows permission. Sooo... what if I really need to access the same share from Windows and Linux? If I need to use samba shares do I need to make all my datasets for windows? I dont even use Windows but need samba shares for other household members that do. I've used Samba on my Linux server for years and never gave a thought about what kind of permissions were set. Everything always seems to work like expected. I am testing/learning with FreeNAS on an old computer. I have created some test datasets using UNIX permissions. I have set permissions on datasets using NAS Web-GUI so my user & group owns and I have full permission. Also all access dataset with own:grp set at nobody:nogroup (cifs share to allow guest). I also shared the root of one dataset using cifs and just folders inside other datasets. From my Linux computer, using KDE's dolphin file browser with both smb:// and fish://(for ssh) as well as from a test Windows box I was able to connect to shares and create, edit, delete all files and folders as expected based on the permissions I had set using freeNAS. Sorry that sounds confusing, I can go on trying to explain but basically I've tried connecting using both samba and ssh to same folders/files from Linux and using samba from windows and everything (meaning permissions) seems to work as expected.

Can someone please explain the dangers or bad effects of creating a dataset with UNIX permissions and adding a cifs share directly or to a folder inside? Is it really that bad to mix my connection between ssh and samba when accessing the same content?

Thanks again for all the help and support!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Do I need to ashift something when I create a pool with FreeNAS? If FreeNAS assumes 4K format do I need to do some different ashift for the stripe on the M2 drive used for Jails?

No, I don't think so.

Will setting the dataset to 2 copies offer any redundancy against that or is that just a false sense of security?

It is a form of redundancy, and better than nothing if it's all you can budget for, but it offers no protection against drive failure.

Is there any advantage or recommendation to move the system-dataset to M2 as well? What about the reporting database?

To my mind, you want your .system dataset on your most reliable pool, because losing it can cause system failure. The reporting database is frequently written but not important to system operation, so I would try to keep that off a short-lived flash device such as a USB stick.

 

[Ericloewe]

- No USB 3.0 until FreeNAS10 -Instead boot from SSD

Good news is that FreeNAS 9.3.2 will probably fix this. No need to wait for FreeNAS 10.

As for keeping your jails safe, a simple solution would be to periodically replicate your jails pool to your main pool. You get a decent compromise between both worlds without going all the way with a mirrored SSD.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

You could get by with the E3-1240 CPU as FreeNAS does not support GPU.

 

[Klontje]

I would still go with the E3-1245 CPU because Plex might have use for the build in GPU in the future and the price difference isn't that big.

 

[tprelog]

To my mind, you want your .system dataset on your most reliable pool, because losing it can cause system failure.

Would that mean just having to reinstall freeNAS? Or will that destroy my main storage pool and all data in it? I could live with having to reinstall and reconfigure but obviously I don't want to loose that main storage pool as well.

As for keeping your jails safe, a simple solution would be to periodically replicate your jails pool to your main pool. You get a decent compromise between both worlds without going all the way with a mirrored SSD.

Thanks thats what I'll do! Would it still be a good idea to use 2 copies in this dataset? I THINK yes because ZFS would need this to correct on disk corruption during a scrub?

You could get by with the E3-1240 CPU as FreeNAS does not support GPU.

I would still go with the E3-1245 CPU because Plex might have use for the build in GPU in the future and the price difference isn't that big.

Im actually using Emby now, but I did choose the E3-1245 in hopes that Intel Quick Sync will work. Emby itself has an option to select Quick Sync for HW accelerated transcoding.

Thanks again everybody

 

[Klontje]

Please let me know if Quick Sync works on FreeNAS with Emby.

 

[tprelog]

Please let me know if Quick Sync works on FreeNAS with Emby.

Will do. Hopefully I will have my new system up and running as soon as next week

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Would that mean just having to reinstall freeNAS?

Yes, as far as I know.

 

[diedrichg]

Also I need some clarification on best practice for sharing the same shares between Windows and Linux.

I've been running all datasets as Unix permissions since day one. I then set user/group access permissions through FreeNAS. From there I set up a CIFS share to allow client access.

 

[tprelog]

Please let me know if Quick Sync works on FreeNAS with Emby.

Unfortunately it seems Quick Sync in Emby is not supported on FreeNAS at this time.

 

[ChrisFor]

What a pity. That was also my plan. I wanted to replace my E3-1230v2 with an E3-1245v2 because some 1080p movies seem to create a massive cpu-load on the system during transcoding. It must have something to do with the way they have been encoded.
That QuickSync does not work in a jailed emby has probably something todo with the jail environment and its limitations? Maybe there is a sysctl param to allow jails to access hardware like GPUs? I would also love to see boinc beeing able to make use of the GPU. Does anybody have more insight on the matter (jail and hardware access) or knows where we could look for answers?