Freenas vs Nexenta performance?

[KernelPanic]

Long time nexenta user here - and we do generally get very good performance out of our Nexenta san, mostly using NFS and Iscsi to vmware hosts. We initially chose nexenta because of the fairly active community, and the performance difference above the alternatives.
However, we are running out of space and the licensing costs to upgrade ourselves to the next tier could simply be spent with SSD's into a freenas instead.
The nexenta community is near dead. However, what is the latest on performance difference between freenas and nexenta? Has Freenas 9.3 reeled in the difference?
I know this is a very open ended topic, however we are looking at jumping ship..

 

[anodos]

Just a friendly FYI. If you choose to migrate to FreeNAS it won't be a matter of simply installing FreeNAS on a thumb drive and importing your existing zpool. You will want to create a new zpool from within the FreeNAS GUI and transfer the data from either your backup solution or your existing NAS to the FreeNAS server.

 

[cyberjock]

I've talked to a few people that are current (and sometimes former) Nexenta users. Some found that their TrueNAS systems were comparable to the Nexenta server, but at a significant cost savings. Others said that the TrueNAS was slightly slower, but because of the significant cost savings, it was definitely a win-win scenario anyway.

The reality is that it's hard to compare a Nexenta to a TrueNAS (or FreeNAS). The short and skinny is that a very large expensive Nexenta is going to outperform a small TrueNAS/FreeNAS system. So it's all about how relative things are. Everyone that has compared iXsystems though has said that it was a worthwhile switch and they have no regrets.

 

[Mlovelace]

You didn't provide any information about your current system, so how are we suppose to estimate performance.

FreeNAS currently does not support HA so I wouldn't recommend it as primary storage for a production environment. That being said I get line-rate 10Gbe out of the filer in my signature for my veeam backup jobs.

 

[KernelPanic]

You didn't provide any information about your current system, so how are we suppose to estimate performance.

True. I was more so interested in a general / experience. Even with the exact specs, I think its going to be too hard to provide accurate performance numbers.

But generally its a fairly well stocked machine. We dont use HA. Our environment doesnt really require it (Software dev - if its down for a bit - its inconvenient but business doesnt stop).
2 x E5 2609 v2 2.5Ghz processors, 98GB ram, Intel X540 10GB ethernet, LSI Sas 9207-8e , LSI SAS 2308.
32x15KRPM Sas drives Arranged in 2 pools.
10x2TB 7200KRPM SAS Drives
16x300GB 15KRPM SAS drives
12x600GB 15KRPM SAS drives.
6 various intel ssds for cache.

 

[zambanini]

as a primary business case filer, you should use truenas. espacially if you are used to have support contracts. from my point of view freenas bugs are fixed fast, but every update can have its own pitfall

 

[depasseg]

The only LIMFAC I see in your system is the Intel X540. Their FreeBSD drivers tend to only get around 8-ish Gbps max. There's some tuning that can help but they depend on your workload.

 

[jgreco]

Also, terrible choice in processors.

 

[anodos]

Also, terrible choice in processors.

I'm surprised it took you so long to comment about the processors. :D

 

[jgreco]

I'm surprised it took you so long to comment about the processors. :D

I was waiting for someone else to say something.

But then I saw

The only LIMFAC I see in your system

and sprained an eyebrow.

 

[depasseg]

nailed it!

 

[jgreco]

:) nailed it!

<mutters something unpublishable>

 

[depasseg]

I'm the first to admit that it's hard to find good, free help these days.
Processors, shmocessors

 

[Mlovelace]

True. I was more so interested in a general / experience. Even with the exact specs, I think its going to be too hard to provide accurate performance numbers.

But generally its a fairly well stocked machine. We dont use HA. Our environment doesnt really require it (Software dev - if its down for a bit - its inconvenient but business doesnt stop).
2 x E5 2609 v2 2.5Ghz processors, 98GB ram, Intel X540 10GB ethernet, LSI Sas 9207-8e , LSI SAS 2308.
32x15KRPM Sas drives Arranged in 2 pools.
10x2TB 7200KRPM SAS Drives
16x300GB 15KRPM SAS drives
12x600GB 15KRPM SAS drives.
6 various intel ssds for cache.

The processors are under-powered, and with some tuning the X540 should do fine. FreeNAS uses a python middleware which can be resource hungry at times so I don't think you are looking at apples to apples with Nexenta. FreeNAS can do extremely well as a VMWare datastore via iSCSI, NFS doesn't have the VAAI features that are included in freeNAS's iSCSI implementation. If you are still looking around at OS options you might take a peek at Napp-It on top of Omni-OS or Openindiana, that might be closer to Nexenta. Another option would be Ubuntu 16.04LTS as it ships now with the zfs.ko installed and will be supported by Canonical.

 

[anodos]

The processors are under-powered, and with some tuning the X540 should do fine. FreeNAS uses a python middleware which can be resource hungry at times so I don't think you are looking at apples to apples with Nexenta. FreeNAS can do extremely well as a VMWare datastore via iSCSI, NFS doesn't have the VAAI features that are included in freeNAS's iSCSI implementation. If you are still looking around at OS options you might take a peek at Napp-It on top of Omni-OS or Openindiana, that might be closer to Nexenta. Another option would be Ubuntu 16.04LTS as it ships now with the zfs.ko installed and will be supported by Canonical.

With Ubuntu you'll also be able to leverage the knowledge of the ubuntuforums community.

 

[jgreco]

With Ubuntu you'll also be able to leverage the knowledge of the ubuntuforums community.

You guys are just killing my eyebrows today.

 

[Mlovelace]

You guys are just killing my eyebrows today.

I was thinking more along the lines of Canonical enterprise advantage support, but their forums have some very knowledgeable/helpful people too, a lot of noise on their forum as well. :D

 

[Sakuru]

Ooh, I managed to find a picture of jgreco on the Internet!

 

[Mlovelace]

I thought this was @jgreco

 

[jgreco]

I thought this was @jgreco