Hardware Compatability List / Tell us what you have

[ProtoSD]

I thought I'd start this thread because I've seen a lot of posts scattered around asking about specific hardware and I thought it would be helpful to have it in one place. Just list make a list about what hardware you use that works with FreeNAS 8, be as specific as possible with models # etc. so people can be sure they know what to look for.

UPDATE:

I'd like for people to list their hard drive controllers if they have an additional one or if their on board controller doesn't work. Same for network controllers. If you know the chipset for either your disk controller or network controller, list that too.

EDIT: Lets try not to make this a performance oriented thread, just what works.

My Config:

FreeNAS v8.01 beta4 ][ ZFS RAIDz2 on 5x 2TB drives (~5.3TB)
SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SPA-H-O Intel Atom D510 1.66Ghz Server Motherboard (6x SATA ports)
4GB SO-DIMM DDR2 ][ LIAN LI PC-Q08A Case
4x SAMSUNG F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM
1x HITACHI 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM, SATA 6.0Gb/s, 64MB Cache
1x HITACHI 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 32MB Cache
PICOPSU-160-XT Power Supply ][ 46 watts idle / ~60 watts under load

 

[zoo]

::UPDATE::

Rather than cluttering the thread with another post, I decided to update this one. I recently sold off all the old components and purchased new ones in their place. I was really hampered by having only 4GB of DDR before. Considering how cheap the DDR3 was it was not even a question just to get 16GB right off the bat. With approximately 25% remaining capacity dd stats are ~345 MB/s read, ~245 MB/s write. It seems I am close to maxing out my gigabit network over AFP and SMB with sustained peaks hovering around 105-115 MB/s on large DVD/BD backups. The kicker is that it uses less power than the old/slower setup!

FreeNAS-8.0.1-RC1-amd64 (7508) :: ZFS RAIDz2 (6 x 2TB)
ASUS M4A78LT-M AM3 (SB710 - 6x SATAII)
AMD X2 250 3.0Ghz AM3 x64 Dual Core
16GB G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1066 :: Antec Solo Case
6x SAMSUNG F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM
Intel Gigabit CT PCIe Adapter

::Tweaked loader.conf::

vm.kmem_size="16110M"
vfs.zfs.arc_max="12082M"
vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable="1"
vfs.zfs.txg.timeout="5"
NOTE: Instead of using 16384MB (16GB) I looked at the available memory reported in the GUI and used that as my max. Pretty sure this takes into account the onboard video reserved memory. Then made the vfs.zfs.arc_max approximately 3/4 of the vm.kmem_size. Will update as I tweak it down the road.


::Old Config::

For the reference of others, if someone else with an A8N-SLI Deluxe board is having issues with the Sil 3114 detecting multiple large drives, try flashing a modified BIOS with an updated Sil firmware. See link. I used the 1805 version because that was for my specific board.

FreeNAS v8.01 BETA4 :: ZFS RAIDz2 on 6 x 2TB drives
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (4x SATA II nForce4, 4x SATA I Sil 3114)
AMD X2 4600+ 2.4Ghz x64 Dual Core
4GB OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 DDR400 :: Antec P180b Case
6x SAMSUNG F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM
Intel Gigabit CT PCIe Adapter

 

[joeschmuck]

My current system is also in my signature and works fine.

FreeNAS 8.x (current home build)
ASRock G41M-LE (w/Last BIOS revision for this board, no AHCI support)
Intel E8500 (3.2GHz) CPU with a Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatsink
4GB DDR2-1066 RAM (G.Skill F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK) running at DDR2-800 speed
Four Samsung HD204UI 2TB Hard Drives
LG DVD-RW IDE Drive (don't recall the model)
OCZ StealthXStream 2 (OCZ500SXS2) Power Supply
Adata PD7 USB Thumb Drive (4GB)
Generic mid-tower case.

The MB is temperamental on the RAM and cannot run it at it's maximum rated speed without tweaking. Since I'm looking for a minimal power hungry system this works for me.

All the hardware was leftover from a previous computer except the MB and Hard drives.

-Mark

 

[Milhouse]

This thread won't be much use when you upgrade your hardware and change your signatures!

If the intention of this thread is to record for all eternity known, working hardware it's probably best to add your details to each post (even if it duplicates your sig) so that the spec details are kept as a permanent record. It would also be worth mentioning what version of FreeNAS the hardware is working with.

 

[ProtoSD]

Thanks Milhouse, you're right. Why doesn't everyone that's posted here so far edit their post and copy and past from their signature.

 

[Milhouse]

• FreeNAS 8.0.1-BETA3 (AMD64) booting from 2GB USB Verbatim memory stick
• HP N36L Proliant Microserver, AMD Neo CPU, 4GB non-ECC RAM, 200W PSU
• LSI 9211-8i SATAIII/SAS 8-port HBA (IT Firmware, PCIe 8x in PCIe 16x slot)
• Intel GigE CT NIC (PCIe 1x)
• 4x 2TB Samsung 3.5" HD204UI, RAIDz1 (vdev #1)
• 4x 500GB Samsung 2.5" HM500JI, RAIDz1 (vdev #2)
• IcyDock MB994SP-4S 4-in-1 2.5" backplane

All is working fine, apart from disk spin-down as I don't think this is supported by the FreeBSD mps0 driver.

 

[cbray]

Here's my hardware.

This is my hardware, I have not had any issues whatsoever with the box and FN8.
I am however experiencing some difficulty with my UPS talking to FN8.
UPS issue is in a different thread if you wish to help out.

FreeNAS v8.0.1-BETA4-amd64

Intel E5400 CPU
ASUS P5G41T-M
8 GB DDR3 Model: Patriot PGV38G1333ELK G Series Sector 5 (2x 4GB), DDR3-1333MHz, 9-9-9-24
6 - Seagate 500GB SATA (RAIDZ-2) Model: ST3500413AS Barracuda 7200.12
Patriot 2GB Flash Drive (model # to be updated later)
Lite-On CD/DVD Drive Model: DH-20A4P
Promise Tech./MAXTOR IDE/SATA 150 PCI
MS Digital Media Pro Keyboard
MS Mouse Optical 1.1a USB and PS/2
ULTRA LSP 550 Power Supply Unit
APC Back-UPS Pro 1000 UPS


This is a great idea protosd, really. Thanks.

Protosd: Are you going to create a list or database from this data or just let it ride in the forums?

zoo: thanks for giving us your fix.

Reminder to all: Please report any issue no matter how small and any fix/work-around you used. Also please give us your FN version/build. And please, please, please update this info when you make a change to hardware or build.

Thanks,
CB


That damn rodent is just plugged into my 4 port KVMA switch.... :p

 

[joeschmuck]

MS Mouse Optical 1.1a USB and PS/2

So what's the mouse for? Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

-Joe ...er... Mark LOL

 

[ProtoSD]

If enough people start adding to this thread I could make a database and post it. I think I'll update the first post now too.

 

[warri]

FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA1-amd64

Zotac NM10-DTX WiFi
Intel Atom D525
2 GB DDR2
Realtek R8169 (or R8111?) 1Gbps NIC (onboard)
3x 2000GB Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green
1x 2000GB Samsung EcoGreen F4 HD204UI
1x 2000GB Hitachi 5K3000
1x 2000GB Seagate Barracuda Green
1x 250GB Western Digital Scorpio Black WD2500BEKT
1x Lexar JumpDrive Firefly 4GB
Fractal Design NAS Array R2 Mini ITX

Workarounds needed:
1. FreeNAS 8.0-Release amd64 didn't support the onboard Realtek NIC, BETA1 solved this.
2. FreeNAS 8.0-Release didn't support 4k alignment, also BETA1 solved this.

 

[kafar]

Hello warri,

how did you connect seven hd's to the board? Your OS drive is JumpDrive. What for dou you need 1x 250GB Western Digital Scorpio Black WD2500BEKT ?

Best regards
Mark

 

[louisk]

FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA1-amd64
Dell PowerEdge 2850 - 2x Xeon 3.0GHz, 10GB, 2x 72G 15k SAS, PERC5
Dell PowerVault - 8x 2T Seagate SATA

 

[warri]

Good spot, kafar. The seventh HDD is inside the case, but connected via the external eSATA port (a small workaround, but working!)

I planned to use another OS before building my NAS, which could have used the additional hdd as boot disk.
Now i'm just using it as general network share without restrictions, redundancy or backups.

Hello warri,

how did you connect seven hd's to the board? Your OS drive is JumpDrive. What for dou you need 1x 250GB Western Digital Scorpio Black WD2500BEKT ?

Best regards
Mark

 

[Thai Raconteur]

Home server with 1 TB of video for kids and 500 gig data.

I basically used existing hardware except for the WD EARX!

Works fine for video serving and backing up of family and professional data

FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA4-i386
Asus P5PL2-E mainboard
600 w power supply
1 gig DDR1 Ram
Pentium D 2.8
64mb AGP card (no monitor)
Kingston 4 gig CF card in IDE adapter
Western Digital 2 TiB WEARX (sata 3) ZFS
Very large old dual processor Pentium 3 server case (mega fans) Noah used it on the ark!

PS I know I need 4 gig of ram for ZFS but that will have to wait till I get a new 775 board. The WEARX would not accept UFS!

 

[napandee]

Freenas 8.0.1 beta4 amd64

Asus M4A88TD-V EVO
AMD Athlon II X2 250
8GB DDR3 (2x4GB Kingston ValueR 1333MHz)
Realtek RTL8111E gigabit
4x 2000GB Seagate Barracuda® Green 6Gb/s SATA 3.0
2x 2000GB WD Caviar Green 3Gb/s
2x 1500GB WD Caviar Green 3Gb/s
2x 750GB WD Caviar Green 3Gb/s
1x Kingston 8GB noname USB flash
Lian-Li PC70

Workarounds needed
None

 

[Thai Raconteur]

I got to make a move to a 1155 CPU mainboard with a sata 3 chipset.

When I stream a 4 gig Avatar movie I max out the bandwidth and it hangs.

Any suggestions on an economy model for a Intel brand board?

 

[joeschmuck]

I got to make a move to a 1155 CPU mainboard with a sata 3 chipset.

When I stream a 4 gig Avatar movie I max out the bandwidth and it hangs.

Any suggestions on an economy model for a Intel brand board?

I'd check out NewEgg for a combo board. You can get an Atom board that works very well (note posts abave). I'm certain it can move your HD content. I know my tiny D-Link NAS streams HD content (yes Avatar) just fine to my PS3. NewEgg has a special on DDR3 1600 2x4GB RAM for $48. Just grabbed myself 3 orders of that for 24GB total. Not for my NAS of course.

 

[Thai Raconteur]

Trouble is I got 3 kids and that means 3 x bluray video being streamed and I think an Atom is not going to cut it.
New board gotta support:
1155 CPU
sata 3

 

[ctantra]

I started with 4 HDDs, then 6 HDDs, finally I bought SYBA SY-PEX40008 and added 4 more HDDs to total 10.
Here complete list of the build:

Total Advertised: 20TB
Total Available: ~14.2TB

FREENAS v8.01 BETA4 AMD64
"Single ZFS Pool striped across a pair of 5x2TB RAIDZ1"
1x WD Caviar Black WD2001FASS
3x WD Caviar Green WD20EARS
6x WD Caviar Green WD20EARX
AMD Phenom II X2-555BE ~ X4-B55
Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
Kingston 16GB DDR3-1333
BIOSTAR TA880GB+
SYBA SY-PEX40008 [ using latest v6.6.00 BIOS ]
Onboard Realtek RTL8111E
Seasonic M12II-620Bronze [ has 9 sata power ports ]
NZXT Source 210 Elite
APC Back UPS RS-800

 

[actigner]

I'm new to FreeNAS but have successfully loaded FreeNAS-8.0-RELEASE-amd64 to an HP Data Vault X310 with the following:

Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D510 @ 1.66GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
3X1TB Seagate Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drives using ZFS
Kingston 4GB USB drive

This unit has a Realtek NIC which was found and functions just fine. I'm still experimenting but like what I see so far. One thing I would like to get to is the SMART info for the drives so I can monitor temps.