Hello,
I have a pretty broad set of interests and tech is one of the biggest. I have worked in IT for DoD enterprise networks for over 10 years, initially at a helpdesk and desktop support. The last 5 years have been spent in combat zones supporting a large enterprise network as either systems administration or cybersecurity. I have a pretty broad knowledge-base but my current focus is information security. While most of it is policies and procedures, I still get to get my hands dirty and the more skills I have -- network, systems, etc -- the better I can secure a network.
I built my first FreeNAS setup a few years ago. It is a Norco 24-bay rackmount case, dual Xeon e5-2620 v3 processors, 128gb ECC ram, LSI cards re-flashed for direct access, and 10 x 4TB HGST NAS drives in a RAIDZ-2. I ran ESXI 5.5 from a USB drive, and FreeNAS as a VM with pass-through for the LSI cards. It worked without a hitch for the last couple years, 24x7x365, and the huge rackmount UPS kept it from going offline. I know FreeNAS is not suggested for VMs. Me, being the type that is willing to take risks, upgraded my ESXI host from 5.5 to 6.5 remotely despite a couple sources saying it's not a possible upgrade path. It seemed successful and although the interface was slow (which may have been my connection), it worked just fine. After I updated the server's motherboard's firmware, it stopped booting. The IPMI interface is Java-based and ... doesn't seem to work. Unfortunately, I "live" and work in Iraq, so cannot access the box directly in the US. I'm hoping it's something as simple as the motherboard settings being reset and it attempting to boot from the wrong device, but I don't have knowledgeable help state-side. Because of this, I missed out on selling my BTC when it hit $20k. Oh well!
I'm now moving to a new, better position, and will be provided my own apartment. A huge upgrade from the shared quarters I've had for years. I have data spread across a pile of flash drives, memory cards, M.2s, SSDs, and HDDs. It's all vulnerable and disorganized. I want to consolidate and protect it. With my new location, it's a perfect time to build a new NAS.
I looked at Synology and was impressed with the price and software. I liked the BTRFS option. However, the hardware leaves a lot to be desired. The CPUs are generally weak, and I would have to choose between having non-NVME flash caching, or 10gbe. I want all of the above...
I looked at Asus, Buffalo, and Qnap options. While they seemed much better on the hardware front, the software was not as great and they didn't offer filesystems with great integrity protection. The price, while not a showstopper, was hard to accept when I could build something more powerful for less...
I'm not overly-impressed with the FreeNAS GUI, but I'm an IT dude so can figure it out. The ZFS and hardware is more important. So, here I am again...
I have a pretty broad set of interests and tech is one of the biggest. I have worked in IT for DoD enterprise networks for over 10 years, initially at a helpdesk and desktop support. The last 5 years have been spent in combat zones supporting a large enterprise network as either systems administration or cybersecurity. I have a pretty broad knowledge-base but my current focus is information security. While most of it is policies and procedures, I still get to get my hands dirty and the more skills I have -- network, systems, etc -- the better I can secure a network.
I built my first FreeNAS setup a few years ago. It is a Norco 24-bay rackmount case, dual Xeon e5-2620 v3 processors, 128gb ECC ram, LSI cards re-flashed for direct access, and 10 x 4TB HGST NAS drives in a RAIDZ-2. I ran ESXI 5.5 from a USB drive, and FreeNAS as a VM with pass-through for the LSI cards. It worked without a hitch for the last couple years, 24x7x365, and the huge rackmount UPS kept it from going offline. I know FreeNAS is not suggested for VMs. Me, being the type that is willing to take risks, upgraded my ESXI host from 5.5 to 6.5 remotely despite a couple sources saying it's not a possible upgrade path. It seemed successful and although the interface was slow (which may have been my connection), it worked just fine. After I updated the server's motherboard's firmware, it stopped booting. The IPMI interface is Java-based and ... doesn't seem to work. Unfortunately, I "live" and work in Iraq, so cannot access the box directly in the US. I'm hoping it's something as simple as the motherboard settings being reset and it attempting to boot from the wrong device, but I don't have knowledgeable help state-side. Because of this, I missed out on selling my BTC when it hit $20k. Oh well!
I'm now moving to a new, better position, and will be provided my own apartment. A huge upgrade from the shared quarters I've had for years. I have data spread across a pile of flash drives, memory cards, M.2s, SSDs, and HDDs. It's all vulnerable and disorganized. I want to consolidate and protect it. With my new location, it's a perfect time to build a new NAS.
I looked at Synology and was impressed with the price and software. I liked the BTRFS option. However, the hardware leaves a lot to be desired. The CPUs are generally weak, and I would have to choose between having non-NVME flash caching, or 10gbe. I want all of the above...
I looked at Asus, Buffalo, and Qnap options. While they seemed much better on the hardware front, the software was not as great and they didn't offer filesystems with great integrity protection. The price, while not a showstopper, was hard to accept when I could build something more powerful for less...
I'm not overly-impressed with the FreeNAS GUI, but I'm an IT dude so can figure it out. The ZFS and hardware is more important. So, here I am again...
