Home Server Questions - lots of questions....

[joeschmuck]

I agree that running badblocks on each drive would be required to test and maybe temporarily fix some of the drives up. But if you see more errors after that, replace the drive because it will continue to get worse. I hope that when you purchased these drives, this is what you were expecting.

 

[LIGISTX]

I agree that running badblocks on each drive would be required to test and maybe temporarily fix some of the drives up. But if you see more errors after that, replace the drive because it will continue to get worse. I hope that when you purchased these drives, this is what you were expecting.

Most of these where our old seagate, one was an old hitachi desktop drive. None of these where the HGST's, those are going to be returned.

I will try and run bad blocks on these and see what comes of it, and will get familiar with reading smart data. Between helping my lil brother move to college, I am the designated "set up all the tv, speakers, computers etc guy" and getting our old Nas out of total danger with its failing drives, just been a hectic weekend.

Once again, thanks for the help and advice :)


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[LIGISTX]

Also, since I am not sure how to do these things yet or what they all are exactly, what is ipmi and bmc, and how exactly do you check to make sure ECC is running correctly and see if there are any errors. I am pretty confident you can look for errors through ipmi? But since I don't even know how that works yet, well, you see my issue lol.


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[Stux]

I think:

IPMI : IP management interface
BMC : baseboard management controller

The BMC is a little ARM computer which has a little graphics card, and some virtual USB devices (keyboard/mouse/cd), which hangs off your systems PCI bus. It also has access to all of the baseboard (i.e. Motherboard) sensors and power/controls etc.

This allows you to gain access to all these sensors etc, and as well as offering a KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) over IP, i.e. The Internet. All through a protocol called IPMI.

You should Never expose IPMI to the public internet. The BMC is not hardened.

The net result is you do not need to connect a monitor/keyboard/mouse to your server. And everything can be done through a web page. Albeit, probably requiring an old Java version.

To 'test' ECC you need to see if it's detected, and then trust. actual errors should be logged in the BMC event log.

You can use dmidecode to see if your dimm's data width is 72 bits ECC, and what error correction method is used. If it says 64 bits, you have a problem

If you actually wanted to verify ECC, there is a way using sticky tape over one of the data pins. That creates a one bit error. On every write/read to the Dimm. Google it ;), but do you really want sticky tape in your Dimm slots? Sounds like a way of messing things up to me.

 

[danb35]

IPMI is Intelligent Platform Management Interface.

 

[LIGISTX]

Also, I found out freenas doesn't like to instal to a RAID 1 setup. I am not exactly sure WHY that is a thing, but after some googling I guess it is.

Also, any reason to use AHCI or IDE? I figure IDE is more legacy, but AHCI offers "newer" protocols. I have no idea which would allow for a better freenas experience. Any advice?


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[danb35]

Use AHCI, and let FreeNAS handle any RAID, even for the boot volume.

 

[LIGISTX]

Use AHCI, and let FreeNAS handle any RAID, even for the boot volume.

Thanks! I have it in IDE currently but that's an easy change, well, in Windows it is. Can I change to AHCI and will freenas figure itself out as far as boot manager etc goes? Or would it be easier to reinstall it?

How could I setup a software raid boot volume AFTER freenas is installed on a single disc? Would I like... Need to make a live USB, set up a software raid, and then instal freenas onto that? You lost me on this one.


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[danb35]

Two options:
1. Install to two devices at the same time. The installer will create the mirror.
2. Install to a single device, then add the second as a mirror through the web GUI.

In both cases, the manual has more detail.

 

[LIGISTX]

Two options:
1. Install to two devices at the same time. The installer will create the mirror.
2. Install to a single device, then add the second as a mirror through the web GUI.

In both cases, the manual has more detail.

It blows my mind you can tell the OS to just go and software RAID 1 two drives and it will just do its thang.

That sounds like the easy route. Thanks man!


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[Stux]

Also, I found out freenas doesn't like to instal to a RAID 1 setup. I am not exactly sure WHY that is a thing, but after some googling I guess it is.

Also, any reason to use AHCI or IDE? I figure IDE is more legacy, but AHCI offers "newer" protocols. I have no idea which would allow for a better freenas experience. Any advice?


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AHCI can be faster and supports hot swap (when hardware is capable)

 

[LIGISTX]

AHCI can be faster and supports hot swap (when hardware is capable)

Right. But for a boot drive, prob not a big deal. Although I suppose hot swap would be great considering the boot volume will be software RAID 1. If one dies don't need to shut down to replace it.


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[LIGISTX]

Anyone know any issue with Seagate ST4000VN000? I think we may go that route now that the HGST didn't work out.

 

[Stux]

Anyone know any issue with Seagate ST4000VN000? I think we may go that route now that the HGST didn't work out.

I'm using them. No issues so far. Not really saying much tho ;)

And Backblaze likes Seagate 4Tb models ;)

 

[Bidule0hm]

Anyone know any issue with Seagate ST4000VN000? I think we may go that route now that the HGST didn't work out.

No, I have one since 7 kh and no problems so far ;)

 

[LIGISTX]

No, I have one since 7 kh and no problems so far ;)

7 kh?


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[Stux]

Kilohours I assume ;)

"Since" is probably Franglish, and should be "for"

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yep, thousands of hours :)

Got it for the "for" ;)

 

[LIGISTX]

Whelp, saw WD Reds on 10% sale on newegg, jumped on that. Have 8 on their way!

 

[LIGISTX]

How do I access IPMI and then ECC related stuff to make sure no errors have popped up?


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