Initial storage when installing.

[James Richardson]

Hi guys,

Might be an easy one but I've got a "Dell Poweredge R510", 16GB ram, 2.13Ghz Processor (Which I'm going to upgrade with 2 faster processors) and I want to install FreeNAS onto it. After installing and playing around on a test server to get to talk to our DC properly I now want to install it on the R510 server.

I've got 8x 1TB SATA drives to put into it but I was just wondering, is it best using 1 of the old 250GB to install FreeNAS onto then the other 7TB as the storage. Basically want to use it as a storage server mainly.

I know it says about using USB pens to install onto but is the 250GB drive too big and a bit of a waste to install onto??

Thanks
James

 

[danb35]

is the 250GB drive too big and a bit of a waste to install onto

Yeah, it really is. The traditional boot device for FreeNAS is a USB stick, but as SSDs have gotten affordable they've become common as well (they're much more reliable, and also much faster, than a USB stick). But 16 GB is plenty of capacity for your boot device, and anything over 32 GB is overkill. That said, I'm using a 120 GB SSD as a boot device, simply because I didn't have anything smaller handy.

It won't hurt anything to install on too large of a device, but it will be a waste of space.

 

[Dice]

250GB drive too big

no

a bit of a waste to install onto

yes.

 

[James Richardson]

OK thanks guys that's very helpful.

I've seen about having 2x USB sticks and mirroring them (Assuming for redundancy), is the mirroring something i would after the install onto the first USB pen??

Obviously I don't want to by some cheap USB pens if i do .

What would happen if the USB died, will all the data be safe on 1TB drives??

Thanks,
James

 

[danb35]

is the mirroring something i would after the install onto the first USB pen??

You can do it during installation or afterward.

What would happen if the USB died, will all the data be safe on 1TB drives??

Yes. That's why the boot device is separate from the data.

 

[James Richardson]

Okey dokey super thank you.

one last thing sorry, I need to have all the 1 TB drives set as separate drives and none RAID configured via the servers raid controller setup because the FreeNAS has an built-in raid software which has better stability, is that correct?

Thanks,
James

 

[danb35]

I need to have all the 1 TB drives set as separate drives and none RAID configured via the servers raid controller setup because the Freenas has an built-in raid software which has better stability, is that correct?

Correct, though ideally you wouldn't be using a RAID controller at all. Which one is installed in that server?

 

[James Richardson]

It's got a PERC 6/i intergrated RAID controller

 

[Dice]

It's got a PERC 6/i intergrated RAID controller

IIRC that is a typical no-go out of the box.
If you can cross flash to IT-mode, it is fine.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

It should be possible to flash it to IT mode, but that won't change the fact that it's obsolete, e.g. disk capacity is limited to 2TB each.

 

[James Richardson]

Hi Guys,

I've never crossed flash IT mode before.

When you say limited, do you mean I can't put anything bigger than 2TB drives?

Thanks
James

 

[James Richardson]

Can I just switch the embedded controller to "off" like in the screenshot, it's set to ATA at the moment, will that do then use the zfs software?

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

do you mean I can't put anything bigger than 2TB drives?

You can use whatever size drive you like, but you won't be able to address more than about 2.2TB per drive.

Can I just switch the embedded controller to "off" like in the screenshot

My guess is that will make it non-functional.

To be clear, you can choose to use the controller as-is, but you'd be increasing your risk of data loss.

 

[James Richardson]

OK well the size isn't a major issue at the moment, it's my first build :).

Only reason i ask is because on my test server I deleted the RAID configuration and i couldn't see any drives available when it came to the install. I had to change the something in the bios from RAID to SCSI for the drives to appear.

Thanks Robert I was getting that impression ;), just not recommended because it's not supported :) :) :).

James

 

[James Richardson]

Hello,

Just installed FreeNAS 9.3 and I can't see any of my drives at all, I've not configured any RAID from the controller option when you press CTRL+R from first booting the server.

I've cleared all the raid configuration and changed several settings in the bios to get them to appear but I can't.

I know they will appear if I RAID them from the controller card software but I don't want to do that do I.

Thanks
James

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I know they will appear if I RAID them from the controller card software but I don't want to do that do I.

Correct.

What options does the card give you when you Ctrl-R during boot?

Most likely flashing the controller to IT mode is the best option with this hardware.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Hello,

Just installed Freenas 9.3 and i can't see any of my drives at all, I've not configured any RAID from the controller option when you press CTRL+R from first booting the server.

I've cleared all the raid configuration and changed several settings in the bios to get them to appear but I can't.

I know they will appear if I RAID them from the controller card software but I don't want to do that do I.

Thanks
James

You have to flash the card to IT mode. Do a Google search for instructions, there are hundreds.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[James Richardson]

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply, i had a 4 day weekend :):).

I've looked for instructions but i can't find any for this one (PERC 6/i) i think i might have to get another card, what's my best option for a supported card, without spending a fortune, probably max of £100 or less if i can ;) lol.

Like i said though I could add a configure in the RAID controller software for the current card and it will appear then but that's a big no no :(.

Knowing my luck it'll be fine for 6 months and then go T**s up haha.

Thanks,
James

 

[James Richardson]

Correct.

What options does the card give you when you Ctrl-R during boot?

Most likely flashing the controller to IT mode is the best option with this hardware.

Hi Robert,

I've taken a few pictures of what options i have but i think i may need another controller, i did untick "Enable controller Bios" show in the 2nd picture just to see if that did anything and that didn't help :(.

On my test server i changed the embedded controller in the BIOS from RAID to SCSI and I could see the drives after that but there doesn't appear to be that option, just a SATA setting, which is "Off" or "ATA".

Thanks,

James

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I've taken a few pictures of what options i have but i think i may need another controller

I believe a workaround may be to create one RAID0 for each physical disk. It's a bad solution and the ZFS police will pull you over for using it.

i think i may need another controller

Yes.