Moving 3ware GPT Raid5 onto FreeNAS

[pushkin69]

Today is my first day using FreeNAS so please go easy on me. In my prior windows PC, I had set up a 4.5 TB RAID5 comprising of 4 x 1.5 TB drives, running on a 3ware 9650SE-8LPML card. I have now built a new PC for the purposes of running FreeNAS and using it as my shared drive (and possibly cloud) at home to stream movies, music, picture, etc.

I have installed the latest FreeNAS and when I click View Drives, it does see/recognize the 4.5 drive. However there is no volume set up and Import Volume function does not show anything to import. I would like to understand whether I can import this drive into FreeNAS without losing the data, and if so, how? Please include step by step details. I have looked through the online documentation but am not sure if/where this is explained.

In case I can't do that, I did copy over all the data onto an external drive. It is my understanding that if I wanted to keep things as is, I would need to set up these drives as a RAID-Z1 which would give me the same amount of space and redundancy (1 drive can fail). Reading other posts I know there's probably better setup I can achieve with buying more drives, etc, but that's not an option at this point. I just want to migrate things over for now, and consider buying more hardware later. My specs are below:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
CPU: AMD A6-6400K Richland 3.9GHz
Memory: Kingston 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 (HX316C10F/4) Blue
HDD: Kingston V300 60GB SSD
PSU: PicoPSU-150-XT
RAID Card: 3ware 9650SE-8LPML

 

[Darren Myers]

Wellllllll, you see the thing is you have both and AMD processor which CAN be ok, but you have it paired with a consumer grade motherboard, and only 4Gb of RAM....FreeNAS 9.3 minimum is 8Gb (preferably ECC if you value your data). And that RAID card simply wont do for FreeNAS as it will not get the SMART data it needs for the harddrives. I would suggest taking a look at this hardware recommendation guide before you proceed with moving your data anywhere. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

 

[Noctris]

-- snip -- nevermind. Seem to have missed the last paragraph entirely. Gotta love forums on smartphone

 

[pushkin69]

Thank you both for the quick replies.

Noctris - The volume is actually formatted with GPT.

Darren - Memory is something I could get more of, so getting another stick of 4GB can be ok, but why is so much RAM needed for my basic needs? I realize how powerful FreeNAS is, but would my intended functionality require significant hardware upgrades from what I have now? Assuming I can get more RAM but keep the rest of the hardware as is, would my next step be to wipe that 4.5 TB partition and create the RAID brand new via FreeNAS?

 

[Darren Myers]

If you take a look at some of the most active people @cyberjock and @jgreco they will give you shinning examples of people who used 4Gb of RAM b/c they thought it was fine for there needs, then a month, or 2 months, maybe even a year later, there FreeNAS server wouldnt mount there volumes, i can think of one post off hand that is recent and i will find it for you. The next step would be to sell or keep in a safe place that RAID card and pick up a HBA, or simply plug the harddrives into the motherboard directly depending on the onboard SATA controller, FreeNAS doesnt play nicely with consumer grade components that have fancy things like built in WiFi, audio jacks, etc.

EDIT: Heres one example from May of this year.
EDIT 2: And heres another person who killed there FreeNAS Pool and there data by using LESS then the 8Gb RAM minimum AND a hardware raid controller.

 

[Noctris]

Thank you both for the quick replies.

Noctris - The volume is actually formatted with GPT.

Darren - Memory is something I could get more of, so getting another stick of 4GB can be ok, but why is so much RAM needed for my basic needs? I realize how powerful FreeNAS is, but would my intended functionality require significant hardware upgrades from what I have now? Assuming I can get more RAM but keep the rest of the hardware as is, would my next step be to wipe that 4.5 TB partition and create the RAID brand new via FreeNAS?

I already moderated my own post since i missed the fact that you did not intend to try and mount the existing volume in freenas, but just for the correctness: gpt is the partition table format not the filesystem ( which i was talking about)

For the rest: what darren said. Please read the hardware requirements and manual. The ram seems to be absurd but looming at how zfs works, it's importance quickly becomes clear ( and the potential disaster that may come from not doing it 'the right way')

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[pushkin69]

Ok so I get more RAM, but what's my next step? If I connect all 4 drives to my motherboard, I have no SATA ports available for my OS drive...

 

[Noctris]

Please, follow the advise previously given starting with taking a glance at the manual. For example: it is strongly adivised to install freenas on a usb thumb drive since you will lose the entire disk you install it to. ( a shame to lose a 1.5tb disk to an os of 500mb)

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[Darren Myers]

Well, you can pick up a LSI 9211-i8 HBA card that will do exactly what FreeNAS wants which is to have full access to the drives, or pick up a M1015 and crossflash it to IT firmware which will achieve the same thing. Then after that, you'd need SAS to SATA breakout cables

And as @Noctris said, its best to install FreeNAS on a 8-16Gb USB Flash drive (there are a few favored by the community) or a small SSD (i use 2 80Gb SSD's that i got for 20 each)

 

[pushkin69]

Noctris - I have a 60GB SSD for the OS, the 4.5 TB drive is for data only... I can certainly install onto USB (which I saw in the manual, but thought that SSD would be a better option for speed, no?
Darren - What makes the LSI card different/better than my 3ware card? Is it not a similar/same raid controller as my 3ware card? Isn't LSI and 3ware the same company?

 

[Darren Myers]

The RAID card doesnt give the function that FreeNAS wants, which is full access to the drives and there SMART data. The RAID card can do fully things with FreeNAS as seen in the example above. The LSI card is a HBA which essentially gives you added SATA ports to use. Give this thread here a read over https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/

 

[Noctris]

It would only matter for boot. The ssd adds little else to the table. Freenas does little to no writing or reading on the boot device after boot.. i think making mirrored boot on 2 usb and repurpose the ssd for something else would make more sense.. just my 2 cents.

Concerning the 3ware: is this a card that supports jbod or simple passthrough mode? Then sure, you could use it. Depending on the motherboard chipset, onboard should be just fine but seeing this amd ( less good support on freebsd and thus generally advised against) a lsi card could be the better way to go.

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[pushkin69]

Darren, but my LSI/3ware card is already an HBA with SAS ports that I use to connect my 4 drives. I already have it set up this way with SAS-SATA cables. Am I missing something?
Noctris - I see your point. I can definitely repurpose the SSD and can install FreeNAS onto a USB drive. How big of a USB drive to do I need?

 

[Noctris]

Quick google tells me your card should be well supported on freebsd and should do jbod out of the box so it should work fine.

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/good-8-ports-sata-controller.33335/

Be sure to destroy the current config ( you lose your data so make sure your backup is good) and then configure it for jbod mode.

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[Noctris]

As per manual: 8gb for the usb

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[Darren Myers]

Well according to Newegg your card does in fact support JBOD, so as long as its true JBOD then youre fine to use it and any SAS to SATA cables

 

[jgreco]

Is it not a similar/same raid controller as my 3ware card? Isn't LSI and 3ware the same company?

No, it's an HBA - a Host Bus Adapter (at least in the mode we want it in). And while LSI and 3Ware might be "the same company," the products were designed back when they were different companies. 3Ware focused primarily on RAID solutions and LSI covered things a bit more comprehensively. The firmwares remain to this day incompatible and handled best by different drivers.

The M1015 can actually be pressed into service as an entry-level RAID controller as well as an HBA, making it an exceptionally flexible bit of gear. However, selecting the operational mode requires that it be flashed with different firmware.

There's been some talk that the last generation 3Ware cards may be able to act as an HBA, though cards such as the 9550 and before cannot, as they cannot be configured to expose the drives to the OS. I have not confirmed this.

The two tests I'd suggest would be to get the output of "camcontrol devlist" and whether or not "smartctl -a /dev/whatever" (substitute a proper dev name for "whatever") returns meaningful data. That alone is not sufficient, as there are questions about the stability and suitability of the driver as well.

 

[pushkin69]

Guys, I appreciate everyone's responses but I don't want to buy a grand worth of hardware to build this NAS. I would like to build a low cost / low energy consuming network "shared drive" that would allow me to steam movies from any PC at home. That does not justify the cost of the suggested builds.

I have the hardware above ($300 spent) and my research (and Noctris) confirms that my existing 3ware card should be supported. My questions were can I migrate my setup as is (answer we established is no) and if not, how do I set this up going forward given my setup. So:

1. Do I need to install different firmware on my card? And if so, how?
2. Do I need to change bios or other settings to use jbod (not sure where/how to do that). How do I check existing setup to confirm whether any changes are needed, maybe it's already using correct settings?
3. Can I just use the web ui to import the 4 drives and set up a new raid, without doing any of the above?

Simple = better. Otherwise this becomes way too costly and time consuming and sways me towards the less preferred route of just installing windows (which will work well with my hardware) and just share the drive. I realize how silly that is from many standpoints, but it does simplify the process quite a bit.

 

[pirateghost]

Guys, I appreciate everyone's responses but I don't want to buy a grand worth of hardware to build this NAS. I would like to build a low cost / low energy consuming network "shared drive" that would allow me to steam movies from any PC at home. That does not justify the cost of the suggested builds.

I have the hardware above ($300 spent) and my research (and Noctris) confirms that my existing 3ware card should be supported. My questions were can I migrate my setup as is (answer we established is no) and if not, how do I set this up going forward given my setup. So:

1. Do I need to install different firmware on my card? And if so, how?
2. Do I need to change bios or other settings to use jbod (not sure where/how to do that). How do I check existing setup to confirm whether any changes are needed, maybe it's already using correct settings?
3. Can I just use the web ui to import the 4 drives and set up a new raid, without doing any of the above?

Simple = better. Otherwise this becomes way too costly and time consuming and sways me towards the less preferred route of just installing windows (which will work well with my hardware) and just share the drive. I realize how silly that is from many standpoints, but it does simplify the process quite a bit.

This indicates you haven't read the recommendations that everyone else has said you should read.

You really need to look at the resources zfs will require before jumping into this. It sounds like FreeNAS is not the right fit for your setup.

Simple or not the requirements don't change.

 

[jgreco]

I'd strongly suggest posting the output of "camcontrol devlist" and verifying whether or not the 3Ware is passing through SMART data. This is important because it fundamentally affects whether or not FreeNAS can be configured to monitor the health of the disks.

If you do not particularly value your data and it wouldn't be a terrible crisis for you to lose it all in the event that something went wrong, then the ballgame changes somewhat. Around here, we're mostly oriented towards secure, high reliability storage, and almost all the advice given is intended to produce highly stable storage platforms that are very unlikely to lose data on you. If that's not the case, you can certainly proceed with other hardware selections, with the caveat that you're in waters many of us don't swim in, so we can't tell you where the sharks are.