Network crash / drop: NAS 8.0.1 RC2 after long copying process

[yaqushi]

Hi all,

I am still confused, but I do want to understand this system. I installed FreeNAS 8.0.1 RC2 on my Acer H340, only one 2TB SATA drive is installed. I choose 2TB zfs stripe, 2 GB RAM installed.

Everything works as i want it, but when i start e.g. a copy process out of windows to the NAS, lets say 700 GB in one shoot, it starts copyinh at around 400-500 Mbit/s (whic is good), goes on for hours, predicts that it finishes in 5-6 hours, but always after 100-500GB, the network drops. I cant explain that, especially the screenshots:

The network crashes exactly after the mem goes down again.

1.Now before everyone says, install more ram, I cant, only one bank DDR2. Also, it cant be the RAM, cause it works for hours. If the RAM is not sufficient, why does it work for hours?
2. It cant be the NIC, same, it works for hours.
3. Why is the mem suddenly shooting up after (in this example) 4hrs, without having changed anything? The files copying were all movies, around 5-10GB each. So why does it work fine for 4-5 hrs, and then run into troubles and mem shoots up?
4. I modified the vmem to 1024M and the vmem_max 1536M.



Any ideas?
Really would like to work with this system, and already struggling since weeks (whenever i have time).

Thanks

 

[Durkatlon]

Looks like you're running the amd64 version? I would take the VMEM changes out of the loader.conf if I were you; they are not needed for the 64-bit version and may do more harm than good.

It looks like the system is running out of the RAM with the current configuration. It chews through the physical RAM, then the swap, then when that is exhausted it dies. It's probably not the network shutting off, as much as it is ZFS choking. I would try without the loader.conf changes and sees if it makes things better.

 

[yaqushi]

...tried that in the first place, the changes on the vmem were put after reading here in the forum for a possible solution.

The funny things is that it runs for hours just fine, but then suddenly start eating mem and swap for no reason. Why would it run fine for hours and only hangs after some hours?

 

[louisk]

1) you should have 4G min according to the FreeNAS docs.
I think I agree with Durkation, it sounds like ZFS is choking, possibly due to lack of memory. ZFS is very memory intensive and will perform better with more (for any value of more).

 

[yaqushi]

ok, as I cant upgrade, due to only one bank and DDR2 ram, how about i use UFS? For copying only, etc, I can use UFS.

I asked this question already, but didnt get an answer. I have problems creating an UFS stripe. When I add 1x500GB and 1x2TB, it adds up to 900GB. Any ideas why?

If that still doesn't work, then the Windows Home Server will move back on the system, at least that was working.

 

[louisk]

I would give UFS a try. I would also start with a single spindle and get that working before you try multiple spindles (and yes, do all of your testing before you put your data on it).

 

[yaqushi]

... tried UFS with one HDD, works fine. Stable.

Problem: Doesnt work with stripes, as soon as two HDD are put together as stripe, system does not recognize the capacity correct (as described above).