panther320
Cadet
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2017
- Messages
- 7
Hi FreeNAS users,
So I've owned a FreeNAS nas for a few months now, with the following specs:
As you can probably imagine from these specs, I am itching for an upgrade, since I'm tired of transferring files at less than 5 Mb/s. I've decided to look into major makeovers for my NAS setup, but I have a lot of questions that I haven't gotten satisfactory answers from Google for. The major upgrades I'm looking at are to move to 10GbE networking, switch to compact rackmount servers, and a storage upgrade (though I'm considering doing that later, I just want to focus on the networking for the time being).
I've been planning my network setup a little and you can see how I'm envisioning it here:
So here are my questions (there are many, so don't feel obligated to answer all of them. If there's anything you want to add to the discussion, or something you feel might be helpful, just reply to the post with it.) Also, not all of these will be networking, since I'm not sure where to put this post.
1. For 10GbE networking, is it better to use CX4 or SFP+ gear? I'm finding 10GbE CX4 switches to be a lot cheaper per port than SFP+ ones (http://www.ebay.com/itm/202146182153 vs http://www.ebay.com/itm/323032634858), but I'm also finding that CX4 ones typically lack normal RJ45 ports alongside them. While I have a gigabit switch right now, being able to manage all my networking in one switch would be nice. The other thing I'm noticing is that SFP+/SFP NICs and cables are a lot cheaper than their CX4 counterparts. So which one is probably better?
2. Also on the topic of switches, I was initially going to go with a 2-port card hooked up P2P with my 2 workstations in the diagram, but I decided to go with a switch for scalability. My initial concern was the price, since I had heard that they were exorbitantly expensive, so I didn't even check. But I'm finding switches like the ones I linked for under $100. Is there a catch or are these legit switches? Also, can my network be laid out like they would be if I went with P2P where I have my 10Gbe stuff on a different subnet, communicating on their own or will it interfere with the gigabit internet stuff?
3. Last question about switches. Do I need uplinks? Are they necessary?
4. My current NAS is in a Micro ATX box that is really suited better for an HTPC than a NAS, since it only has two drive bays. I've decided to move to rackmount stuff for greater storage expansion and more compactness (though noise might be an issue for me). I don't want to buy a prebuilt server, since I'm a little disappointed with the prices and options. Instead, I'm thinking of getting a Chenbro or similar 1u or 2u case with 4 or more drive bays and buying a used Supermicro 1156 motherboard, and hook up an LSI HBA to the backplane, since it'd suit my needs a lot better (most rackmount servers aren't designed for NAS use from what I see, and the ones that do are way out of my budget). Is this a good idea or should I buy prebuilt servers?
5. When I do replace my 750GB HDD with a bigger array, how should I safely transfer the ZFS datasets over? Does FreeNAS have a good way to do this?
6. On most servers, what's the purpose of the management port? How does one make use of it? Do you need specialized management consoles? People on the internet seem to be suggesting that you do. How does usage differ between RS232 and Ethernet management ports? Is IPMI related, and how do you take advantage of that? On ethernet management ports, normal and IPMI, do you just hook it up to a switch? Will that work?
7. Is SMB3 required to do 10Gbe? Is throughput reduced when SMB3 is not used? Is there a way within FreeNAS for the non-SMB3 clients I have to connect too, even if the speed isn't great, while still not limiting the throughput of modern clients?
8. Building on the SMB3 thing, in the diagram, you might see a server called "iSCSI to SMB bridge server". This is an idea I came up with to address the SMB3 thing, if it even is an issue, but I'm realizing it might not be as good of an idea as I initially thought. The idea was simply to set up iSCSI targets on the main NAS, and to mount those iSCSI shares on a separate server. Then, I would have the iSCSI shares shared on an SMB network with my retro machines using P2P gigabit connections and dirt cheap nics. But after doing some research on iSCSI, it seems like it wouldn't be possible to use my previously existing ZFS datasets (shares) as iSCSI targets without overwriting them. This obviously can't work, I need to have something available on SMB and iSCSI and I need the retro and modern clients to be able to access and write to the same stuff. Besides, it seemed a little overcomplicated and adds extra cost. Does anyone know of a different way to do this?
I think that's everything. I still have yet to budget everything out, since I'm not buying until later this summer. Everything should fall within my max restriction of about $1000 for everything excluding the hard drives if I buy used gear on ebay. I might edit the post if I come up with other questions.
Thanks in advance!
So I've owned a FreeNAS nas for a few months now, with the following specs:
Code:
i5-760 8GB RAM 1x, yes, you heard me right, just one WD Caviar SE 750GB HDD Biostar TH55HD Integrated Gigabit LAN on my home network
As you can probably imagine from these specs, I am itching for an upgrade, since I'm tired of transferring files at less than 5 Mb/s. I've decided to look into major makeovers for my NAS setup, but I have a lot of questions that I haven't gotten satisfactory answers from Google for. The major upgrades I'm looking at are to move to 10GbE networking, switch to compact rackmount servers, and a storage upgrade (though I'm considering doing that later, I just want to focus on the networking for the time being).
I've been planning my network setup a little and you can see how I'm envisioning it here:
So here are my questions (there are many, so don't feel obligated to answer all of them. If there's anything you want to add to the discussion, or something you feel might be helpful, just reply to the post with it.) Also, not all of these will be networking, since I'm not sure where to put this post.
1. For 10GbE networking, is it better to use CX4 or SFP+ gear? I'm finding 10GbE CX4 switches to be a lot cheaper per port than SFP+ ones (http://www.ebay.com/itm/202146182153 vs http://www.ebay.com/itm/323032634858), but I'm also finding that CX4 ones typically lack normal RJ45 ports alongside them. While I have a gigabit switch right now, being able to manage all my networking in one switch would be nice. The other thing I'm noticing is that SFP+/SFP NICs and cables are a lot cheaper than their CX4 counterparts. So which one is probably better?
2. Also on the topic of switches, I was initially going to go with a 2-port card hooked up P2P with my 2 workstations in the diagram, but I decided to go with a switch for scalability. My initial concern was the price, since I had heard that they were exorbitantly expensive, so I didn't even check. But I'm finding switches like the ones I linked for under $100. Is there a catch or are these legit switches? Also, can my network be laid out like they would be if I went with P2P where I have my 10Gbe stuff on a different subnet, communicating on their own or will it interfere with the gigabit internet stuff?
3. Last question about switches. Do I need uplinks? Are they necessary?
4. My current NAS is in a Micro ATX box that is really suited better for an HTPC than a NAS, since it only has two drive bays. I've decided to move to rackmount stuff for greater storage expansion and more compactness (though noise might be an issue for me). I don't want to buy a prebuilt server, since I'm a little disappointed with the prices and options. Instead, I'm thinking of getting a Chenbro or similar 1u or 2u case with 4 or more drive bays and buying a used Supermicro 1156 motherboard, and hook up an LSI HBA to the backplane, since it'd suit my needs a lot better (most rackmount servers aren't designed for NAS use from what I see, and the ones that do are way out of my budget). Is this a good idea or should I buy prebuilt servers?
5. When I do replace my 750GB HDD with a bigger array, how should I safely transfer the ZFS datasets over? Does FreeNAS have a good way to do this?
6. On most servers, what's the purpose of the management port? How does one make use of it? Do you need specialized management consoles? People on the internet seem to be suggesting that you do. How does usage differ between RS232 and Ethernet management ports? Is IPMI related, and how do you take advantage of that? On ethernet management ports, normal and IPMI, do you just hook it up to a switch? Will that work?
7. Is SMB3 required to do 10Gbe? Is throughput reduced when SMB3 is not used? Is there a way within FreeNAS for the non-SMB3 clients I have to connect too, even if the speed isn't great, while still not limiting the throughput of modern clients?
8. Building on the SMB3 thing, in the diagram, you might see a server called "iSCSI to SMB bridge server". This is an idea I came up with to address the SMB3 thing, if it even is an issue, but I'm realizing it might not be as good of an idea as I initially thought. The idea was simply to set up iSCSI targets on the main NAS, and to mount those iSCSI shares on a separate server. Then, I would have the iSCSI shares shared on an SMB network with my retro machines using P2P gigabit connections and dirt cheap nics. But after doing some research on iSCSI, it seems like it wouldn't be possible to use my previously existing ZFS datasets (shares) as iSCSI targets without overwriting them. This obviously can't work, I need to have something available on SMB and iSCSI and I need the retro and modern clients to be able to access and write to the same stuff. Besides, it seemed a little overcomplicated and adds extra cost. Does anyone know of a different way to do this?
I think that's everything. I still have yet to budget everything out, since I'm not buying until later this summer. Everything should fall within my max restriction of about $1000 for everything excluding the hard drives if I buy used gear on ebay. I might edit the post if I come up with other questions.
Thanks in advance!
