New to FreeNAS - HELLO WORLD !

[ninjaneer68]

Hello everyone ! Josh said I should introduce myself so here I go....... LoL
I am a system administrator by trade but on the windows side of the house. New to the Linux/UNIX world but I have been trying\learning

I have an half server RACK at home and working on building out a full blown VMware lab with NAS support. The first thing I am building out is my FreeNAS.

Below is my FreeNAS set up

SERVER Enclosure (12 BAYS)
CHENBRO CLOUD SERVER
2X INTEL XEON QUAD CORE E5506 2.13GHz
72GB RAM
Model# - RM23212H09 - 12736

BACK PLANE
mini-SAS X 3

RAID CONTROLLER
Adaptec RAID 51245 (Came with Server) - Currently set up as JBOD - morph simple volume
Link to RAID Controller website

HDD
Toshiba P300 High Performance 2TB Internal Hard Drive (Bulk) 3.5 Inch SATA - HDWD120UZSVA
Only have 3 Drives right now
Amazon Link to Drives

FreeNAS OS
USB device that FreeNAS is installed on
PNY USB 3.0 FD PMAP
Link to Drives that freenas is installed on

NICS
Two 1 GB NICS
one - IPMI port


Latest Challenges - Can NOT get SMART to start ( Click HERE for new thread for this)
The service started when I did a fresh install, then I restore my FreeNAS install and the service will not start. Not sure how to trouble shoot this.

** UPDATE ** I reinstalled FREENAS as a mirror across 2 USB devices and when I did the SMART service started with no problems

 

[joeschmuck]

First of all, Welcome to FreeNAS Forums!

I suspect the issue with SMART is your RAID controller. FreeNAS wants to be in direct control of the hard drives, no RAID controller in the middle, just a simple HBA. I'm not a RAID controller card expert but maybe the card could be flashed into IT mode. If it cannot then you should be looking for a different card.

 

[gpsguy]

Welcome to the forums!

The SMART issue is caused by your hardware RAID controller. ZFS on FreeNAS expects to use software RAID. Get something like an IBM M1015 and flash it to IT mode instead.

Latest Challenges - Can NOT get SMART to start ( will link to a new thread for this)

 

[ninjaneer68]

I was afraid if that was the case. It never turned on from the original FreeNAS install. What has me puzzled is I reinstalled FreeNAS with the NEW USB devices I bought and when it came up SMART enabled NO problem and it saw my DRIVES.

Once I restored the CONFIG it wouldn't turn on. I am not far in the configuring of FreeNAS. If I REINSTALL again, and don't restore CONFIG settings can I get access to the DATA\JAILS that is on the drives ?

 

[joeschmuck]

Aren't your drives setup as JBOD? This means that any single drive failure would cause complete data loss. If FreeNAS can see and controll each drive individually then you should be fine. Maybe you can turn off the RAID features of your card? If you can't obtain SMART data from your drives then again, the safety of your data is at risk because you would never know when you drives are failing.

 

[gpsguy]

Here's an old thread that says the same thing we've been saying. https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...nize-adaptec-51245-adapter.35650/#post-217502

 

[ninjaneer68]

Aren't your drives setup as JBOD? This means that any single drive failure would cause complete data loss. If FreeNAS can see and controll each drive individually then you should be fine. Maybe you can turn off the RAID features of your card? If you can't obtain SMART data from your drives then again, the safety of your data is at risk because you would never know when you drives are failing.

Yeah it is set up as JBOD (simple volume) and I have tested a drive failure to see what would happen. I have a zpool of 1 parity drive and i pull one drive out while I was streaming from them and copying data to the pool. FREENAS did noticed one missing and told me and everything keep working. I cleared the errors when I put the drive back, offline the drive then hit replace and SCRUB repaired any errors and all was good again.

 

[joeschmuck]

Here's an old thread that says the same thing we've been saying. https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...nize-adaptec-51245-adapter.35650/#post-217502

Good to know this specific card has been addressed, kind of simplifies the matter.

 

[gpsguy]

While I still wouldn't trust the Adaptec card, you might want to test it with the 11.0 nightlies. http://download.freenas.org/11/MASTER/

In 11.0 RC support for some Adaptec cards was added - https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pmspcv&manpath=FreeBSD+11.0-RELEASE+and+Ports

 

[ninjaneer68]

UPDATE - I reinstalled FreeNAS and now my SMART service turns on. I know this adaptec isn't ideal but its working for now and I was able to import the old zpool data

 

[ninjaneer68]

While I still wouldn't trust the Adaptec card, you might want to test it with the 11.0 nightlies. http://download.freenas.org/11/MASTER/

In 11.0 RC support for some Adaptec cards was added - https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pmspcv&manpath=FreeBSD+11.0-RELEASE+and+Ports

Thanks gpsguy, I might check that out. I reinstalled the current 9.10.2-U3 freenas and when I did that SMART start with no issues. Not sure why but going with it. I was able to import the exist zpool and all the data was there. I tested pulling out a drive and everything worked.