Performance estimate

[Snufkin]

I have a extra PC which I thought of using as a NAS device. The specs are CPU : Core 2 Duo E8400 with 8GB RAM.

If I add 8 x 2TB SATA disks to this computer and set them up in RAIDZ1 what throughput should I expect to get ? +- 70MB/s read / write?

The plan was to replace an old Drobo device which writes at about 30MB/s. So the point of this question would be to determine if this is worth doing.

 

[Snufkin]

Oh ... forgot to add ... for this example let's say I will be using iSCSI

 

[jgreco]

For iSCSI you probably want no less than 32GB of RAM, or possibly 16GB if performance is of no concern.

 

[Snufkin]

Well , I will be using it for backup storage. So only one device will connect to it at a time. Will I be able to get +- 70MB/s with the mentioned hardware ? (And yes .... of course I would like that new and shiny hardware that will make everything supper fast ! )

 

[Mirfster]

The plan was to replace an old Drobo device which writes at about 30MB/s. So the point of this question would be to determine if this is worth doing.

While I applaud your desire to get away from Drobo, you may want to consider what hardware you are using. I do not believe that the CPU (Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E8400) supports ECC Ram (please correct me if I am wrong). As well, you have not provided information regarding what motherboard (or other system specs) you will be using.

In general terms, the answer is "Yes" this will be faster (and much much much more reliable) than a Drobo. However, if you are using less than recommended hardware, YMMV. Just don't want you to end up with a bad taste in your mouth for FreeNas by selling yourself short on hardware...

 

[gpsguy]

Use striped mirrors instead of RAIDz1.

 

[Snufkin]

I do not believe that the CPU (Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E8400) supports ECC Ram (please correct me if I am wrong). As well, you have not provided information regarding what motherboard (or other system specs) you will be using.

No ... this computer doesn't have ECC RAM and it is using some generic Intel motherboard. (not sure of the model). I just need it to be faster than the Drobo ...

Use striped mirrors instead of RAIDz1.

Will RAID10 be less hardware intensive than RAIDZ1 ? Would like RAIDZ1 because it's a bit more economical on disk space.

 

[Mirfster]

No ... this computer doesn't have ECC RAM and it is using some generic Intel motherboard. (not sure of the model). I just need it to be faster than the Drobo ...

In that case, I hereby rescind my previous statement... :p

In general terms, the answer is "Yes" this will be faster (and much much much more reliable) than a Drobo

Speed means squat if the data is lost/corrupted...

 

[gpsguy]

Please read some of these threads, where jgreco has already discussed this topic in great detail - https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?search/2078994/&q=iscsi&o=date&c[user][0]=115

 

[Snufkin]

Thanks ! I will go and read up a bit.