Put FreeNAS on a Xeon X5460 and I get vmx_init: processor does not support desired primary processor

[Roveer]

So I'm fiddling around with FreeNAS and I used my old P5B-V motherboard jazzed up with a Xeon X5460 CPU. When FreeNAS is starting up I see vmx_init: processor does not support desired primary processor-based controls.

Seems to start up and work, what do I need to know about this? Does this mean my MB/CPU is too old for FreeNAS?

Roveer

 

[JustinClift]

At a complete guess, the "vmx_init" bit makes it sound like a warning about something not being supported for the virtual machine side of things (bhyve).

If you're not using virtual machines, then it can probably be ignored. If you are wanting to use virtual machines though... you'll probably need to dig into this deeper. ;)

 

[Roveer]

When I went a googling I only found a few related hits and one of them did make mention of VM, which I have no intention of using. Would like to know more so I can move forward knowing that my installation is sound.

Roveer

 

[JustinClift]

Yeah, doing some searching online now too, and it's definitely a Virtual Machine specific thing. You'll be fine for doing test/development stuff with. :)

The P5B-V doesn't seem to support ECC memory, so I'd be wary of putting production data on it. But for just messing around with FreeNAS to get the hang of things it'll be ok. :)

 

[nightshade00013]

It's a pretty old CPU like initial launch in 2007... While it may run you WILL NOT be able to do anything with VM's and for everything else I would not expect stellar performance. Old hardware works fine for a lot of stuff but there is old and too old and for FreeNAS to be reliable and do much beyond its NAS function you will need to get something newer.

https://ark.intel.com/nl/products/33087/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X5460-12M-Cache-3_16-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB

Use it to learn with but don't trust your important data to it. Later on when you build out a better supported system you can use it to test out the latest and greatest release to make sure you will not bork your main system. Or use it as a webserver or gameserver or drop linux on it and mess with it. Or throw a copy of linux on it and give it to a kid or someone else who can't afford to buy a computer, that is what I do with a lot of the stuff I come across when it's going to just end up sitting in the storage purgatory I call a closet.

 

[Roveer]

Yeah, that MB served as our server for almost 10 years (SBS 2003). I upgraded the CPU to the Xeon (26 bucks) because it's in a really great Supermicro tower with 8 bay storage.

The MB only has 1 PCIE 8x so I was running FreeNAS on an adaptec array controller but last night switched over to the LSI I had bought That meant I couldn't use my 10GB ethernet card.

So my latest line of thinking is to run FreeNAS as a VM on my Dell R710 ESXi. I'm going to put the LSI HBA and 10GB ethernet card in and do PCI pass through to the FreeNAS instance. The cable from the supermicro is long enough to reach into the R710. Now I embark on another adventure and hope that those error's I saw don't apply to what I;m trying to do

My use is to hold backups, a copy of our server data and the contents of the NAS at my home. The data from each site (home & office) is duplicated on each location as well as stored in the cloud (Crashplan Pro). I've got FIOS Gig at both sites so I get nearly 100MB/s between sites (pfSense VPN). Plenty enough to transfer any changes to my data in an hour or two. I've noticed that I've becomes obsessed with protecting my data which is what led me to FreeNAS.

 

[JustinClift]

> The MB only has 1 PCIE 8x so I was running FreeNAS on an adaptec array controller but last night switched over to the LSI I had bought That meant I couldn't use my 10GB ethernet card.

Which make/model of 10GbE card are you using?

Asking because at least with my (older generation) Mellanox ConnectX and ConnectX-2 cards, although they're made for running in at least PCIE x8 mode... they do actually function in x4 mode. They don't go as fast, but they're still good for at least 250-300+MB/s (that's as fast as my storage goes, so they might actually do higher).

Mentioning it because when looking at the P5B-V manual online, it mentions the second PCIE slot can do x4. So the motherboard might still be workable (for non-production data). :)

 

[Roveer]

Mellanox Connect-x 2. I never tried for 2 reasons. 1. It said it was an 8x card and 2 on the P5B-V there are little led's next to each slot and if you insert an incompatible card it shows RED. That's what I was getting with the Mellanox so I never went any further. I might just throw it back in and see what happens.

Still thinking about the VM. Read an article saying if you followed the rules (passthrough etc), FreeNAS can be run on a VM. So I've got a few things to toy around with.

Roveer

 

[Roveer]

Tried the Mellanox in a 4x slot and it didn't work. I think the MB was preventing it from being used because it sensed it was a mis-match.

I decided to pull the HBA and NIC and throw them into my R710 ESXi and ran the SATA cables from my 8 bay enclosure into the R710. Ran up FreeNAS as a VM, Imported the volume, re-added all my 10GB tunings and started testing. I was getting 320MB/s writing from my server to FreeNAS and 600+MB/s going the other direction. Server is 2008 R2 so I'm not getting any benefit from SMB3. Also, Mellanox wants firewall turned off for better throughput but I am unable at this time for various reasons so I know I'm paying a penalty for that. Pretty happy with anything over 300MB/s over the 10GB link. I'm going to mess with this a bit and see how it holds up. Array is 9.98TB on 8 2TB drives. I scored 8 brand new ST32000444ss drives on amazon for 39 bucks each, free shipping. I found a glitch, as they were listed at 45 bucks but while I was googling I found another link to amazon for 39, same seller. Right after I ordered they jumped up to 59 ea so someone figured out their mistake. I can only hope I get as good performance as the last set of 8 800GB drives (non nas) that I had in that enclosure. They ran continuously for 10 years!!! Not one failure, not one array error. That machine is on a data center class UPS so I always got good power and never had an interruption. Chalk it up to healthy living.

 

[JustinClift]

Sounds like you're making good progress with the research. :)

Out of curiosity, how much ram does the FreeNAS VM have? I've not done anything "real" with it in a VM before - just some initial mucking about stuff a few years back. Kind of thinking some of the ARC (cache ram) memory tuning parameters might be useful for you if there's a stack of ram allocated to the VM. :)

 

[Roveer]

Sounds like you're making good progress with the research. :)

Out of curiosity, how much ram does the FreeNAS VM have? I've not done anything "real" with it in a VM before - just some initial mucking about stuff a few years back. Kind of thinking some of the ARC (cache ram) memory tuning parameters might be useful for you if there's a stack of ram allocated to the VM. :)

The box has 48GB total right now. I gave the FreeNAS VM 16GB and I guess I'll have to educate myself to figure out how to determine if that is a good enough amount. I'm sure I can look at some of the reporting to see how that's being used and if it's sufficient. There's only one machine sending data to this NAS and it's happening early in the morning so it's definitely not high use. I see some examples where they are editing 4k video right off the NAS. That's not me.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I'm going to start reading some of the great guides I've come across so I better understand the finer points of FreeNAS. All in all it's been a good experience even if it has made me become a NAS Junkie. 32TB All SSD, LAGG'd 10GB ar ar ar... Oh the fun it could be if it wasn't for the money.

Roveer

 

[Roveer]

One final question about this error that I'm seeing. Does this mean that I can't use the VM capabilities that are built into FreeNAS (don't want to use them), OR does it mean that I shouldn't be trying to VM my FreeNAS box? So far it's working just fine as a VM, but I don't want to move forward with that if I'm not supposed to be running in that configuration.

Thanks,

Roveer

 

[anmnz]

It's just telling you that bhyve (the hypervisor used in FreeNAS) won't run on your hardware (the X5460 lacks EPT so it cannot). That message is not a problem for FreeNAS itself.

 

[Roveer]

It's just telling you that bhyve (the hypervisor used in FreeNAS) won't run on your hardware (the X5460 lacks EPT so it cannot). That message is not a problem for FreeNAS itself.

Excellent, just what I wanted to hear. Thanks for setting that straight.

 

[Nitro626]

Rover?

I am new here, but I have the same error! look at my Signature for NAS spec, it's recycled junk but does what i need!
So I found this post because I got the same error and was searching, I thought i'd fixed it LOL sadly not!

I was going to say the error goes away if the correct instruction set is loaded for X5460 CPU, (Note you will need a Custom Bios also I believe)
Enable "CPU EIST Function" and "CZ/CZE State Support" in your bios! FreeNAS then loads correct CPU instruction set. I disabled them because it makes the OC more stable apparently.

But I've been staring at screens for to long today I am wrong ....

Regards Nitro

 

[Roveer]

Rover?

I am new here, but I have the same error! look at my Signature for NAS spec, it's recycled junk but does what i need!
So I found this post because I got the same error and was searching, I thought i'd fixed it LOL sadly not!

I was going to say the error goes away if the correct instruction set is loaded for X5460 CPU, (Note you will need a Custom Bios also I believe)
Enable "CPU EIST Function" and "CZ/CZE State Support" in your bios! FreeNAS then loads correct CPU instruction set. I disabled them because it makes the OC more stable apparently.

But I've been staring at screens for to long today I am wrong ....

Regards Nitro

Nitro626:

Thanks so much for your reply. Even a year later it's still useful information. Sometime around the time I made that post I upgraded my system to a Dell R510 12 bay enclosure to give me a nice form factor. Can't remember if I was still getting the error or not, but I think I was. I just popped into the BIOS, enabled virtualization and set the QPI for I/O and restarted FreeNAS. I no longer see the error, but again, wasn't sure I was seeing it on the R510. Either way. I'm happy to see your post. Thanks so much for your contribution.

Roveer