Several questions about upgrading to new hardware

[dAlexis]

Currently, I have this http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/E350M1/ on latest stable 9.3. Not the best thing indeed :( , but working. Other stuff was built, according to my common sense, but much better (Node 304, passive 500W 80+ Gold PSU, 4x4TB WD). Looking back, good parts were selected according to hardware recommendations before reading the document itself :). Now thinking about mugrating to something new - needed not transcoding (solved this by attching hacked Pioneer BDP 140 using Samba), but resizing photos in PLEX (thinking several minutes in large directories), etc. Thinking about two possibilities:

1. According to h\w recommendations - G3220. But I have in mind, that transcoding and other hard stuff will not be good, which is mentioned in recommendations too.
2. Try to use 4core AMD AM1 (Athlon 5350) . Cheaper, and 4 cores with lower clock, but not recommended. However, 1.5 years on AMD w\o problems. Perfomance - of course, not the best, but working. Maybe, 4 cores will be better 4 parallell tasks?

Q1: Your advice about two possibilities? ( I know about Avoton C2750, but only ASUS with SAS present in shops here, and much more expensive.) Question to 5350 users (if present) - your opinion, how is it, etc?

Second (maybe should be asked in other froum section) - how to import pool correctly on new hardware w\o loosing jails? Better to have step by step instructions. I see something like this:

0. Save old config
1. Perform installation after new hardware w\o importing a pool,
2. Login to new system, what 2 do next? -
Q2:
- Import a pool and load old config next? Or
- Import config and next import a pool?

Old config may have old pool settings, and everyting should be done in right order....

Q3 - attaching disks: Disk, attached to ada0 ahould be exactly ada0 in new system (my be problematic! - understanding, which is ada0 on mainboards may be NOT simple) , or pool will imported, if all disks are connected w\o using exact ada*?

Q4 - what's your opinion about Marvells (like STLab A-520, Marvell 88SE9230 PCI-E x2). Experience, speed, etc?

Please, advice me RTFM about hardware upgrade, if present.

 

[danb35]

Second (maybe should be asked in other froum section) - how to import pool correctly on new hardware w\o loosing jails?

Unplug USB and drives from old system. Plug them into new system. Boot new system. If necessary (i.e., if you've manually configured your network interface on the old system, and the new system doesn't use the same NIC driver), manually reconfigure the network interface. You'll know if this is necessary because the console menu won't give you an IP address.

Q3 - attaching disks: Disk, attached to ada0 ahould be exactly ada0 in new system (my be problematic! - understanding, which is ada0 on mainboards may be NOT simple) , or pool will imported, if all disks are connected w\o using exact ada*?

As long as the minimum number of disks is present and accessible (i.e., FreeNAS sees them), the pool will be imported. It doesn't matter where they're connected.

Q4 - what's your opinion about Marvells (like STLab A-520, Marvell 88SE9230 PCI-E x2). Experience, speed, etc?

Avoid them. This isn't from my personal experience, but based on reports I've seen here.

 

[gpsguy]

I wouldn't use an AMD AM1 with FreeNAS. Search the forums to see what issues users have run into.

That being said, a number of users, including joeschmuck (moderator) have had good luck with AMD FX CPU's. Look at his profile for his system spec's. While it works with FreeNAS 9.3, the fear mongers will say don't bet on anything less than a Supermicro board and Intel Xeon CPU. Will an AMD CPU work with FreeNAS 10, when it's released? Only time will tell.

 

[dAlexis]

First of all - great thanks to danb35 and gpsguy for the replies!

Avoid them. This isn't from my personal experience, but based on reports I've seen here.

I do NOT plan to use such controllers with built-in RAID functions. Only as separate disks, controlled by OS. Was informed about such RAIDs before building. Currently, I have 2-channel Marvell on win w\o hardware RAID (striping made dy OS) - 2.5 years no problem. Maybe, it's not too horrorous? On recommended Avoton m\b Marvell is present too.

While it works with FreeNAS 9.3, the fear mongers will say don't bet on anything less than a Supermicro board and Intel Xeon CPU

:) Hm, maybe I'll stay on 9.3 in this case. Xeon looks not a little bit expensive indeed... Thinking aboit i3 now, but costs 2-3 times more. Just afraid about current h\w stability -it was OK, but 2 days ago lightning hit very close to the house I was lucky, because router stopped burst on Ethernet, but severlal neighbours PCs are comletely out. Additionally, it was a power jump too (USB hub power supply dead). One disk is out less, than a day ago (8 PM MSK, maybe, due to this), currently re-building and thinking what 2 do...

 

[gpsguy]

I'd start by buying a UPS to protect your server and other network components.

Unfortunately, Intel did some backpedaling regarding ECC support on the i3's. See - https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...-and-ecc-santa-clara-we-have-a-problem.28210/ Knowing this, is part of the reason I made the statement about the Xeon, but I should have included a smiley (:)). There are some Pentiums that support ECC RAM.

What options do you have for motherboards? Can you buy via mailorder in Russia or a neighboring country?

 

[danb35]

Specifically, Intel changed their minds as to whether the Socket 1155 i3s supported ECC. They still list the Socket 1150 i3s as supporting it, and I've not heard anyone suggest that they don't. @DrKK is more confident than I in Intel's accuracy on this matter, but they certainly should be in the best position to know.

 

[dAlexis]

Can you buy via mailorder in Russia or a neighboring country?

My opinion (anybody may tell, that I'm wrong - let it be): Mail order in Russia is good only for cheap things, like from Aliexpress. Using this shop too, but afraid to buy something really valuable. Several friends are using mail order, not always with luck.
By the way, I investigated xeons and found, that several prices are not so high. 4 core Haswell Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 OEM socket 1150 costs approx $200. No fourth digit in the price, as I thought a day ago. :). Several i5 are higher, not to mention i7...

P.S. by the way, what do you think about Tyan S5533GM2NR-LE (Socket 1150)? see http://www.tyan.com/Motherboards_S5533_S5533GM2NR-LE

 

[danb35]

That's about what I'd expect to pay in the US for a retail box CPU, so not too bad.

 

[Nick2253]

Honestly, I think a Pentium would be enough for your use case. I'm able to transcode a stream in Plex while serving data no problem in my system.

The biggest thing you want to think about is the ECC memory. From that perspective, a Xeon with server mobo will guarantee support, but there are other setups that work, like the Pentium. Buyer beware, of course ;)

Marvells aren't going to be the best HDD controllers, even if you don't use the RAID options. Many people have had problems traced back to the Marvell controller, though I would guess that the silent majority doesn't have any problems. If you have the option, I'd stay away from Marvell.

The ASRock Avoton board you are referring to has both Intel and Marvell controllers onboard. There have been a few reports here and on Reddit of problems with that Marvell controller and FreeBSD, and the issues went away after the controller was disabled. For your case, I'd put all four of your drives on the Intel controller and disable the Marvell controller, if you decide to go that route.

On the whole, I don't think FreeNAS is as picky as people make it out to be. However, like any OS/software/etc., it has its quirks. If you are really looking for a trouble free experience, go with the Xeon/Supermicro route. If you're not so picky, there are a lot of other options that will get you a mostly stress-free NAS ownership experience. I personally went down the Pentium/ASRock route because I didn't want to pay for a Xeon/Supermicro, in a large part because I didn't need their capabilities. And, about 2 years down the road, I'm completely happy with my decision!