Snapshot creation + Mount Point not available

[tristan2037]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to create a snapshot of our 1 disk volume. When adding a periodic snapshot, my volume is not in the drop down menu. I realise that I needed to have use ZFS in my volume setup but I can't remember if I did indeed use the ZFS rather than UFS.

Can someone tell me how I can check to see if I did use the ZFS option? or maybe there is another issue at play here


Thanks in advance.


Tristan2037

 

[ben]

On the volume screen itself, if the volume has a manual snapshot button, it's ZFS. Easy sanity test there.

 

[tristan2037]

Hi Ben,

I think you may have answered my questions. Please see screen grab.



Many thanks

Tristan

 

[tristan2037]

Hi Ben,

Just a quickie...

If I wanted to have my data sitting on ZFS volume, Shall I create a separate new volume and do a straight transfer? or is there a noob shortcut to update existing to ZFS.

Thanks again

Tristan

 

[ben]

That looks like UFS to me. You can copy data from a UFS volume to a ZFS volume easily through many different means. However, I want to urge you to STOP and extremely carefully plan out your next moves. ZFS is not forgiving of mistakes when setting up a volume, and there are many, many stories of data lost and volumes sacrificed on this forum due to ZFS misconfigurations.

Please describe your ultimate, final goal for this system as well as what you have available to make it happen (system specs, disks etc.) and the helpful folks here will advise you on if it's possible, how to make it possible if not, and how to get it right if so.

 

[tristan2037]

Hi Ben,

Really appreciate the help....

Scenario:

Training Organisation (SME) that has basic needs in IT Terms. I have setup a freenas box serving files to a mix of Mac's and PC within a LAN. As a Government controlled industry, I need to not only keep digital copies of our students and general trading documentations but also have to backup (Offsite) of this increasing pool of data. (Currently 20GB but has been steadily creeping up)

SETUP DESIRED:

1. Internal File-server with about 2TB-ish of accessible space with redundancy
2. Create weekly snapshots of volume
3. Transmit this Backup/Snapshots to an offsite NAS

PROPOSED HARDWARE (For new internal file server):

CPU: Intel Core-i3 3225
Ram: 8GB
HDD: 2 x WD 3.5" Red NAS 2TB WD20EFRX

Above specs and setup are just a lightly educated guess but I always appreciate any suggestions people may have. I think I will use my current Dell Pentium D box as my offsite backup machine.


Much obliged

Tristan

 

[ben]

Nothing in that setup seems immediately objectionable. What protocol will you be using to serve the files, and to how many clients? CIFS/SMB is processor intensive (especially with lots of clients) so you might run into some trouble there.

Please note that growing ZFS volumes is generally to be planned against, so only go with 2TB space if you expect that to last the entire lifetime of the system. (Note also that around 80% volume capacity used ZFS performance takes a nosedive).

 

[tristan2037]

I currently use SMB for PC's and AFP for the Mac's

Looking at a total of 20 clients. I think a bump to 4TB may suit the 5 year plan.

 

[ben]

Yeah, I suspect your processor will be a bit lacking then. More cores would help since CIFS is threaded. Other than that, fairly solid build.

 

[tristan2037]

Would an AMD chip be a nice option looking at more cores vs price?

Core i5-3330 (4 Core/Threads)
vs
AMD AM3+ x8 FX-8320 3.5Ghz (8 Cores/Threads)

 

[ben]

I don't have hard data on that - you might want to research samba performance in general on your own. That would be my guess, though. (Remember that higher-end Intel processors usually have twice the logical cores due to hyperthreading, so there might not be an actual difference there.)

 

[cyberjock]

I think what Ben tried to say a few posts ago is that CIFS is single threaded(he forgot the word "single").

I will tell you that my i3-530 system can saturate both Gb NICs on my system simultaneously when moving large quantities/sizes of files. When people ask "what's a good starting point" I always say "Any Intel i-whatever as long as its at least 2Ghz." AMD comparison I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of AMD and their CPUs are quite lacking performance-wise when compared to Intel.

The intel CPU you mentioned is a good choice. Since you said you have 20 users I would go with nothing less than 12GB of RAM, if you can do 16GB or more that would be better. Most boards have at least 4 RAM slots, so if you just buy 2x8GB sticks you have room to buy another stick(s) later if you find it necessary.

 

[tristan2037]

Hi Ben & Cyberjock,

I can see where you both are leaning towards. Stick with tested performance from a chip standpoint and add more ram for user load. I'm sure a RAID controller with high through put (JBOD setting using software RAID-ZFS) and a solid LAN/switch will also see speed gains and reliability.

I really appreciate the guidance on these matters. Good to hear logic from people who know the Freenas system. I'm a NOOB with growing interest.


Many thanks

Tristan

 

[tristan2037]

Just for kicks, the build I'm looking at is...

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 (2 Core -4 Threads)
MB: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H mATA
RAM: Patriot Gamer2 8G Single DDR3 1333 x 2
HDD: WD 3.5" Green 3TB WD30EZRX x 4
SATA Controller: HighPoint Rocket Raid 640L – JBOD
Network Adapt: IBM PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Gigabit Server Adapter

If any of the above looks unusual or inappropriate, please be vocal.

Cheers

Tristan

 

[cyberjock]

Not really sure why you are buying a controller when that motherboard has what appears to be 4xIntel SATA ports...I didn't check the manual to verify this though. Just an observation.

Also the 640L may or may not work with the current version of FreeNAS. http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...640L-not-working-driver-issues&highlight=640L

 

[tristan2037]

If there isn't gains to be had via taking load off CPU or through put speeds between drives, I'm happy with using on-board SATA ports.

Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H mATA
1 x SATA 6Gb/s connector (SATA3 0) supporting up to 1 SATA 6Gb/s device
5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 1~5) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices