Some boot setup questions for a TrueNAS noob.

[thimplicity]

Hi everyone,
I have repurposed my QNAP TS-453Bmini and installed TrueNAS Core yesterday. So far it seems to run well, even with the 4GB RAM I have (8GB is on the way). I am running it on a USB Flash Drive, which is not recommended, which is why I would like to change it to this setup:

Amazon.com: Transcend 32GB SATA III 6GB/S MTS400S 42 mm M.2 SSD 400S Solid State Drive TS32GMTS400S : Electronics
Amazon.com: ElecGear USB 3.1 to SATA 2242 M.2 SSD Enclosure, NG-2242A (SATA + USB A Plug) 42mm Mini External Aluminum Adapter Case with Magnet Cap, 10Gbps Flash Drive Memory Stick Card Reader Caddy Box : Electronics

I also plan to partition it beforehand, so that I can use the remaining space for Jails (as discussed in this thread). As I am completely new to TrueNAS (and Linux for that matter), a few questions:
- How much space should the M.2 SSD be to be able to house the jails. I use plex, nzbget and a few others. Is calculating 1-2 GB per jail enough?
- Is SSD/SATA or NVMe faster and does it make a difference when running through USB3?
- Can I (and is it recommended compared to internal HDDs) to run VMs on the M.2 and do I need to do something specific before being able to do so?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[pschatz100]

First of all, keep in mind that TrueNAS runs in FreeBSD - and FreeBSD is not Linux.

The QNAP box has a Celeron processor - which is fine for a file server but probably will not have enough power to run several applications well. And with a maximum memory capacity of 8GB, you won't have enough memory to run many applications along with TrueNAS - which itself needs 8Gb for reliable operation. You definitely will not have enough memory to run any VM's.

I would keep the setup simple and straightforward. This will be the best way to preserve the integrity of your data over the long haul. Don't mess around with partitioning the boot drive. While it is technically feasible... it is not a supported option. Put your jails on the data pool or create a separate pool for the jails. You won't see any performance difference either way. Using a small SSD via a USB3 connector should be OK. However, you won't get any benefit from the speed of an M.2 - a Sata SSD might be less expensive.

 

[HarryMuscle]

First of all, keep in mind that TrueNAS runs in FreeBSD - and FreeBSD is not Linux.

The QNAP box has a Celeron processor - which is fine for a file server but probably will not have enough power to run several applications well. And with a maximum memory capacity of 8GB, you won't have enough memory to run many applications along with TrueNAS - which itself needs 8Gb for reliable operation. You definitely will not have enough memory to run any VM's.

I would keep the setup simple and straightforward. This will be the best way to preserve the integrity of your data over the long haul. Don't mess around with partitioning the boot drive. While it is technically feasible... it is not a supported option. Put your jails on the data pool or create a separate pool for the jails. You won't see any performance difference either way. Using a small SSD via a USB3 connector should be OK. However, you won't get any benefit from the speed of an M.2 - a Sata SSD might be less expensive.

TrueNAS uses ZFS and I find ZFS users usually expect really high performance. As long as the OP expects the same abilities and performance as he would have gotten with the original OS (but with better security and a few other improvements) I think it can be a pretty good setup. Anyone using TrueNAS professionally would be appalled but for home use and reasonable expectations it should work nicely.

Thanks,
Harry

 

[Dave Bradberry]

Hi everyone,
I have repurposed my QNAP TS-453Bmini and installed TrueNAS Core yesterday. So far it seems to run well, even with the 4GB RAM I have (8GB is on the way). I am running it on a USB Flash Drive, which is not recommended, which is why I would like to change it to this setup:

Amazon.com: Transcend 32GB SATA III 6GB/S MTS400S 42 mm M.2 SSD 400S Solid State Drive TS32GMTS400S : Electronics
Amazon.com: ElecGear USB 3.1 to SATA 2242 M.2 SSD Enclosure, NG-2242A (SATA + USB A Plug) 42mm Mini External Aluminum Adapter Case with Magnet Cap, 10Gbps Flash Drive Memory Stick Card Reader Caddy Box : Electronics

I also plan to partition it beforehand, so that I can use the remaining space for Jails (as discussed in this thread). As I am completely new to TrueNAS (and Linux for that matter), a few questions:
- How much space should the M.2 SSD be to be able to house the jails. I use plex, nzbget and a few others. Is calculating 1-2 GB per jail enough?
- Is SSD/SATA or NVMe faster and does it make a difference when running through USB3?
- Can I (and is it recommended compared to internal HDDs) to run VMs on the M.2 and do I need to do something specific before being able to do so?

Thanks in advance for your help!

HI Everyone,
On a Similar vein, I am pressing into Service a Dell R410 , to replace my ageing HP Microserver. Ive been running Freenas/Truenas for a few years now.
On the Dell , I have 4x Internal SAS drives and a boot SSD, utilising the internal USB socket, made up of an mSATA card and USB interface board.

All from our friends at Amazon:
Integral 128GB mSATA Internal SSD for PC and Laptop, up to 480MB/s Read 400MB/s Write

ELUTENG mSATA Adapter, ELUTENG mSATA to USB 3.0 Adapter, USB mSATA SSD Reader, 50mm Mini SATA Converter as Portable Flash Drive External Hard Drive (No Cable Needed)

As the smaller mSATA is no longer available, I chose the 128Gb thinking partition the drive to be a generous 16GB for the OS/Boot and the remainder a small yet useful 112GB Pool.?

As the Sage pointed out, it didn't quite work out that way, the install feature used all the available space on the mSATA. I have another , a smaller mSATA which I'll change out for, and reinstall because you can never have enough of them..

This answered my search for an answer that it could be done, so I'll continue searching how , unless someone could kindly give me a brief how-to maintain two partitions on the boot device whilst installing.?

Thanks everyone

Dave

 

[Redcoat]

This post https://www.truenas.com/community/t...-of-larger-ssds-for-boot-pool-and-data.81409/ has your brief how-to.

 

[thimplicity]

This post https://www.truenas.com/community/t...-of-larger-ssds-for-boot-pool-and-data.81409/ has your brief how-to.

I think this is for CORE, the one below worked for me for SCALE:

[Scale][Howto] split ssd during installation : truenas (reddit.com)

 

[Dave Bradberry]

Thankyou gentleman most kind , ill have a read and hopefully report back.

Best Wishes.