Thinking of setting up a FreeNAS box

[cra1g321]

Hey recently i've maxed out the storage of my pc drives and well instead of buying more HDD's for the pc and external hard drives (for media pc) i was looking into getting a nas box.

I've been looking at nas solutions like the NetGear ReadyNAS nv+ and other nas boxes were all that is required is the drives.

I've bought two 2TB WD caviar green drives but i recently found out that the drives might not be compatible with the NetGear ReadyNAS nv+
I started looking at alternative nas boxes and their software, most are more expensive and have very basic software functionality.

So im thinking i might be better setting up my own nas box running freeNAS, this way I'll get the awesome features & functionality that FreeNAS has along with a nas box that i know will meet my requirements.

Most videos and tutorials i've seen people have set freeNAS up on a old pc, but the thing is i dont another pc lying around the house, what i want is a small quite box that i can setup in the corner of the room.

Here's what i would require from the nas box -

Smaller than a pc
Quite
Low-power consumption
Space for 4 sata hard drives in raid5
Compatible with freenas of course :)
Be able to stream media around the house

*** So was wanting to know if anyone has any recommendations of a setup (box,motherboard,card etc) i could possibly use that would meet my requirements.

Heres a link to the nas box i was looking at, to give you an idea of what i would want my freenas box to be like -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Gigabit-Desktop-Network-Storage/dp/B000VKJEBK

 

[ProtoSD]

I think the HP Microserver would be a good choice. It can hold 6 drives, it's about the same size, low power, low price (here in the US $339), and quite a few people are using it for FreeNAS. If I were going to build a spare NAS, this is what I would strongly consider. There are 2 models the N36L and the N40L. Here's a link for the N40L:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107052

Edit:

Here's a pic of one disassembled:

 

[Milhouse]

I would second the vote for an HP Microserver N36L, and as cra1g321 is in the UK, you can pick these up from ebuyer for £224.98 then claim £100 back from HP, so net £124.98 - absolute bargain. Throw in 8GB RAM (2x 4GB sticks, £15.99 each) and - although this isn't essential, I would advise it due to FreeBSD/FreeNAS having problems with the built-in Broadcom NIC - an Intel CT gigabit NIC (£21.99)

Disclaimer: I have no association with ebuyer, other than as a former customer.

 

[cra1g321]

Thanks for the replies & links guys,
looking at the specifications for the HP Microserver N36L it says -

Storage Controller

Type 1 x Serial ATA - integrated
Controller Interface Type Serial ATA-300
RAID Level RAID 0, RAID 1


Does this mean i can only use RAID 0, RAID 1 ??

Or does it just mean i can only use RAID 0, RAID 1 when i first get the microserver, e.g. using only the hardware that it comes with ??

Im looking to set the drives up in RAID5, but since i have the chance of using FreeNAS now i guess i could look at RAID-Z, though im not sure exactly how it works (if in doubt, google it ;) )

Im liking the case very much and the £100 cash back is a very nice bonus too :)

Also i would most likely be connecting the nas straight to my router, but guess i could still buy the network card, just incase i did ever need to go wireless with it.

Im assuming this microserver wont have any issues streaming HD videos and media to my XBMC media pc ?

 

[Milhouse]

RAID Level RAID 0, RAID 1

This means the onboard SATA controller supports RAID-0 and RAID-1, ie. very limited hardware RAID, but you won't be using hardware RAID with FreeNAS.

FreeNAS has ZFS, which is software RAID, so you would configure the SATA controller to operate in AHCI mode (and not RAID mode) and then in FreeNAS you would choose to create a storage volume using RAID-1 (mirroring), RAID-Z1 (single disk parity, aka RAID5) or RAID-Z2 (double disk parity, aka RAID6).

 

[tsatchell]

I would second the vote for an HP Microserver N36L, and as cra1g321 is in the UK, you can pick these up from ebuyer for £224.98 then claim £100 back from HP, so net £124.98 - absolute bargain. Throw in 8GB RAM (2x 4GB sticks, £15.99 each) and - although this isn't essential, I would advise it due to FreeBSD/FreeNAS having problems with the built-in Broadcom NIC - an Intel CT gigabit NIC (£21.99)

Disclaimer: I have no association with ebuyer, other than as a former customer.

Do you know if that works with Wake On LAN?

 

[cra1g321]

This means the onboard SATA controller supports RAID-0 and RAID-1, ie. very limited hardware RAID, but you won't be using hardware RAID with FreeNAS.

FreeNAS has ZFS, which is software RAID, so you would configure the SATA controller to operate in AHCI mode (and not RAID mode) and then in FreeNAS you would choose to create a storage volume using RAID-1 (mirroring), RAID-Z1 (single disk parity, aka RAID5) or RAID-Z2 (double disk parity, aka RAID6).

Thanks for the info

 

[cra1g321]

HP Microserver N36L - £224.98
1GB DDR3 1333MHz ECC Memory Module CL9 Unbuffered RAM - £32.76
Intel Gigabit PRO/ 1000CT PCIe Desktop Adapter - £21.99
2 additional - Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS / 2TB Internal SATA Hard Drives - £131.98

Equals - £411.71

Minus the £100 cashback from HP equals - £311.71

So total to get the microserver with all four 2TB drives, 2GB of RAM and network card would be £311.71 (not including shipping)

If i set the four 2TB drives up in RAID-Z1 or RAID-Z2, what kind of useable space will i be able to get ?

Think this HP microserver could be the one ;)

 

[ProtoSD]

Also i would most likely be connecting the nas straight to my router, but guess i could still buy the network card, just incase i did ever need to go wireless with it.

I think Milhouse's point was that the driver FreeNAS/FreeBSD has for the on board network card has problems, so adding a network card is kind of a requirement unless a different driver becomes available.

 

[ProtoSD]

If i set the four 2TB drives up in RAID-Z1 or RAID-Z2, what kind of useable space will i be able to get ?

2TB actually equals about 1.8TB in reality so:

z1 = (4 * 1.8) minus 1.8TB for parity (which is distributed among the disks) = ~5.4TB
z2 = (4 * 1.8) minus (2 * 1.8TB) for parity = ~3.6TB

 

[cra1g321]

2TB actually equals about 1.8TB in reality so:

z1 = (4 * 1.8) minus 1.8TB for parity (which is distributed among the disks) = ~5.4TB
z2 = (4 * 1.8) minus (2 * 1.8TB) for parity = ~3.6TB

5.4TB from 8TB total of drives, didnt think it would be that low, although 5.4TB is still quite alot of storage, thanks for the reply.

 

[Milhouse]

Do you know if that works with Wake On LAN?

I know the Intel CT NIC supports WOL, but I've never tried it. Here are the interface options as reported by FreeNAS 8.0.1-RELEASE for my Intel CT NIC:

Code:

em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=219b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,WOL_MAGIC>

There is a WOL option in the BIOS, but not sure if that applies only to the on-board Broadcom NIC.

How you would suspend FreeNAS so that it can be woken by a LAN packet is another question.

 

[Milhouse]

Also i would most likely be connecting the nas straight to my router, but guess i could still buy the network card, just incase i did ever need to go wireless with it.

Im assuming this microserver wont have any issues streaming HD videos and media to my XBMC media pc ?

I think Milhouse's point was that the driver FreeNAS/FreeBSD has for the on board network card has problems, so adding a network card is kind of a requirement unless a different driver becomes available.

I missed this comment by craig (thanks protosd).

From my experience, the Broadcom NIC in the N36L will hang (stall, timeout, then reset meaning no network connectivity for several seconds) while under heavy network load (transmit or receive). This is a long standing unresolved issue with FreeBSD and this particular Broadcom NIC - there seemed little alternative but to disable it and drop in a replacement non-Broadcom NIC. The Intel CT NIC has nothing to do with wireless, and you may or may not experience problems with the on-board Broadcom NIC but if you do, you'll know what to do. :)

 

[Milhouse]

1GB DDR3 1333MHz ECC Memory Module CL9 Unbuffered RAM - £32.76

You can buy a full 8GB of (non-ECC) RAM for £31.98 (see my first post)... 2GB RAM isn't really enough for ZFS, though it will work it won't be at it's best.

 

[tsatchell]

I know the Intel CT NIC supports WOL, but I've never tried it. Here are the interface options as reported by FreeNAS 8.0.1-RELEASE for my Intel CT NIC:

Code:

em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=219b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,WOL_MAGIC>

There is a WOL option in the BIOS, but not sure if that applies only to the on-board Broadcom NIC.

How you would suspend FreeNAS so that it can be woken by a LAN packet is another question.

I was hoping there might be a way with a cron job at a specific time of day. I have tried using the builtin WOL with the N36L but couldn't get it to wake up. the router reported the network card not ready for waking up.

 

[Milhouse]

I was hoping there might be a way with a cron job at a specific time of day. I have tried using the builtin WOL with the N36L but couldn't get it to wake up. the router reported the network card not ready for waking up.

How did you suspend FreeNAS? What command did you use - happy to help test it if I can.

I've already got a script that spins down idle drives (non-ATA drives) by monitoring iostat activity, it wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to re-purpose such a script to suspend the entire server (perhaps with additional conditions, such as only between specific hours etc.).

 

[tsatchell]

I haven't tried yet but there are a number of options, detailed here:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/acpi-overview.html

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=acpi&sektion=4

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=acpiconf&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+9-current

It would be great to see the script you wrote to spin down the disks. Where you not able to use the GUI with freeNAS 8 and smart to achieve the same thing?

I haven't tested my setup enough yet, wifey not keen on cables everywhere. I still need to get them put into the cupboard under the stairs. xD

 

[Milhouse]

It would be great to see the script you wrote to spin down the disks.

The details are here.

Where you not able to use the GUI with freeNAS 8 and smart to achieve the same thing?

My disks are connected to a SAS HBA controller (an LSI 9211-8i) and the LSI driver for FreeBSD doesn't support ATA idle/standby commands that FreeNAS uses to spin down SATA disks. The script I wrote is just a hack that instead uses camcontrol to spin down the disks.

 

[cra1g321]

Ok i think this might be my last question lol ;)

The two 2TB drives that i recently bought are ( Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS )
Link to drive - http://www.ebuyer.com/183971-wester...d-drive-sataii-64mb-cache-oem-caviar-wd20ears

Will this drive be ok to use as four of them in Z1 ?


*Thanks alot for the help and replies so far guys.

 

[cra1g321]

You can buy a full 8GB of (non-ECC) RAM for £31.98 (see my first post)... 2GB RAM isn't really enough for ZFS, though it will work it won't be at it's best.

Woops i missed that link, cheers for the info and reminding me