TrueNAS NOOB Looking for best practices on multi nic configuration

[erobby]

Hey Noob here just trying the figure out the best way to configure TrueNAS.

I have an old system:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3420 @ 3.20GHz
8 GB of RAM
Highpoint RocketRaid 642L controller
8 X 4 GB 7200 RPM drives
1 X 1 GB onboard NIC
1 X 4 port 1 GB NIC (Jumbo Frames, 9000 MTU)

Looking for the best configuration ideas. My current thinking is to have the onboard NIC connected to my network and the 4 port NIC connected directly to my other system (Windows Server).

The 4 port NIC is split across 4 separate networks using iSCSI MPIO.

I'm noticing a lot of broadcast traffic when moving data to the NAS causing a slowdown on the Windows Server. I considered configuring 4 VLANs for the 4 port NIC to reduce broadcast zones, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to set this up.

This is only a temporary configuration so I can move about 15 TB of data to the TrueNAS storage, but I'm concerned that it starts at about 800 - 900 MB/s and drops down to KB/s. I figure this is due to broadcast and setting up VLANs on the TrueNAS would be a great way to eliminate the problem.

I'm going to give that configuration a try, but I would like to know the thoughts of some of the TrueNAS pros.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[sretalla]

1 X 4 port 1 GB NIC (Jumbo Frames, 9000 MTU)

it starts at about 800 - 900 MB/s and drops down to KB/s.

Did you mean 8-900Mb/s (megabits) or did you mean 10 Gbit NIC, which would be capable of 8-900MB/s (megabytes) and might make more sense of you having called out the MTU of 9000 (which usually isn't something you would do on single Gigabit... I have even seen comments that it's not really recommended anymore for 10 Gig.)?

Depending on what you intend to connect it to and which protocols, you may find using LACP/LAGG is something useful, which allows multiple (maybe all 4) NICs to connect with the same IP/bridge... the connection would look like this:

4 Physical NICs -> LACP/LAGG -> VLAN (if you want) -> Bridge -> IP Address.


You may want to look separately into why your pool may not be able to handle writes as quickly as your network can deliver them.

Highpoint RocketRaid 642L controller

Additionally, you may want to consider using a supported SATA/SAS controller

What's all the noise about HBA's, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

This is relevant to FreeNAS and TrueNAS CORE. Some parts of it might also be relevant to Scale, but I don't really know how reliable the Linux drivers are. 1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with...

www.truenas.com

 

[erobby]

Did you mean 8-900Mb/s (megabits) or did you mean 10 Gbit NIC, which would be capable of 8-900MB/s (megabytes) and might make more sense of you having called out the MTU of 9000 (which usually isn't something you would do on single Gigabit... I have even seen comments that it's not really recommended anymore for 10 Gig.)?

Depending on what you intend to connect it to and which protocols, you may find using LACP/LAGG is something useful, which allows multiple (maybe all 4) NICs to connect with the same IP/bridge... the connection would look like this:

4 Physical NICs -> LACP/LAGG -> VLAN (if you want) -> Bridge -> IP Address.


You may want to look separately into why your pool may not be able to handle writes as quickly as your network can deliver them.


Additionally, you may want to consider using a supported SATA/SAS controller

What's all the noise about HBA's, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

This is relevant to FreeNAS and TrueNAS CORE. Some parts of it might also be relevant to Scale, but I don't really know how reliable the Linux drivers are. 1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with...

www.truenas.com

sretalla​

Thanks for bringing up the obvious. After look at my system I realized I took out the controller and was using the onboard eSATA which dates back to Windows 98 I think, and old Marvell controller onboard.

Any replace the controller and I'm getting at least consistent throughput. I did follow you suggestion

As far as the bridge I didn't really see the need since the LAGs are direct connect and the Network is on a separate NIC