[GUIDE] FreeNAS

[Mikensan]

I see a LOT of FreeNAS questions lately, and so few actually search or simply make the effort to read through the first 3 pages of threads - so hoping to get some FreeNAS guide pinned... Any and all input welcome, granted sources supporting statements/arguments would be much more respected. What little I know comes from the FreeNAS forums - which I know there's a few "key" members that scare people away from asking "dumb" questions.

 

Instead of straight-up plagiarizing and re-inventing the wheel... Here's a link to CyberJock's thread:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

 

There's some underlying attitude and master-race in his writeup, but that aside it is accurate.

 

Some Caveats:

• While some specific AMD chips / motherboards may support ECC RAM, it's not usually listed on the spec sheets.
• Hardware raid is not compatible with FreeNAS. You need to use FreeNAS to create your raids.
• FreeNAS as of 9.x does not play nice with users making changes VIA CLI/shell. If it can be done via the GUI, then use the GUI. FreeNAS 10 is actually creating a custom CLI for "power" users however.

 

 

It's a long read, but my own tl:rd; would be:

At minimum:

• Pick a motherboard that supports ECC RAM, even if you don't buy ECC RAM today.
  • IPMI is a bonus, you won't use it often but when you do you will be grinning ear to ear.
• Buy ECC ram, if you look hard enough it's not much of a price difference.
  • 8GB will run the OS and basic functionality - expect slower transfer speeds when you add a lot of capacity but not more RAM
  • 8GB is not sufficient if you want to run Plex or any additional jails IMO.
• Save money on the CPU (get an intel G3220 for SOHO enviornments) and the case.
  • Keep in mind SAMBA/CIFS is CPU intensive but for a 1GB network the G3220 has got your back.
• Spend money on the disks (configuration will vary on your needs)
  • RPM isn't too big of a factor for small environments and this is the "minimum"
  • Number of disks should reflect what raid type you chose, for better performance.
• Try to get a power supply that'll save you money (don't over-buy, get a bronze-gold rated)

Recommended:

Above holds true, with the additional:

• 8gb base ram, and 1GB per TB additional.
• If you plan on running virtual machines (FreeNAS 10 supposedly putting a lot of effort in to this) get an E3 or greater processor.
• Get an HBA card
  • Add extender if you plan for a lot of disks
  • Motherboard SATA isn't the best usually
• Look in to getting some SFP+ cards from eBay (lot more guides on this, which vendors etc..)
  • Likely a majority of people don't need 10gb networks, but usually just want 1-2 machines to have 10gb directly connected to the NAS

 

All budgets do not include drives, because prices change pretty frequently and I'm too lazy to list various prices for various sizes.

 

Budget: $200-$400 *Not enough to build a new "proper" system for FreeNAS. *When buying used, spend the extra $20-$50 and get a decent amount of RAM (24gb-32gb)

• Dell R610 (1U), R710 (2U), C2100 (2U)
• HP Proliant G6 or G7 (Make sure the processor is socket 1366, avoid 771/775)

 

Budget: $800+: Build it to spec, if you plan on running jails or VMs you will want more cores with modest speed and a gob of RAM.

• CPU: Something like a Pentium G3220 on the low end, E3-1220vX for middle of the road, or an E5-XXXXvX on the high end if you want some virtualization/jails
• HBA: There's a lot of options, I only have experience with the IBM M1015 which is based off of the LSI 9220 I think, I will post a guide on flashing it below.
• Motherboard: You are sort of forced to get a server-board so that you get a chipset that supports ECC RAM. IPMI is a huge bonus that normally comes with server boards. If you need more than 32GB of RAM due to virtual machines or gobs of storage, look for 2011 socket motherboards.
• RAM: ECC - must verify it is compatible with whatever motherboard you chose.
• Case: Don't get caught up in rack mount, you can get a tower case and something like an icy dock for hot-swap if you really want hot-swap. For home use, hot-swap is just a cool factor because majority of us can afford to turn the server off and swap a disk.

 

Budget: $1,500+ I'd start looking at vendor provided solutions to protect your investment. FreeNAS / TrueNAS through ixsystems sell hardware solutions that come with support.

 

[Mikensan]

Reserved - maybe some FAQs

 

Ideas:

Why are my transfer speeds are slow?

You should start with testing the disks to make sure they're meeting your expectations. Next you need to analyze what you're doing (transferring a single file vs moving multiple files vs running vms) and what reasonable expectations are. A good link on testing your disks: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/notes-on-performance-benchmarks-and-cache.981/

How do I setup a CIFS/SAMBA share?

http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas_sharing.html

Do I really need ECC RAM?

Yes. If you do not or can not use ECC RAM, then use Windows + Storage Spaces / FlexRAID or other solutions. FreeNAS trusts that the data that resides in RAM is 100% and will write it to disk. If a bit flips and it gets written it can corrupt more than just that 1 file. Lookup bitrot.

**There's heavy debate on this. Given the price difference of ECC RAM isn't much more, and most used server equipment come with it - why not.

What about hardware raid?

As mentioned above FreeNAS trusts RAM only, hardware raid is designed to error-checking and other health tests to make sure the data and disks are good - which hinders FreeNAS from doing its job.

 

etc...

[Mikensan]

Reserved - maybe some other tidbits of info (useful CLI tips / scripts)

 

Very useful script to pull drive information that isn't viewable in the GUI.

Courtesy of @MyNameIsNicola : https://nicolaw.uk/freenas_disk_info.pl

 

Format a disk via shell: (Stolen from one of @leadeater's post.)

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada0 bs=512 count=1

http://jacobthegeek.com/freenas-failed-to-wipe-operation-not-permitted/

 

Flashing a LSI-9211 / M1015:

http://digitalcardboard.com/blog/2014/07/09/flashing-it-firmware-to-the-lsi-sas-9211-8i-hba-2014-efi-recipe/

 

Useful commands (to me since I'm not a FreeBSD user)

camcontrol devlist (Will list disks)
gpart destroy -F (destroy parition(s) on a disk, force flag)

 

Setup an emtpy jail and install Plex:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/tutorial-how-to-install-plex-in-a-freenas-9-3-jail-updated.19412/

**If you're a plexpass subscriber, install multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass

***Updating is pretty easy, just service plexmediaserver stop (or plexmediaserver_plexpass), then pkg update && pkg upgrade multimedia/plexmediaserver and start the service back up.

 

Setup an empty jail and install Plexpy (plex tracking):

https://github.com/JonnyWong16/plexpy/wiki/Installation#freenas

[gamerking]

good start for the guide

some other things you didnt list

add how to make volumes , make user accounts , permissions =(

 

if you know the command for wiping a disk thats been used before for a os drive/ data drive ect.  im waiting on someone to post the command line since i cant make a volume . drive shows in the disk viewer in freenas just cant make a volume , for the life of me i cant find it .ones i do for it are  all dead the links or people saying the  info  is in  my sig and there ant null in the guy's sig from 3 years ago  .  add that to this if you want

[paradigm249]

nice, you should add that freeNAS dont like hardware raid, least what i have heard

[Eniqmatic]

You should also add to the hardware section that at present, AMD should be avoided and is not recommended/supported.

[Eniqmatic]

1 minute ago, gamerking said:

 i already tried to do windows format and thur the CMD prompt no luck .  i need the command for the freenas wipe thats the problem .

 

i got my amd system working (kinda not the fault of the board/cpu)  you just need to make sure its supported or a very popular board and cpu

You misinterpreted. I didn't say it wouldn't work. AMD support for FreeBSD and hence FreeNAS as been known to be lacking, to the point where if you run a FreeNAS system on AMD hardware, you will struggle to find people who will actually help you.

 

Intel on the other hand have great support for FreeBSD systems.

[Mikensan]

@Eniqmatic @gamerking - Naturally AMD will "work" because it is x86 architecture, but getting ECC and other features that are better for performance - Intel is preferred. Even something to help encryption like AES-NI is an intel feature-set. Just requires a lot more research to find the "perfect" AMD chip, but not worth it - especially when the $40-$60us solution exists (G3220).

 

(Just supporting your statement Eniqmatic)

[leadeater]

Moved disk wipe issue posts to existing thread, keeping this thread clean for general FreeNAS discussion and guides. 

[Mikensan]

Added some budgets, definitely need to work on it. Majority of posts on this forum section are people seeking help on how to spend money - so need some more input.

 

Added a link to flash the M1015 / LSI cards to IT mode. One I found to be helpful anyway.

[gamerking]

On 6/15/2016 at 9:36 AM, Mikensan said:

@Eniqmatic @gamerking - Naturally AMD will "work" because it is x86 architecture, but getting ECC and other features that are better for performance - Intel is preferred. Even something to help encryption like AES-NI is an intel feature-set. Just requires a lot more research to find the "perfect" AMD chip, but not worth it - especially when the $40-$60us solution exists (G3220).

 

(Just supporting your statement Eniqmatic)

amd wont work easily  i had the best case for hardware on amd MB + cpu that worked for the version of freenas that it was from the thread on the freenas forums  . the latest version at the time it was a shit show . things doing funny thing jails refuseing to load/reboot/do anything . random cold boots wouldnt work .  freenas prefers intel over amd from what used it for the few weeks . the hardware that i used for the freenas build is been running happy as can be on centos 7 for months now . it wasn't the hardware as much the OS was picky. 

 

the lsi flashing guide is nice i will need that soon

 

thanks for the guide

[Eniqmatic]

6 minutes ago, gamerking said:

amd wont work easily  i had the best case for hardware on amd MB + cpu that worked for the version of freenas that it was from the thread on the freenas forums  . the latest version at the time it was a shit show . things doing funny thing jails refuseing to load/reboot/do anything . random cold boots wouldnt work .  freenas prefers intel over amd from what used it for the few weeks . the hardware that i used for the freenas build is been running happy as can be on centos 7 for months now . it wasn't the hardware as much the OS was picky. 

 

the lsi flashing guide is nice i will need that soon

 

thanks for the guide

Negative, you have things the wrong way round.

 

FreeNAS is built on FreeBSD. AMD's support for FreeBSD isn't there. Intel have a good history of support. Simple as that.

 

Whilst it is probably true what you have mentioned above about it working better than it did then, the fact is that if the hardware does not officially support an OS, you cannot complain about the OS not working properly if you chose not to go with something that has support.

[Mikensan]

Added guides for Plex and Plexpy - since the plugins are actually more frustrating than just doing it yourself.

[Eniqmatic]

Just now, Mikensan said:

Added guides for Plex and Plexpy - since the plugins are actually more frustrating than just doing it yourself.

Really? I've literally never had a single plugin issue before, and I've done it countless times. That's interesting to here is all!

 

Can't wait for 10 which will sort out the plugins.

[Mikensan]

1 minute ago, Eniqmatic said:

Really? I've literally never had a single plugin issue before, and I've done it countless times. That's interesting to here is all!

 

Can't wait for 10 which will sort out the plugins.

I've had some heartache with Crashplan and Plex plugins - can't speak for any of the others. Was roughly a year ago so maybe they've ironed things out? vbox jail works fine

 

Oh man I'm stoked for 10, between getting docker and getting rid of vbox, the new gui looks sexy as hell. Very excited. I want to run beta but I'm not 100% on what to do with it. Maybe use it as a buffer for backups to sync to the main FreeNAS box, idk (just to use it for the hell of it).

[Eniqmatic]

1 minute ago, Mikensan said:

I've had some heartache with Crashplan and Plex plugins - can't speak for any of the others. Was roughly a year ago so maybe they've ironed things out? vbox jail works fine

 

Oh man I'm stoked for 10, between getting docker and getting rid of vbox, the new gui looks sexy as hell. Very excited. I want to run beta but I'm not 100% on what to do with it. Maybe use it as a buffer for backups to sync to the main FreeNAS box, idk (just to use it for the hell of it).

Indeed, I've been running it since the very early Alpha (and even when it was the old-new interface!) and can't wait for it. Lots of exciting new additions, including bhyve and docker. Don't use it for anything, just install it and play around with it if you haven't already!

[Mikensan]

2 minutes ago, Eniqmatic said:

Indeed, I've been running it since the very early Alpha (and even when it was the old-new interface!) and can't wait for it. Lots of exciting new additions, including bhyve and docker. Don't use it for anything, just install it and play around with it if you haven't already!

Think I'll spin up a VM tonight just to tinker then. Think I read or heard (from maybe a state of the union vid) that they aren't looking at it being complete for another year :'(.  Maybe first quarter 2017 we'll see something closer to completion. Have never dealt with bhyve and until FreeNAS was my first time reading about it. Hopefully it's on par with KVM.

[Eniqmatic]

1 minute ago, Mikensan said:

Think I'll spin up a VM tonight just to tinker then. Think I read or heard (from maybe a state of the union vid) that they aren't looking at it being complete for another year :'(.  Maybe first quarter 2017 we'll see something closer to completion. Have never dealt with bhyve and until FreeNAS was my first time reading about it. Hopefully it's on par with KVM.

My first time too with bhyve I will admit! 

 

I think it could be next year as you say, however I read the other day from a staff member that beta will be here for "a few months" so take from that what you will!