Goodbye FreeNAS

[Ykno]

So sad times I think I will be moving on from FreeNAS to rockstor and due to its different file system I don't think I will be back which is unfortunate but needs to be done.

 

[zoomzoom]

@Ykno not sure about the purpose of your thread, but you do realize FreeNAS is an OS, not a piece of hardware right? The only NAS solution RocStor offers is in their enterprise class, and you can build a super high end FreeNAS build for less than one of their NAS solutions. (Typo'ed RocStor for Rockstor)

I'd recommend doing some research about FreeNAS, which you've clearly not done, but hey, to each their own.

 

[Ykno]

@Ykno not sure about the purpose of your thread, but you do realize FreeNAS is an OS, not a piece of hardware right? The only NAS solution RocStor offers is in their enterprise class, and you can build a super high end FreeNAS build for less than one of their NAS solutions.

I'd recommend doing some research about FreeNAS, which you've clearly not done, but hey, to each their own.

what are you on about? I have used FreeNAS for years, just never made a forum account until recently due to this corral stuff. (Reason for post was a invitation to start a conversation with the community so I could talk about why and explaining the recent instability of FreeNAS has forced me away from much beloved FreeNAS

I think you are mixing Rocstor & Rockstor, They are not the same thing.

I'd recommend doing some research about Rockstor, which you've clearly not done, but hey, to each their own.

 

[Incogito]

Misunderstandings aside, it is true that the purpose of this thread is vague.
Could you elaborate on the reasons you are moving away from FreeNAS, and moving to Rockstor?

From my understanding, BTRFS is still pretty young and subject to issues? I have not dug into it, so I am only lending some distant credit to what I have read here and there.

 

[zoomzoom]

...recent instability of FreeNAS

If you're referring to Corral, it was scrapped, with many issues of instability outside iXsystems' control, hence the scrapping. Corral was also never production ready and users were flat up told not to run it on production systems. To take issue with an OS claiming to be beta due to it's instability is analogous to a user running the beta version of Android's next version then taking issue with the instability of their phone... it doesn't make sense, demonstrating a false set of expectations by the user.

Beyond Corral, which is no longer in play, FreeNAS is stable, otherwise corporations wouldn't be throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars behind it.

• iXsystems alone likely spends around, if not north of, $100K just on their document team.

 

[Ericloewe]

What could possibly compel someone to trade ZFS for btrfs?

 

[scrappy]

Nothing wrong with a Linux based NAS but I would never trust my data on BTRFS.

 

[Ykno]

Misunderstandings aside, it is true that the purpose of this thread is vague.
Could you elaborate on the reasons you are moving away from Freenas, and moving to Rockstor ?

From my understanding, BTRFS is still pretty young and subject to issues ? I have not digged into it, so I am only lending some distant credit to what I have read here and there.

What could possibly compel someone to trade ZFS for btrfs?

True ZFS is better but there is other factors mainly being dockers I got so used to them I just need them and for love of me and trust me I have tried multiple times I just cant get rancherOS on FreeNAS to work.. honestly soon as dockers are on FreeNAS I would love to use it again but due to file system difference it be impossible with my expanding NAS size, But also another main point is I actually work on btrfs system in my job such as synology systems to name one. I was planning to switch to Xpenology but after more research I found not all function work due to it being basically a crack synology so.

 

[Ykno]

Nothing wrong with a Linux based NAS but I would never trust my data on BTRFS.

I dont see why yes its a newer file system but is now officially marked as stable and is backed by a lot of big company's/organisations.

 

[zoomzoom]

Isn't docker going to be incorporated into FN11, or did I misread a post somewhere?

 

[Incogito]

I think it is jails and VMs in FN11 ?

 

[Ykno]

I think it is jails and VMs in FN11 ?

Ye dockers will be coming but I think it not till like end year maybe more so ye I need my systems back now. Should have stuck with Corral until then really but I was to quick to fire the gun and fought I could use jails but nope :/

 

[Spearfoot]

...I have used FreeNAS for years, just never made a forum account until recently due to this corral stuff. (Reason for post was a invitation to start a conversation with the community so I could talk about why and explaining the recent instability of FreeNAS has forced me away from much beloved FreeNAS.

I hate to see an old FreeNAS user leave! It's your choice, of course, and I wish you well with whatever decision you make.

There's no disputing that iXsystems stumbled badly with the premature release of Corral, and users who spent time migrating to Corral have every right to take umbrage. Especially those who migrated after it was released officially. But bear in mind that every business enterprise makes mistakes at some point or another. Humans aren't perfect, and running a business is hard: make the wrong decision, or too many of them, and you're apt to go out of business altogether. Time will tell, and I don't have a crystal ball, but I don't believe the Corral imbroglio will force iXsystems out of business. If anything, I believe @Kris Moore and the rest of the dev team are going to make damned sure that the next version is as clean as a whistle before releasing it.

Users who never took the Corral plunge, and there are quite a few of us, will disagree that FreeNAS is 'unstable'. On the contrary, I've found the 9.x release train to be rock solid. It has a track record of being stable and robust for years, and for a wide user base. The Rockstor offering, on the other hand, hasn't been around long enough to attract many users nor to establish whether it's actually suitable as bona fide enterprise-class software.

I investigated Rockstor - both the product and the company - and both are quite new. Rockstor, Inc. is just over two years old, while iXsystems has been in business since 1991. Rockstor has a much smaller development team compared to iXsystems. Also note that BTRFS, too, is quite new and relatively untried when compared to ZFS.

So, while I understand why you're considering moving to a new NAS platform, I'd hate for you to find out the hard way that doing so was a bad idea. I also admit the possibility that my cautions may be misplaced, that Rockstor and it's BTRFS-based system will take the storage world by storm, conquering all before it. Nevertheless, I humbly submit that a prudent person would put anger aside when making any important decisions, including the software you use for storing important data.

Good luck!

 

[m0nkey_]

What could possibly compel someone to trade ZFS for btrfs?

One scrub of a RAID5/6 array and *poof* data gone.

The parity RAID code has multiple serious data-loss bugs in it. It should not be used for anything other than testing purposes.

https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/RAID56

 

[Ericloewe]

officially marked as stable

That doesn't mean much (*cough* Corral *cough*).

is backed by a lot of big company's/organisations.

So is ZFS, with the difference that it's actually been in serious use for decades.

 

[m0nkey_]

I don't like this dramatic "I'm leaving X for Y" type of posts. If you're going to switch to something else, just do it. We really don't care (or mind) that you move on. If your mind is set on something, just do it.

What you're doing now is posting because you really don't want to move on and are looking for people to convince you why you shouldn't move. I for one say, go ahead and do it. I'm not going to convince you to stay.

I'll be honest, I've thought about switching. If and when that time comes to me, I sure won't be posting "Goodbye cruel FreeNAS". You'll see me one day in the chatroom, the next, gone! **poof** into thin air.

 

[Ericloewe]

One scrub of a RAID5/6 array and *poof* data gone.


https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/RAID56

WRITE HOLE? IN 2017?

I'm so mad I actually uploaded by accident a bode plot for a filter. Look:



That is insane. (Not the filter. The filter is just a very low-pass filter.)

that Rockstor and it's BTRFS-based system will take the storage world by storm

Not if they take reliability as seriously as they have up until now (which is to say, not very seriously).

 

[danb35]

Corral was also never production ready and users were flat up told not to run it on production systems.

Sure, they were told that. A MONTH AFTER CORRAL RELEASED. Up until then, it was the current, -STABLE, -RELEASE version of FreeNAS. You can't reasonably expect the users to know that the official release is a steaming pile, so much so that it's beyond repair.

iX screwed the pooch royally with Corral--not only with the deficiencies in the product itself, but also in the process that allowed the product to release. Canning the product addresses its deficiencies, but does nothing about the stream of corporate decisions that culminated in "Sure, ship it." And though this is the most recent and the most egregious example, they have a long history of baffling release decisions and poor QA (see, e.g., pretty much the entire 9.2.1.x release series, the 9.10.1-U1 release killing VirtualBox without warning, and the bizarre version numbering that's been in place at least since 9.10 released). So far, nothing from iX indicates that they've really addressed whatever corporate problem is allowing things like this to happen, over and over again.

I don't care that they killed Corral--I never used it other than on a test machine, and though it had some nice features and a shiny UI, it's never struck me as a "must have" thing. Maybe I just don't get Docker. But the episode is very disconcerting indeed for what it shows about iX's corporate culture.

 

[zoomzoom]

Sure, they were told that. A MONTH AFTER CORRAL RELEASED. Up until then, it was the current, -STABLE, -RELEASE version of FreeNAS. You can't reasonably expect the users to know that the official release is a steaming pile, so much so that it's beyond repair.

I didn't realize that, as I hadn't been following the forum that closely for a while, and only began again after I saw Corral was in "final" testing.

 

[Ericloewe]

So far, nothing from iX indicates that they've really addressed whatever corporate problem is allowing things like this to happen, over and over again.

I tend to disagree. FreeNAS 11 has had a much more rational development cycle. It was running on FreeBSD 11 for months before 9.10.3 was a thing and the RC phase is being taken very seriously now.

Of course, they have to keep it up, but it's a good sign that the "ship now, fix later" attitude is getting toned down.