Hardware Recommendations Guide

Hardware Recommendations Guide Discussion Thread Rev 2a) 2021-01-24

Dice

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As per this thread - are these "updates" reflected in the guide or is this something that merits an update?

Cheers.
 

Ericloewe

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I'll check again, but I'm fairly certain that the guide matches what ark says now.
 

Ericloewe

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FWIW, I have a hard time recommending the new Intel lineup. It's even more massively complicated than Xeon E5 was and it's very bloated.

I'll have to talk to people running big-ass FreeNAS servers to gather some opinions on the platform...
 
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ullbeking

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Maybe I'm the oddball, but I see SSD pools as here and now given so many people are using FreeNAS to host virtual machines.

I would love to do this, i.e., simply to run FreeNAS and a VM hypervisor in the same server. I don't want a complicated setup and I don't care if the services even really talk to each other. I want one large (E-ATX) box so it is easy to work in and has lots of airflow. I want to run an operating system in it that does two things: file server/NAS with a few mirrored disks and to run a hypervisor.

I suggested this idea to #freenas and I thought they were all going to melt with anger and frustration.
 

SweetAndLow

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ESXi is perfect for this. It's just not easy and takes expert knowledge.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
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Stux

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I would love to do this, i.e., simply to run FreeNAS and a VM hypervisor in the same server. I don't want a complicated setup and I don't care if the services even really talk to each other. I want one large (E-ATX) box so it is easy to work in and has lots of airflow. I want to run an operating system in it that does two things: file server/NAS with a few mirrored disks and to run a hypervisor.

I suggested this idea to #freenas and I thought they were all going to melt with anger and frustration.

This guide is pretty good.
https://b3n.org/freenas-9-3-on-vmware-esxi-6-0-guide/
 

MrToddsFriends

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Ericloewe

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MrToddsFriends

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Ericloewe

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In any case, the next major version is now scheduled for the November time frame, covering C3000, Intel Xeon scalable and maybe some AMD platforms, depending on the reported experiences of users.
 

Blackie

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A big thanks for the guide. Just two inputs.

Testing drives: Most people have no idea how that should be done. The only way I test or recommend is to use SpinRite from GRC.com

Old equipment: I first setup FreeNAS on a very weak desktop i3 I had sitting around. Now I am deciding on quality equipment. Don't forget that many many people want to test and feel before they make the plunge into high quality equipment. I would really like to see something about older equipment that would be reliable and run well. Once people enjoy the FreeNAS experience then they will move forward. I doubt that anyone here bought the very best equipment before running FreeNAS.
Thank you again for all the work!
 
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Ericloewe

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Testing drives: Most people have no idea how that should be done. The only way I test or recommend is to use SpinRite from GRC.com
Well, there are a few guides in the Resources section. I might consider adding a few more references, but now that I think about it, an overview of steps would be nice for new users.

Old equipment: I first setup FreeNas on a very weak desktop i3 and am now looking at quality equipment. Don't forget that many many people want to test and feel before they make the plunge into high quality equipment. I would really like to see something about older equipment that would be reliable and run well. Once people enjoy the FreeNas experience then they will move forward. I doubt that anyone here bought the very best equipment before running FreeNas.
Well, test systems are a lot more haphazard than production systems, so I'm not too concerned with those.
More generally, older platforms are not included in the current version for a very simple reason: I'm not nearly as familiar with them as I am with newer platforms. I've actually been thinking if I should remove the X10 stuff once X12 is out and I think I'm going to do it like this:
  • Remove direct references to X10 in the new major version (by then, presumably Rev 3)
  • Add some stuff about Nehalem (X8) or newer being highly recommended
  • Add some notes about where to find information on older platforms.
 
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Old equipment:

Old equipment is well-covered in the forums by people actually running FreeNAS on old equipment. Want to know if a Supermicro X8DT6 will run FreeNAS? Search the forums. (Spoiler: it does. In production. For years.)

Where I see the hardware guide being especially helpful is covering recommended configurations that may not be abundantly deployed. Finding someone running the latest and greatest Supermicro motherboard in the forums is more difficult than finding something a generation or three older.

If time and resources are available, sure, do both. If not, let the forums cover older, well-proven configurations and let the hardware guide suggest the next generation of equipment.

Cheers,
Matt
 

Blackie

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I think I slightly misunderstood the guide and I think you're approach is the best. Besides it would be impossible to write an everything guide. I found it extremely helpful to decide what I should buy for a good reliable system. Even simple things like how to determine how much memory is great.
I think I needed this: "Now that you have tested FreeNas on that spare computer hiding in the closet. This guide will help you to buy the right equipment for a long term, reliable, and stable system.";)

Excellent work!

Would be interesting to see what others think about what it takes to test a drive. Spinrite will test every bit on the drive and write it out if it is unreliable. I have just not seen anything like it or better.
 

MrToddsFriends

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Would be interesting to see what others think about what it takes to test a drive. Spinrite will test every bit on the drive and write it out if it is unreliable. I have just not seen anything like it or better.

I don't see what's wrong with badblocks, which is part of every FreeNAS installation and which is used in several disk burnin guidances in the FreeNAS forum.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/how-to-hard-drive-burn-in-testing.21451/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...for-freenas-scripts-including-disk-burnin.28/

Further badblocks/Spinrite/<other test tool> discussions would most possibly be off-topic here in the Hardware Recommendations Guide Discussion Thread and should be continued in a separate thread.
 

Arwen

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Further badblocks/Spinrite/<other test tool> discussions would most possibly be off-topic here in the Hardware Recommendations Guide Discussion Thread and should be continued in a separate thread.
Yes, in someways a separate resource on testing hard disks, (with a sub-section on testing SSDs), would be in order.

In fact, in my opinion that Hard Disk Testing Resource should have 3 levels of testing based on user desires;
  1. Good - AKA good enough for a non-production NAS
  2. Better - Definantly does not require external tools, and won't take more than a few days
  3. Best - May require external tools and lots of time
For me, number 1 was okay since the actual client backups, scrubs and SMART tests ARE the Hard Disk Testing routines. (Of course, I have 2 backups of my NAS, with snapshot history, which is actually the backup target of my clients... talk about redundant backups.)
 

danb35

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Spinrite will test every bit on the drive and write it out if it is unreliable. I have just not seen anything like it or better.
So will badblocks, which ships with every FreeNAS installation (as well as most Linux installations). Lots of guides on making that work, including one that I host (but didn't write). Badblocks will, by default, write to every byte on the disk, then read it, then repeat, for a total of four different patterns (0x00, 0xff, 0xaa, and 0x55, IIRC). If at any point the data read doesn't match the data written, it throws an error. I'm not at all familiar with Spinrite, though I know that grc.com is given to making extravagant claims about a variety of subjects. Does Spinrite do something different from badblocks?
 

Stux

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Last I checked spinrite didn't know about SATA.
 

Sakuru

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I love SpinRite, but until Steve releases 6.1 with proper SATA and AHCI support I don't think it would be a good tool for testing modern drives. badblocks works great.
 

Chris Moore

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I think I slightly misunderstood the guide and I think you're approach is the best. Besides it would be impossible to write an everything guide. I found it extremely helpful to decide what I should buy for a good reliable system. Even simple things like how to determine how much memory is great.
I think I needed this: "Now that you have tested FreeNas on that spare computer hiding in the closet. This guide will help you to buy the right equipment for a long term, reliable, and stable system.";)

Excellent work!

Would be interesting to see what others think about what it takes to test a drive. Spinrite will test every bit on the drive and write it out if it is unreliable. I have just not seen anything like it or better.
Are you trying to sell it or something?
Does it test all the drives simultaneously?
Does it test SATA and SAS drives regardless of if the SATA drive is connected to the SAS controller?
Just because you are not familiar with some other things doesn't mean they are not superior to what you are familiar with.

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