I want to convert my previous gaming laptop ( Gateway P-7803H-CA) in an iscsi SAN using some esata disks and freenas. I know the throughput on the on board nic to be pretty decent as it was pushing data at 980 Mbps when I was using it as a Windows file server. So I was pretty keen on adding some cheap iscsi to my home lab.
So I installed the the latest release of Freenas to the laptop brought it online and could ping the ip but the web page would barely load. I would have to reload it about 5 or 6 times just to get it to load and then I could barely logon and could not use it for anything. Eventually it brought down the ethernet ( just a dlink desktop gigabit switch, but never had a problem before) switch it was connected to. As soon as I unplugged the freenas box everything else connected to that switch came back online.
So I'm thinking it's maybe line speed and duplex not playing nicely with the switch. I have no knowledge of linux, though, and have no idea where to even try and configure those settings.
Any pointers anyone?
Thanks
EDIT: ok, well after some more searching and troubleshooting it seems that the nic in this laptop ( Marvell ) is simply not supported in Freenas due to a lack of manufacture BSD drivers. Ok, good to know. I'll have to come up with some other solution then :)
EDIT 2: It's actually a Marvell 88E071..has anyone had any luck with this? The manufacturer does list BSD drivers for download...
EDIT3: In case anyone was about to respond to the question about 88e701 support, I have abandoned that project and have acquired today ( yay for workbench cleanup day ) a Dell 2950 decommed server from work, so I'll be moving on to making that my new iscsi storage server...I'm sure I will have many question then, but at least I know there is support for the 2 on board Broadcom NetExtreme nics and the Intel PRO/1000 4 port card inside my new 2950. So once I get some proper SATAu caddies for it, I'll be good to go hopefully :)
On a side note I did get the gateway laptop to act as an iscsi server using Windows 2008 R2. The performance results were great ( I could write to the iscsi target at 980 Mbps), but the laptop has only one esata connection that does not support port replication, so probably not a great iscsi solution going forward anyway. The Dell Poweredge I got has six internal drive bays, 4gb of ram and a dual core 3ghz proc, so it will be a better , more scaleable solution anyway.
So I installed the the latest release of Freenas to the laptop brought it online and could ping the ip but the web page would barely load. I would have to reload it about 5 or 6 times just to get it to load and then I could barely logon and could not use it for anything. Eventually it brought down the ethernet ( just a dlink desktop gigabit switch, but never had a problem before) switch it was connected to. As soon as I unplugged the freenas box everything else connected to that switch came back online.
So I'm thinking it's maybe line speed and duplex not playing nicely with the switch. I have no knowledge of linux, though, and have no idea where to even try and configure those settings.
Any pointers anyone?
Thanks
EDIT: ok, well after some more searching and troubleshooting it seems that the nic in this laptop ( Marvell ) is simply not supported in Freenas due to a lack of manufacture BSD drivers. Ok, good to know. I'll have to come up with some other solution then :)
EDIT 2: It's actually a Marvell 88E071..has anyone had any luck with this? The manufacturer does list BSD drivers for download...
EDIT3: In case anyone was about to respond to the question about 88e701 support, I have abandoned that project and have acquired today ( yay for workbench cleanup day ) a Dell 2950 decommed server from work, so I'll be moving on to making that my new iscsi storage server...I'm sure I will have many question then, but at least I know there is support for the 2 on board Broadcom NetExtreme nics and the Intel PRO/1000 4 port card inside my new 2950. So once I get some proper SATAu caddies for it, I'll be good to go hopefully :)
On a side note I did get the gateway laptop to act as an iscsi server using Windows 2008 R2. The performance results were great ( I could write to the iscsi target at 980 Mbps), but the laptop has only one esata connection that does not support port replication, so probably not a great iscsi solution going forward anyway. The Dell Poweredge I got has six internal drive bays, 4gb of ram and a dual core 3ghz proc, so it will be a better , more scaleable solution anyway.
