FreeNAS and de-dupe - when?

[globus999]

Well, considering that TrueNAS, the commercial iXsystems product (which is based on FreeNAS) already has de-dupe, when can we expect to see FreeNAS brough to the modern age from the dark ages (i.e. ZFS 22 at least)?

Obviously if TrueNAS alrady has de-dupe and other bells and whistles that FreeNAS lacks:

http://www.ixsystems.com/truenas/

the only reason why FreeNAS is held back is because they are afraid it will affect the bottom line. Which leads to the following conclusions:

1 - FreeNAS is just a PR stunt
2 - We will never get anything in acceptable working shape since they are dedicating most of their resources to TrueNAS

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not bitching because they have the super-duper version (paid) and the dumbed-down version (for the rest of us). Many companies do just that. What I am bitching about is that it would have been nice knownig this *before* getting into FN8, which, is a dead end (you can't go to FN7 and waiting for any significant improvements is a joke).

My 2 c.

 

[Brand]

What I am bitching about is that it would have been nice knownig this *before* getting into FN8, which, is a dead end (you can't go to FN7 and waiting for any significant improvements is a joke).

So your complaining that you didn't do proper research prior to performing a major system upgrade? The information was out there and readily accessible.

 

[ProtoSD]

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not bitching because they have the super-duper version (paid) and the dumbed-down version (for the rest of us).

What makes you so certain that the paid version is super-duper? Maybe the paying customers are upset because they got a dumbed-down version too ;)

 

[louisk]

1) You obviously haven't talked to them about your concerns, but yet you still feel the need to make claims.
2) Stop trolling.

 

[jgreco]

I think you guys are missing the reality here.

FreeNAS is fundamentally a wrapper around FreeBSD and a bunch of ports. It's a *nice* wrapper, but it's a wrapper.

ZFS v15 is what shipped with FreeBSD 8.2R, the latest stable RELEASE on the FreeBSD 8 branch. FreeBSD 8.3R is expected to be released in early 2012. ZFS v28 has already been committed to 8-STABLE, and will therefore be part of 8.3R.

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-fs/2011-June/011673.html

Now here's the thing. iXsystems adds value to their TrueNAS product by including v28 features. That much is absolutely true.

However, when FreeBSD 8.3R comes out, there will be an eventual need to move forward with the base system, which is how you get new device drivers, bug fixes, security updates, and the like. iXsystems is probably not interested in trying to fork FreeBSD in order to keep v28 out of the base system; there will be no more FreeBSD releases with v15. So there aren't realistic paths forward that do not include ZFS v28 as part of the FreeBSD release that FreeNAS will be based on.

Even if they tried, basically there are a lot of real clever people who would just take a more recent NanoBSD build and dump the FreeNAS stuff on top of it and start hacking and distributing it. So it doesn't seem likely that they'll try.

The iXsystems value-add will eventually need to be their support capabilities/opportunities, the hardware sales, and the desire of many businesses to be able to buy an appliance and support and not have to worry about "hacking."

Along the way, they benefit from the FreeNAS community, their more-or-less willing guinea pigs. Now you can either enjoy a nearly commercial grade product for free or you can go buy a commercial NAS product for cash; generally speaking, the quality of FreeNAS is sufficiently high that even experienced admins are willing to consider it as a viable option.

But basically, when someone offers free beer, and also sells snacks alongside, it's kind of rude to complain that the snacks aren't free too. Coders need to feed their families too.

 

[ProtoSD]

However, when FreeBSD 8.3R comes out, there will be an eventual need to move forward with the base system, which is how you get new device drivers, bug fixes, security updates, and the like. iXsystems is probably not interested in trying to fork FreeBSD in order to keep v28 out of the base system; there will be no more FreeBSD releases with v15. So there aren't realistic paths forward that do not include ZFS v28 as part of the FreeBSD release that FreeNAS will be based on.

YES, this is what I was talking about above, but with a better explanation. I'm sure I saw that at least by FreeNAS 8.2 ZFS v28 would be standard, possibly sooner. Trying to maintain so many different releases would be a nightmare and it has to come together at some point.

 

[jgreco]

this is what I was talking about above

(dumb look) Uh? Well I have to say that you must really expect people to read between the lines. I certainly didn't get that from what you wrote above. ;-)

 

[ProtoSD]

Ooops, now I understand, sorry. I thought I was in another thread where I did say something along the lines of what you said. My bad...

 

[t3h0th3r]

FreeNAS 8.1 will feature ZFSv28 according to http://support.freenas.org/browser/freenas/branches/8.1?rev=6033. If you want ZFS v28 in 8.0.x you can can patch the source with http://support.freenas.org/export/6033/freenas/branches/8.1/patches/freebsd-zfsv28.patch and see if it builds. that's what i am doing at the moment. will post more about the outcome later.

 

[jgreco]

I'm not sure that actually translates to a statement that ZFSv28 *will* be in 8.1R, but we can all keep hoping.

We ordered some Supermicro X9SCL+-F's, E3-1230's, with 16GB of RAM, and I'm sure at least one of them will get tasked to run FreeNAS on the bench, and maybe even in production. Dedupe would be nice. I'm very interested in comparing the performance to this N36L, which seems a bit lethargic.

 

[zenny]

Thanks t3h0th3r for the pointer. How did your compilation go? Any pointers from your experience?

I am so concerned about the development model of the commercially available NAS and FreeNAS and could not resist to post http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...rate-in-FreeNAS8&p=19046&viewfull=1#post19046 without any intention of offending anyone, but tried to state the truth (is always bitter). ;-) Happy New Year!