FreeNAS on Poweredge 2800 - execute disable needed?

[Michaal Rutledge]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer on this, even searching the forums (and it's possible I'm not searching them right). Does FreeNAS require a 64-bit processor with execute disable capabilities? I have a Poweredge 2800 with dual Intel procs that do not support execute disable, but I would like to turn it into a FreeNAS box if possible since it can't be upgraded past Server 2008 R2 (I'm using it as a media server and would like to use Server 2012 R2 to see how data dedup works with media files. I don't expect much, but it's an experiment I'd like to try. And yes, I'm aware FreeNAS does dedup via ZFS.). Help, please?

 

[Mirfster]

Not 100% sure, but you could simply grab a cheap USB Stick and try to install it on there to see.

As far a dedup, are you sure you want to do this?

It is very resource intensive and RAM hungry... Please see the manual on it for more information: Section 8.1.3.1. Deduplication

 

[Ericloewe]

dual Intel procs that do not support execute disable

Wow. The Pentium 4 supports execute disable. If your system doesn't, it's too old for FreeNAS, even if execute disable support isn't required.

 

[anodos]

My rule of thumb with server hardware is "if it has PCI-X, it's too old".

 

[Michaal Rutledge]

@Mirfster : I don't want to do dedup through FreeNAS because of that very reason. I can run dedup on 2012 R2 just fine with 4GB of RAM (no kidding here, either). Plus, I want to play with dedup at the filesystem level and not the volume level to see what Microsoft's solution can do. If it can dedup video files pretty decently (which, in my mind isn't very likely, but I'd like to try anyways), then that's fun stuff. This is all experimentation.

@Ericloewe : It's only some Xeons in the Woodcrest family that don't have the XD bit, most of them have it.

Also, this server does have PCI-E, so it's not ancient. It just happens to not have a CPU feature that most modern OSes require before they'll even install. I will try installing FreeNAS and see if it will work with the server specs, was just hoping someone had run into this before and could say "Yes, it'll work without XD." or "No, XD is needed."

 

[CookiesLikeWhoa]

I think what most are worried about is the experience won't be optimal (or tolerable even) on hardware that is that dated.

While it will work, it will certainly show it's age.

 

[Nick2253]

It's only some Xeons in the Woodcrest family that don't have the XD bit, most of them have it.

Woodcrest Xeons are still on the order of 10 years old. Given the likely power consumption of a 10-y/o server, it would probably be cheaper to buy new hardware than run that behemoth (especially with dual processors).