moving to new installation

[Scareh]

I'm currently in the process off moving to a new freenas installation on server-graded hardware.

BuildFreeNAS-8.3.1-RELEASE-p2-x64 (r12686+b770da6_dirty)
PlatformIntel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3110 @ 3.00GHz
Memory2029MB <== i allready know about this one, it's in the works, should arrive next week

some random questions:

1) the new nas has an LSI-raid controller...
according to this topic: (http://forums.freenas.org/threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/)

mfiutil create jbod NUMBER" for each of those numbers. Be warned that creating JBOD is almost certainly guaranteed to be overwriting what is on the disk

am i correctly in assuming that i can't insert my original disks from my current installation into the raid drivebays? Would it change anything if i connected them directly onto the motherboard instead of using the drivebay/raid controller?

2) since i'm still in the testing phase i'd love to get some read-outs about internal temperature and stuff. If i'm understanding correctly that should be standard in version 9.x?
for now i've been doing this
for the cpu:
sysctl -a |egrep -E "cpu\.[0-9]+\.temp"
which gives me a value between 38- 43 depending on the load.
I've been googling around to get a read out about the exact temperature of the disks.
according to google: smartctl -a /dev/insertdisk


but i get this:

[root@freenas] ~# smartctl -a /dev/mfid5
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE-p7 amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

/dev/mfid5: To monitor disks on LSI RAID load mfip.ko module and run 'smartctl -a /dev/passX' to show SMART information
Smartctl: please specify device type with the -d option.


Use smartctl -h to get a usage summary
according to this topic:
http://forums.freenas.org/threads/l...onitoring-failed-mfip-ko-module-missing.9346/
it isn't possible? or shouldn't be done whatever xD
Is there then any other way to get a read out about the exact temperature in the drives? (or will that be in freenas 9.x, in which case i'll just wait for that)
smartctl -t long gives the same error.


if you have any questions feel free to shoot them and i'll upload screenshots/post outputs of commands at will.
thanks allready

 

[cyberjock]

What LSI controller in particular are you referring to? You kind of forgot that important piece of information ;)

 

[Scareh]

oops sry
http://forums.freenas.org/threads/new-box-set-up.13456/


LSI Megaraid SAS 8708EM2 RAID Controller

didn't thought it was that important my apolegies

 

[cyberjock]

It looks like that controller doesn't support JBOD. As such, all the nasty stuff in the "Confused about that LSI card..." thread about not having SMART, being stick with LSI hardware forever, etc. is exactly what you are buying into if you choose to use that card.

My advice.. get a different card. The M1015 is a commonly used controller that is well supported with FreeNAS, and about $100 gives you 8 SAS/SATA ports to do with as you please.

 

[Scareh]

so installing the module the error specifies isn't an option then? as in it'll destroy data?

edit:

i configured the raid to allow jbod and am able to work with the disks now as jbod (or am i mistaken here?)

 

[cyberjock]

If it supports JBOD it may work. The Google search I did in 2 mins had 2 people say it didn't support JBOD. Also the LSI document I saw said it didn't support JBOD but you could do individual disks as RAID0. If you do individual disks as RAID0 you won't have SMART support.

I don't have your card personally so I can't vouch for anything except what Google shows me.

 

[Scareh]

well i have the disks inside freenas, so following the LSI guide they "should" be Jbod, or am i talking completely beside the point now?
I configured 4 disks to be in a raid (still testing stuff) aswell now.

 

[cyberjock]

If you configured them in RAID you don't have a recommended zfs configuration and you won't have SMART support.

You contradict yourself. You can't say you followed the LSI guide for JBOD, but then the next sentence say they are in a RAID. JBOD isn't a RAID. It's "Just a Bunch of Disks" as the acronym suggests.

 

[Scareh]

guess i didn't explain myself well enough my apolegies:

I meant i configured them through the shell so freenas recognizes them with the : "mfiutil create jbod NUMBER" command
afterwards i used the freenas GUI to configure 4 of them in a raid.
I understood that the command made them JBOD so freenas recognized them and that i could do whatever i wished whenever they were inside the freenas gui, feel free to correct me here xD
obviously if i would get SMART with them not being in a raid inside freenas i'd undo that since i'm not minding having them same data over multiple disk + the data that is important has multiple back-ups

 

[cyberjock]

Ok.

So all is okay, but not ideal.

From what I've read:

Your zpool will only be good on LSI controllers that support JBOD. This isn't ideal, but if you are okay with that then its fine. If my entire computer blew up except my hard drives I could plug them into any system with a dumb HBA and have my zpool back. You would be forced to buy another LSI controller. And depending on various other factors you may have to buy the EXACT same model and use the EXACT same firmware.

You also have no SMART data for your hard drive available to you. Plenty of people ignore this as not being particularly important, but I consider SMART data mandatory for anyone that value your data. Quite a few people in the forum have lost everything because they couldn't identify any warning signs of impending disk failure until it was too late.

So tread lightly and decide how you want to proceed.

Personally, if you plan to put important data on this server you should look for a different controller. The M1015 reflashed to IT mode is $100 and has 8 hard drive ports. It's really hard to beat and works perfectly with FreeNAS(I even use it).

As a test machine to see if you like FreeNAS and can properly administer it, it's "good enough" to experiment with.

 

[Scareh]

thanks for the feedback cyberjock
its free hardware i got so i wasnt one to complain much tbh :p
other then that i consider smart data important aswell since i'll probably releying on it more and more after i see its "stable". (i know myself all too well xD)
so wanting to avoid having it crash and not being able to do anything anymore with it.
I can look around for some spare LSI controllers that are up for grabs at work and keep em save at my home ;-)

and perhaps look for a different controller as you mention aswell, eventhough my drivebay only supports 6 drives

in freenas 9.x the smart data that will be gathered automaticly i suppose my controller wouldn't be able to pass data about that to freenas either?

 

[cyberjock]

Nope. The lack of SMART support is a hardware limitation. The only way to get SMART support is to get a HBA. Unfortunately for you, if you decide to build the system with your current controller you won't be able to move the hard drives off the controller without wiping them.