PCI-e boot SSD?

[EM LoCastro]

Hello all, I am considering my first ZFS FreeNAS build based on the Supermicro X10SLL-F. I would like to use all 6 SATA ports for HDD drives in my pool. I've read that USB booting is losing support due to flakiness of thumb drives. Does anyone know off-hand if this board would support a PCI-e boot, or how I can go about finding out? Much thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

Only if the PCI-e device provides a BIOS extension ROM.
It would also be massive overkill. USB drives will do fine. Mirror them, avoid El-Cheapos, Wun-Hung Los and Kingston and you'll be fine.

 

[EM LoCastro]

Only if the PCI-e device provides a BIOS extension ROM.
It would also be massive overkill. USB drives will do fine. Mirror them, avoid El-Cheapos, Wun-Hung Los and Kingston and you'll be fine.

Thank you for the quick reply, Ericloewe. Sorry for the continuing stream of newb questions, but is it pretty straightforward to set up USB mirroring of the boot disk when doing the install?

 

[Mirfster]

Thank you for the quick reply, Ericloewe. Sorry for the continuing stream of newb questions, but is it pretty straightforward to set up USB mirroring of the boot disk when doing the install?

Yep, just choose/select both USB devices when asked where to install to and it will do it automatically.

 

[Robert Smith]

Correct me if I am wrong, but another benefit of using an SSD drive for boot is that recent versions of FreeNAS allow keeping the System dataset on the boot drive.

FreeNAS (versions newer than 9.2.0) wants to write to the System dataset every few seconds (if SAMBA is ON), so keeping the System dataset on the boot SSD would save the data drives from constant harassment (depends on your usage pattern, if your data pool is already under load 24/7 then this will not change much for you).

EM LoCastro, what drives were you considering for your setup? Can you step up in size and do a five disk Z3 instead of six disk Z2?

 

[EM LoCastro]

I am contemplating creation two identical systems, one "production" and the second as a (real-time?) replicate. I am angling to keep costs down and maximize storage space. Would it be feasible to have each system have Z1 redundancy, or is that just foolhardy and asking for trouble?

How about PCI-e expansion SATA ports for adding more drives? Do those typically play nice?

 

[SweetAndLow]

Z1 is asking for trouble most of the time. Z2 is usually the sweet spot for max storage and good protection.

 

[EM LoCastro]

If I boot off internal SSD, is it necessary to have mirrored boot SSD's?

The X10SSL has 6 on-board SATA ports. Is it possible to increase that number through PCIe expansion, or are there reliability issues there?

Thanks again for all of this helpful feedback.

 

[SweetAndLow]

You can add 8 more sata ports using a hba card and break out cable, I think it's a forward breakout cable but don't quote me on that.

Here is more info: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/

 

[Bidule0hm]

If I boot off internal SSD, is it necessary to have mirrored boot SSD's?

No, one SSD is more reliable than a mirror of USB sticks and it'll probably outlast the whole server...

I think it's a forward breakout cable but don't quote me on that.

I confirm ;)

 

[jgreco]

I think it's a forward breakout cable

Correct

but don't quote me on that.

Too late

 

[jgreco]

If I boot off internal SSD, is it necessary to have mirrored boot SSD's?

It's much less necessary. I used to see failures with USB keys even back in the days when UFS was used, and then everyone else started seeing it with the advent of the ZFS boot pool and the heavier write stream.

SSD's absolutely can and do fail, but they're usually fine under the relatively light abuse that FreeNAS will dish out. If you can find two super-cheap or recycled/old 60GB SSD's, and you have free SATA ports, by all means, mirror them.

 

[Mirfster]

I think it's a forward breakout cable but don't quote me on that.

Third times the charm. :P