RAM what and why

lostpilot

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May 2, 2019
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Hello all,
I just build my NAS and it is a learning curve even for seasoned power user, but its running shares are good etc.
I have read a bunch of stuff about Freenas RAM requirements and recommendations but I cant see myself putting 64-128gb in my nas.
I have not seen is what the your using the ram for I have 70tb in this box it maybe my first nas but not my first raid box
please note this is a consumer media box not "a mars rover" I want reliable not nuke proof
on to questions
1 what will happen when freenas has less then 1gb per tb I have 16gb now and pool has 6tb with 30 on deck
(no vms maybe plex)?

2 why and are there setting to adjust that would impact said future? (even windows doesn't need ram like that)

3 you have a file manager Plugin I obviously wont be de using dedupe but file organization thru ftp or smb seems a bad idea
would be better to remote in prefer light weight gui vs cmd line?

4 alternative nas if all the above = no

that's a start thank you,
lost pilot
 

sretalla

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1 what will happen when freenas has less then 1gb per tb I have 16gb now and pool has 6tb with 30 on deck
(no vms maybe plex)?
16 GB is fine to do basic file sharing and a few jails (Plex being one of those).

2 why and are there setting to adjust that would impact said future? (even windows doesn't need ram like that)
I don't think I understand what you are asking, but perhaps it's just to say that FreeNAS uses RAM to cache file operations as much as possible (settings are available to control that in detail (you need to understand what you're doing if you want to change those and still have a working/performing system.

3 you have a file manager Plugin I obviously won't be de using dedupe but file organization thru ftp or smb seems a bad idea
would be better to remote in prefer light weight gui vs cmd line?
No official one. Midnite Commander (mc at the CLI) is some kind of option, but probably far from what you're expecting.

4 alternative nas if all the above = no
Not for us to say, but things like OpenMediaVault, Unraid, Xpenology, Centos with manual file sharing... I've seen people suggesting many things.
 

lostpilot

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I don't think you answered the question 1gb per TB why? whats it doing? and when I have 50+tb loaded how will it behave? because the data is already here. Settings don't scare me lack of understanding does. FreeNas is unique in its ram REQUIREMENTS? why? and what happens if I don't buy 64gb more at 50tb+ in the pool.

the more I consider comments I read it seems free nas not only caches it stores whole file system in RAM Right? that's why on power failure vpools are lost? and that's not caching.
 

Linkman

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FreeNAS loads the OS mostly into RAM and runs from there; on power failure (assuming you're not using an inappropriate SLOG device) you would only use the data that was in-flight to be written, not the data on disc. Once you meet certain system minimums, more RAM means more performance, the system won't lose data but it will perform more slowly since it can cache less.

The 1GB per 1TB is a heuristic, and once you get to 16GB RAM, it's less firm. The 8GB minimum for FreeNAS itself is solid though.
 

danb35

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1gb per TB why?
It's a deliberately-vague rule of thumb that should probably be retired by now, but the short answer is "caching". ZFS caches lots of stuff, and it needs RAM to do it.
unique in its ram REQUIREMENTS?
You're confusing requirements and recommendations. The REQUIREMENT is 8 GB of RAM. The recommendation (which, again, probably needs to be removed) is 1 GB/TB. Use case is going to greatly affect the RAM usage, of course--lots of VM and jails, and heavy use of block storage, will need more RAM. For most home use, 16 GB is fine.
it stores whole file system in RAM Right?
No, not at all.
on power failure vpools are lost?
Pools (there's no such thing as a "vpool") aren't ordinarily lost on power failure, but they can be, if power failure happens at just the wrong time during a write.
 

pro lamer

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if power failure happens at just the wrong time during a write.
I guess still less probably than other filesystems since ZFS doesn't have a write hole. Correct me if I'm wrong.

4 alternative nas if all the above = no
Or proxmox and turnkey file server (I've only heard of it, not an expert nor experienced)

Sent from my phone
 

pro lamer

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It's still possible under ZFS, though.
I've just recalled: and there are less recovery tools in such a caseb comparing to other b filesystems. I said A and now I've said B :P

Sent from my phone
 

Arwen

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Note that in general, it is highly unlikely to loose a ZFS pool due to a power
outage. ZFS was specifically designed and tested to remove the need for file
system checks due to crashes or power loss. You may loose data that is in flight,
(data that has not been completely written). But, that is the price of ZFS paid
for reliability.

That said, hardware faults can be caused, or made worse by power failures. That
can cause loss of a ZFS pool.
 

lostpilot

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well thank you all for the comments I have decided to stay with it so the copying continues :)
so I am past zfs vs hardware moving on to software wha'ts and why's

again what is freenas doing it cycles the pool drives about every 10seconds it did this before I installed anything only thing I install so far is ClamAV

note I have not used Linux,cpm,bsd for more then setup and copying files simple once a yr type stuff
1 I have downloaded Midnight commander it is not a pkg … do I just install it or should I be looking for iocage versions of things?
2 can anyone point me to repo for freenas compatible stuff not on the built in list
3 indexing.? my nas seems to cycle the pool drives about every 10seconds even when nothing is logged in to it again what is it doing?
4 I don't have any of the dir. services running yet but I can see I need one as my nas is not searchable can Freenas be my AD server is the AD choice ment to connect to a existing AD server?

thanks again for insights and patience

Lost Pilot - I might be lost be at least I am in control :)

PS in reference to uncle festers guide thanks BUT....
the first thing he said is DONT take a apart the POWER SUPPLY …. this fan has gotta go …. (next week)
 

sretalla

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again what is freenas doing it cycles the pool drives about every 10seconds it did this before I installed anything only thing I install so far is ClamAV
That sounds like the system dataset updates based on the frequency (it's updating the rolling data and graphs for the reporting pages). I take it you moved that off the boot pool to the pool you're asking about. Ideally this goes on a pool with an SSD drive.

1 I have downloaded Midnight commander it is not a pkg … do I just install it or should I be looking for iocage versions of things?
pkg not needed as it's installed on the host system already. Type mc in the CLI

2 can anyone point me to repo for freenas compatible stuff not on the built in list
These forums and the resources section. also https://www.freshports.org/

4 I don't have any of the dir. services running yet but I can see I need one as my nas is not searchable can Freenas be my AD server is the AD choice ment to connect to a existing AD server?
Section 10 of the documentation (see the top of this page). TL/DR, it says you can join an existing AD, not create one.
 

pro lamer

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says you can join an existing AD, not create one.
Hmm I though it was possible... Maybe some plugin or what...

Sent from my phone
 

danb35

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I don't have any of the dir. services running yet but I can see I need one as my nas is not searchable
What is the connection you see between these two statements? Specifically, what is your understanding of what a "directory service" does, and what do you mean by "my nas is not searchable"?
 

sretalla

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Hmm I though it was possible... Maybe some plugin or what...
Being honest, me too... but reading the doc, seems not so.

Just did a quick test, seems right, it will only look for a Domain Controller, doesn't have any option to be one.
 

lostpilot

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That sounds like the system dataset updates based on the frequency (it's updating the rolling data and graphs for the reporting pages). I take it you moved that off the boot pool to the pool you're asking about. Ideally this goes on a pool with an SSD drive.

I didnt move anything as I don't understand the os enough to do that. my jail is in my raid pool I don't like that either
can I uninstall clam and the jail and point it to my boot pool? how ?

pkg not needed as it's installed on the host system already. Type mc in the CLI
thank you... /emote types mc into shell window...… it didn't like that... I will setup a terminal.... but thank you it is what I needed


These forums and the resources section. also https://www.freshports.org/
will look into it


Section 10 of the documentation (see the top of this page). TL/DR, it says you can join an existing AD, not create one.
I don't have a AD server.... section 10 got it

those seemed to easy
thanks Lost Pilot
 

myoung

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Being honest, me too... but reading the doc, seems not so.

Just did a quick test, seems right, it will only look for a Domain Controller, doesn't have any option to be one.

If I am reading the docs right, Section 10 describes joining a DC. Section 12 describes configuring freenas as a DC.

FreeNAS® can be configured to act either as the domain controller for a network or to join an existing Active Directory network as a domain controller.


This section demonstrates how to configure the FreeNAS® system to act as a domain controller. If the goal is to integrate with an existing Active Directory network to access its authentication and authorization services, configure Active Directory instead.

https://www.ixsystems.com/documentation/freenas/11.2/services.html#domain-controller
 

sretalla

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I didnt move anything as I don't understand the os enough to do that. my jail is in my raid pool I don't like that either
can I uninstall clam and the jail and point it to my boot pool? how ?
OK, so if you have jails already, then it could be the jail processes (not sure how clam does polling/notify for new files, but could be that).
Yes, jails can be moved to another pool, search for move iocage pool and you'll get something. (shortcut for you... https://www.ixsystems.com/community...ng-the-iocage-dataset-to-an-other-pool.70168/ )
I don't recommend moving/having anything on the boot pool (I'm sure you can't move jails there), but in the GUI, you can move the system dataset to another pool... I recommend strongly to do that to a pool that is based on SSD as it's very active 24/7.

Section 12 describes configuring freenas as a DC.
Well, there you go, I didn't read the entire documentation... well spotted.
 

lostpilot

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What is the connection you see between these two statements? Specifically, what is your understanding of what a "directory service" does, and what do you mean by "my nas is not searchable"?

nope not familiar with AD in the least. just was thinking if I needed dir services I'd ask about AD first. seems I don't need that.

in the past all my storage has been attached there for searchable the nas is not attached or searchable at the moment that is what I'd like to fix.
I had thought once the drive was mapped it would automatically be indexed it was that made we wonder if I needed to turn on something in freenas to do that and since indexing directories is the problem I logically picked directory services menu as my next target sorry

Lost pilot
 

danb35

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since indexing directories is the problem I logically picked directory services menu
Directory services (like Active Directory or LDAP) provide a common user database for your network. They have nothing whatsoever to do with indexing files on your NAS. I don't know if (or how) it's possible to have a searchable index of files on the system, but it most definitely isn't using the "directory services" section.
 

lostpilot

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May 2, 2019
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I found a indexing solution and I already use it....
for others with way too many files and bad organizational habits try "Voidtools Everything" It will Index shares
it just need to be told to do it

Lost Pilot
 
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