Server Spec vs. NAS Performance

[jtodaro]

n00b here, but have been working with *nix flavors since 1992(ish). I understand that a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component (bottleneck), and I also understand that (obviously) more overhead (from NAS usage/utilization) needs greater server specs, however alot of the canned NAS appliances (D-Link, QNAP, Buffalo) seems to be using in the neighborhood of 800mhz-1.2ghz CPUs and minimal RAM.

So, my question for everyone is this.

What are the specs for your FreeNAS rig, and what's your throughput look like?

Reading on the forums here, I've seen everything from a monster rig to what I would consider very minimal systems. I'm trying to determine how much of a bare bones FreeNAS server I can build and still stay in a solid/under utilized operating range.

 

[Bohs Hansen]

Biggest bottleneck is the cpu. As example my Qnap 209 with a 500MHz Arm cpu does around 10-15mb/s via CIFS, my qnap 110 with 800MHz cpu does 20-25mb/s. My FreeNAS box does around 65-75mb/s without tuning.

This just as example.

ZFS that is the preferred file system on FreeNAS uses a lot of memory, why the systems mentioned here usually have a lot of this compared to the basic prebuild NAS systems (128-512mb usually)

 

[jtodaro]

My FreeNAS box does around 65-75mb/s without tuning.

What are your FreeNAS server specs, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Bohs Hansen]

Case: Fractal Design Array R2 w/ 300W SFX PSU
Mainboard: ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe
Ram: 8GB Corsair XMS3 CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 (Needs bios update)
Datadisk: 4x/6x Seagate SV35.5 2GB raidz
Bootdisk: Kingston SSDNow - 16GB

FreeNAS 8.0.1 beta2

 

[ohnename]

20MB/s average CIFS performance, it´s a box made with 5-7 years old parts (see my sig) running FreeNAS 8.0.1 beta2 32bit.

 

[jtodaro]

Well, that definitely gives me a high & low(ish) starting point to work with.

I was thinking on running something a tad more modern, and noticed some of the Dual Atom 1.6ghz systems but didn't know how those would stand up performance wise. However, whatever I build would have it's ram maxed out (most likely 8gb). Also looking into utilizing dual 1gb nic, bonding the interfaces for more throughput.

Bohs Hansen, have you noticed any performance improvement by utilizing the Solid State Drive as your OS install? From all experiences with *nix, I do know that protocols (such as FTP) swap files to HD (to /tmp) until the transfer is complete, so wasn't sure if the SSD would benefit or hinder performance in that aspect, as I know SSD are slower writes than reads.

 

[Bohs Hansen]

Reason i picked a SSD as boot option is that I don't trust the reliability of USB sticks when plugged 24/7/365. A smaller would of course have been sufficient, but the price difference was so small to this one - and in case I replace it at some point its more useful in another system then a smaller (and they get faster as the size increases).
Plus i got a cat who for some reason loves to play with USB sticks ... lol. Some mainboards have an internal USB port directly on the MB, mine doesn't. Something else to consider.

I have no comparison to a similar system with USB stick instead of the SSD myself, went straight for this build

 

[jtodaro]

I was looking to utilize one of the 300gb WD Raptor 10k RPM HD's for the OS install, (the 300gb is $30 more than the 150gb) and then utilize either 4 - 2gb or 4 - 3gb HD's for the RAID for the real HD space.

Still not sure on CPU. Don't feel like experimenting with the dual Atom (I think) so will probably just go with Intel Core 2 Quad, or AMD x3/4.

 

[Tekkie]

Check out the AMD E350 APU thread here: http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?27-AMD-E-350-Thread-(now-in-new-forum-) might give you an idea for a minimal install with good performance for ZFS/RAIDZ

 

[matthewowen01]

the AMD E350's seem to be good enough for decent performance.

I would stay away from an SSD for the system drive, it's a terrible waste of money. I have a Compact Flash disk for mine. It boots really fast and there are no moving parts on it. the majority of my boot time is detecting disks. Flash will last forever for reads and you have a few million writes. I just benchmarked it at 52 MB/s read. and it's $20. i also got an IDE to CF converter that fits into an expansion slot so i can swap the CF without opening the case. (links for both at bottom).

also, FreeNAS mounts the drive as read only so you don't have to worry about random writes wearing your CF.

i'm running an overclocked e7400 and it tackles anything i throw at it. i can sustain 2 gb/s in and out across my LAGG with CIFS and FTP. a core 2 quad or x3 or x4 AMD may be overkill.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161367

 

[jtodaro]

matthewowen01, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. I also like the idea of the IDE to CF interface for the main OS HD.

Anyone have a recommendation for a case that will hold it's weight (enough to fully populate the SATA for Raid 1+0) of one of the E350 MB's?

 

[jtodaro]

Think I found something a little better than the e350 (I don't like the fact that a lot of the MB chipsets only supports single channel memory path, even though it's using DDR3).

AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core + GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/S USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard for $154.98

 

[Tekkie]

Anyone have a recommendation for a case that will hold it's weight (enough to fully populate the SATA for Raid 1+0) of one of the E350 MB's?

If you go down the E350 road then this a case you could consider for a 4 + 2 RAIDZ2 setup: http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=43

 

[Tekkie]

Think I found something a little better than the e350 (I don't like the fact that a lot of the MB chipsets only supports single channel memory path, even though it's using DDR3).

AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core + GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/S USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard for $154.98

From a size perspective doesn't fit the idea of NAS device, you need a bigger case for this option, and the 95W CPU is a bad idea, you should go with one of the low power 'e' series.

 

[SoftDux-Rudi]

n00b here, but have been working with *nix flavors since 1992(ish). I understand that a computer is only as fast as it's slowest component (bottleneck), and I also understand that (obviously) more overhead (from NAS usage/utilization) needs greater server specs, however alot of the canned NAS appliances (D-Link, QNAP, Buffalo) seems to be using in the neighborhood of 800mhz-1.2ghz CPUs and minimal RAM.

Yes, the slowest component plays a big role in a NAS. That's why the cheap commercial NAS's are generally limited to 10-20MB/s throughput. their CPU's, RAM & often LAN are very limited.

So, my question for everyone is this.

What are the specs for your FreeNAS rig, and what's your throughput look like?

One of my test machines has Gigabyte motherbard, an Intel C2D 6250 CPU, 4GB RAM & 4x 500GB SATAII HDD's setup in raidz1. The throughput is about 60MB/s, but I think this is due to the Realtek NIC onboard

Reading on the forums here, I've seen everything from a monster rig to what I would consider very minimal systems. I'm trying to determine how much of a bare bones FreeNAS server I can build and still stay in a solid/under utilized operating range.

What you need will depend on what you want :)
i.e. how many drives do you want to use, what storage space do you need and what PC components do you have at hand / can you afford to purchase?

for ZFS you generally want to use as much RAM as you can put in the machine. But an SSD for L2ARC & ZIL would help a LOT with performance.
Try and get a motherboard with an Intel NIC, otherwise get a PCI-E / PCIx Intel NIC if you can.
More CU power will help with RAID and encryption (if you use it), but also for network thoughput a bit. So try and get at least a Dual Core if you can. Some of the newer Atoms seem to peform fairly well for their price.
w.r.t HDD's try and get RAID edition drives (i.e. not green drives) if you use SATA. Otherwise, try and get a SAS6G motherboard, and SAS6G SAS drives if you go the SAS route.
Your PSU would largly depend on the CPU and number of drives you use. For a 4drive system, 350W is fine.
I use USB memory sticks for the boot drive since they're very cheap and once the OS is booted, it doesn't really use the OS drive much, other than for logs and accessing config files. But, AFAIK, it loads all the config files into a RAM disk

 

[FireWire2]

Here is my Home Server 40TB consume only 180W of electric-power.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265641-32-40tb-server-performance-issue
This system base on ATOM D510 and hardware raid SPM394. Transfer right of the bat 95MB/sec (Yes, it is B not b).
I can expand another two volumes of 15TB (3TB HDD), if need
I'm thinking of upgrade to FreeNAS8.0.
Are there pitfalls, advantages that I need to aware off?

Thank you for give me the head-up.

 

[daveymg]

I'm using Freenas to provide iscsi storage for my disk-disk-tape backups and ESXi datastores. The backup program reports 1300MB/min (bytes) throughput on a 200Gb backup job.

My setup is:

AMD x2 260 CPU
ASUS M5A78L-MLX mobo
8Gb DDR3 ram
6 x Seagate Constellation 2TB SATA disks (setup as a ZFS stripe of mirrors giving 5.3TB usable)
Intel Pro PCI Gb Nic
4GB USB Boot stick
460W psu

 

[matthewowen01]

The backup program reports 1300MB/s.

that's almost faster than my ram disk on my gaming box, are you sure it's accurate and not inacurate due to compression or something like that?

 

[daveymg]

This is the disk-disk backup running a full backup. I'm not sure if there's any software compression involved. If it was 2:1 then the throughput would be ~600MB/min I guess. The backup summary reports:

Backup Set Summary
Backed up 623608 files in 83315 directories.
Processed 197854446693 bytes in 2 hours, 25 minutes, and 54 seconds.
Throughput rate: 1293 MB/min
Compression Type: None

 

[daveymg]

Just realised I got my time units mixed, it's MB/min not seconds, sorry.