freebsd stable - Aug 2017 - recommendations for file server based zfs appliance

Hi, all,
> Am 18.08.2017 um 11:19 schrieb Pete French <petefrench at
ingresso.co.uk>:
> The HP micro servers work very well, and you can pick them up remakably
cheaply [...]
> Not sure about ECC memory support there though.
They do support ECC, no problem.

They are available with different CPU configurations from
as Pete said remarkably cheap Celeron D based systems
up to Xeon CPUs.

If you want something that conserves power but still features
8 cores, Supermicro has got a small 8-core Atom based
system:
https://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/midtower/5028/SYS-5028A-TN4.cfm

I run this at home and I am really satisfied with it. ECC too, of course.
Capable of running VMs in bhyve ...

I'd suggest just using FreeNAS if you intend to build a file server.
And of course you can always order a preconfigured FreeNAS
mini from iX Systems.

HTH,
Patrick
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 496 bytes
Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP
URL:
<http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/attachments/20170818/7dafabff/attachment.sig>

Patrick M. Hausen wrote:
>Hi, all,
>
>> Am 18.08.2017 um 11:19 schrieb Pete French <petefrench at
ingresso.co.uk>:
>> The HP micro servers work very well, and you can pick them up remakably
cheaply [...]
>> Not sure about ECC memory support there though.
>
>They do support ECC, no problem.
>
>They are available with different CPU configurations from
>as Pete said remarkably cheap Celeron D based systems
>up to Xeon CPUs.
>
>If you want something that conserves power but still features
>8 cores, Supermicro has got a small 8-core Atom based
>system:
>https://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/midtower/5028/SYS-5028A-TN4.cfm
>
>I run this at home and I am really satisfied with it. ECC too, of course.
>Capable of running VMs in bhyve ...
>
>I'd suggest just using FreeNAS if you intend to build a file server.
>And of course you can always order a preconfigured FreeNAS
>mini from iX Systems.
I can't help with specific hardware recommendations (fortunately others
already have),
but I will mention that "If you are going to get bit, it usually is related
to the network
interface(s) on the machine.", due to net driver issues.

This shouldn't be a problem with an iX Systems box, since they test it with
FreeNAS
(based on FreeBSD).

Maybe the folk that made hardware suggestions can post which net interface(s)
they are using and whether they are seeing driver issues?

Good luck with it, rick

I use FreeNAS on an old Gen7 HP MicroServer. It works well but jails are too
slow and needing an upgrade. Unfortunately, FreeBSD is *not* (yet?) supported on
HPE MicroServer Gen10, so you couldn't run FreeNAS on it, see my bug report
here

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=221350

and forum discussion here: 

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/61936/

HPE MicroServer Gen8 are limited to only 16GB RAM which isn't enough for my
needs. I will be using a SuperMicro X10SDV-6C+-TLN4F or X10SDV-4C+-TLN4F in the
next server, but your needs (CPU) may need a higher or a lower spec, so do some
research.
--
Rafal Lukawiecki

> On 18 Aug 2017, at 10:40, Patrick M. Hausen <hausen at punkt.de>
wrote:
> 
> Hi, all,
> 
>> Am 18.08.2017 um 11:19 schrieb Pete French <petefrench at
ingresso.co.uk>:
>> The HP micro servers work very well, and you can pick them up remakably
cheaply [...]
>> Not sure about ECC memory support there though.
> 
> They do support ECC, no problem.
> 
> They are available with different CPU configurations from
> as Pete said remarkably cheap Celeron D based systems
> up to Xeon CPUs.
> 
> If you want something that conserves power but still features
> 8 cores, Supermicro has got a small 8-core Atom based
> system:
> https://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/midtower/5028/SYS-5028A-TN4.cfm
> 
> I run this at home and I am really satisfied with it. ECC too, of course.
> Capable of running VMs in bhyve ...
> 
> I'd suggest just using FreeNAS if you intend to build a file server.
> And of course you can always order a preconfigured FreeNAS
> mini from iX Systems.
> 
> HTH,
> Patrick

* Patrick M. Hausen wrote:
>> Am 18.08.2017 um 11:19 schrieb Pete French <petefrench at
ingresso.co.uk>:
>> The HP micro servers work very well, and you can pick them up remakably
cheaply [...]
>> Not sure about ECC memory support there though.
>
>They do support ECC, no problem.
>
>They are available with different CPU configurations from
>as Pete said remarkably cheap Celeron D based systems
>up to Xeon CPUs.
I've just sold my Microserver Gen8 (Xeon) just recently.
It's a beautiful little machine, but I didn't make me happy in the long
run.

Reasons:
 - Limited to 8GB Ram in total
 - Only 4 HDDs
 - JBOD support is not great
 - Harddrives are never going to sleep (not supported)

Installing FreeBSD was harder than expected. The machine refused to boot FreeBSD
from the internal non-raid SATA ports. I didn't try FreeNAS though.

Also, in case you go with a Microserver - I think all non-xeon models do not
support AES-NI, which will cut the throughput in case you plan to encrypt your
drives.

iX-Systems would have been my choice to replace this machine until I found out
that I can build something myself that suits my needs even better.

Note, I was looking at the 8 bay model and I would have to add around $280 for
shipping and tax to Germany.

I'm now going for this custom build:
 - Fractal Design Define R5
   Reason: Silent, enough space for 12 drives
 - SuperMicro MBD-A1SAI-2550F-O
   Reason: IPMI, ECC, AES-NI, 64GB Ram, Intel NIC, low power consumption
 - 4x 8GB Kingson ECC SODIMM
   Reason: 16GB modules are not yet available
 - Seasonic X-Series Fanless X-400FL 400W passiv
   Reason: Fanless -> silent

The complete order was around 1000?

That being said, I'm planning to put an older 3ware controller in JBOD mode
in
it and I also have SSDs and drives already. The board has only 6 SATA ports.
But that would be enough for you.

This might be a little big for you. But maybe it gives you ideas.

Best Regards,
Stefan