NAS Storage - FreeNas?

For those interested I upgraded to the latest nightly build tonight and took some pics while I had the NAS open.

NAS Specs:
Gigabyte GA-P45-UD3R
Intel Core2 Duo E7400 CPU
2GB OCZ DDR2-1033 (Little low on the RAM)
6xSeagate LP 2TB (ST32000542AS/CC35)
Intel PRO/1000 GT NIC (PCI)
2GB SuperTalent Internal TurboBoost USB Drive (plugs directly into a USB header, had it lying around so seemed ideal)
Cooler Master Silent Pro 500W PSU (total overkill but it was what I had around)

Some pictures:
Internal of NAS:
insidenas.jpg


Front Panel of NAS: Notice the fans are held in place by tiny pieces of wire. Got them from those paper covered bag sealer thingies. You basically tie something closed with them. Instead I tore the paper off.
nasfrontpaneloff.jpg


Finally, the place where I put my NAS. It is in the garage on the top of a cupboard. Next to it is the UPS (APC SMART UPS SUA1500i) and next to the NAS is my download box which is a Intel D510MO (Intel Atom) with 2GB of RAM and a 2.5" 160GB HD I had around. The downloadbox runs Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition - Core Install. I have the UPS monitoring software installed on it and also SABnzbd+, Sick Beard and CouchPotato. The download box writes directly to the NAS and I use the NASs extra network port (RealTek onboard) in bridged mode to give the download box network access.
nasathome.jpg


Web-GUI + Filecopy: I copied over Battle Star Galactica from the NAS to my local computer. Sister was busy watching so speeds are usually a bit higher but it deals well with multiple users reading and writing to the NAS. The uptime is only 3 minutes because I did an OS upgrade. But before I stopped it, was at 20 days I think (pretty much the amount of time since the last rain storm).
statskh.jpg
 
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Thank's for the writeup and the pics... I'm in the process of upgrading my storage and need some advice..

I currently have a HP ML110 G5 running Server03 with 2x 2TB using windows mirroring.. I also have about 3TB on my Desktop without any mirroring/raid..

I also have another spare Hp Ml110 G5 (1GB & E2160 2.1Ghz ?) and 2 HP Microservers AMD CPU 1.3GHz with 4GB RAM and a Kingston USB Drive for the FreeNAs Install..

I installed FreeNAS 8.0.1 on the Microserver and currently only have 2x 2TB Seagate 5900 drives.. I plan on adding another 2x 2TB this week. I want to start off with the HP server's and then move over to something like your setup with more HDD bays. I also plan on making the nas a download box (sabnzbd & sickbeard)..

What are your suggestions on the Filesystem I should use? ZFS/UFS and the type of raid.. I also see that you recommended Freenas 7, but it looks like its EOL, and only version 8 is being developed..
 
I just built a new NAS for our storage at work, I'll try snap a few pics later today when I take it offline. Maybe write up a little guide a bit later.

My boss wanted something just for our section in the company where we can store files that would be reliable but low cost.

Hardware I'm running on it:
Asus P8Z68-V motherboard (has Intel onboard gigabit lan)
Intel Core i5-2400S (low power CPU)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ for the CPU (to keep it cool because we've had some server go down when the CPU fan fails)
16GB Kingston Valueram.
6x2TB Seagate low power drives.

Most of it was purchased from Esquire. Total cost of the NAS was just below R10k.

I'm running FreeNAS 8.0.1 RC2 on it (you'll notice 8.0.1 was just released days ago), upgrading later today.

We did some speed tests on it and speeds are about 100-115mb/s read/write speed, which is basically maxing out a Gigabit LAN connection.

So based on the above I would definitely recommend FreeNAS 8.0.1.

ZFS is the way to go. The server we have is running RAID-Z1 (like RAID 5 but better) and we have 8.5TB of usable space (each drive is about 1.75TB in reality).
 
Gnome said:
I just built a new NAS for our storage at work, I'll try snap a few pics later today when I take it offline. Maybe write up a little guide a bit later.

My boss wanted something just for our section in the company where we can store files that would be reliable but low cost.

Hardware I'm running on it:
Asus P8Z68-V motherboard (has Intel onboard gigabit lan)
Intel Core i5-2400S (low power CPU)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ for the CPU (to keep it cool because we've had some server go down when the CPU fan fails)
16GB Kingston Valueram.
6x2TB Seagate low power drives.

Most of it was purchased from Esquire. Total cost of the NAS was just below R10k.

I'm running FreeNAS 8.0.1 RC2 on it (you'll notice 8.0.1 was just released days ago), upgrading later today.

We did some speed tests on it and speeds are about 100-115mb/s read/write speed, which is basically maxing out a Gigabit LAN connection.

So based on the above I would definitely recommend FreeNAS 8.0.1.

ZFS is the way to go. The server we have is running RAID-Z1 (like RAID 5 but better) and we have 8.5TB of usable space (each drive is about 1.75TB in reality).
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I'm also using the LP drives.. I just ordered another 4 drives now from Esquire. What chassis did you use for this build ? I checked with Frontosa for the CM 590 that you mentioned (also in your pics) but they said its EOL.. I'll need something with lots of Bays for my next build :D (hehe already planing build2 before I finish build1)
 
mh348 said:
Thanks.. I'm also using the LP drives.. I just ordered another 4 drives now from Esquire. What chassis did you use for this build ? I checked with Frontosa for the CM 590 that you mentioned (also in your pics) but they said its EOL.. I'll need something with lots of Bays for my next build :D (hehe already planing build2 before I finish build1)
Click to expand...

Well then best add another item to your Esquire order ;) The following will work perfectly for a NAS:
Antec Nine Hundred v3. Esquire sold them last week for a good price and it will work perfect.
Add in 3 of these: http://www.shopbot.co.za/pp-lian-li-ex-h34-prices-186584.html
And you have 12 drives.

If you need 16 drives in 1 case get the Antec Twelve Hundred and 4 of those.

Those bays fit into 3x5.25" bays and convert them to a hot swap 4x3.5" hard-drive bays. IcyBox also make some but they are much more expensive and use 80mm fans so I prefer the Lian Li version.
 
I'm using indows home server 2011 and it works very nice
 
Except that it doesn't offer data integrity options. I've tested Windows software RAID and it is less reliable than no-RAID.

Not to mention that you don't have a nice integrated web-interface. And setting up things like automated integrity checks, automated S.M.A.R.T tests, various sharing options in Windows would take around hundred hours and it still wouldn't look good because you don't have a web-interface giving you all the relevant information and settings.

For a NAS, WHS doesn't touch FreeNAS.
 
I tried freenas 8 on my home nas (HP Proliant Microserver) but could not get a NTFS drive mounted, the import failed. I could also not get FUPPES running on it. Eventually I rolled back to 7, works perfect!!!!

As for freenas vs windows, you can run freenas off of a flash drive (live) so you have more hdd slots open. Not sure how will windows will cope running off of a flash drive
 
jouda said:
I removed 3 2TB drives from my home pc, all 3 about 90% full. I could not find a way to convert to UFS without losing the data.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, you really should move away from NTFS tho.
 
Gnome said:
Well then best add another item to your Esquire order ;) The following will work perfectly for a NAS:
Antec Nine Hundred v3. Esquire sold them last week for a good price and it will work perfect.
Add in 3 of these: http://www.shopbot.co.za/pp-lian-li-ex-h34-prices-186584.html
And you have 12 drives.

If you need 16 drives in 1 case get the Antec Twelve Hundred and 4 of those.

Those bays fit into 3x5.25" bays and convert them to a hot swap 4x3.5" hard-drive bays. IcyBox also make some but they are much more expensive and use 80mm fans so I prefer the Lian Li version.
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I think for Now I'm gonna setup the Microserver.. I'll buy the Antec 1200 and the other components over a few months and slowly put that rig together as its going to cost quite a alot..

I added more RAM to my order, so i'll upgrade my HP Microserver to 8GB and 4x 2TB Seagate LP drives. I'll go with ZFS & RAID-Z1 as you mentioned above.. I'm also downloading 8.0.1 now and will install it tomorrow.

What usable space can I expect with this setup ?
 
mh348 said:
Thank's for the writeup and the pics... I'm in the process of upgrading my storage and need some advice..

I currently have a HP ML110 G5 running Server03 with 2x 2TB using windows mirroring.. I also have about 3TB on my Desktop without any mirroring/raid..

I also have another spare Hp Ml110 G5 (1GB & E2160 2.1Ghz ?) and 2 HP Microservers AMD CPU 1.3GHz with 4GB RAM and a Kingston USB Drive for the FreeNAs Install..

I installed FreeNAS 8.0.1 on the Microserver and currently only have 2x 2TB Seagate 5900 drives.. I plan on adding another 2x 2TB this week. I want to start off with the HP server's and then move over to something like your setup with more HDD bays. I also plan on making the nas a download box (sabnzbd & sickbeard)..

What are your suggestions on the Filesystem I should use? ZFS/UFS and the type of raid.. I also see that you recommended Freenas 7, but it looks like its EOL, and only version 8 is being developed..
Click to expand...

Have you considered UnRaid?
 
mh348 said:
What usable space can I expect with this setup ?
Click to expand...
Space of 3x2TB, with single drive failure redundancy. But 2TB drives aren't really 2TBytes so it'll be around ~5TB in space.

Also, if the performance of the HP Microserver is good (good IMHO is anything above 60mb/s), instead of buying another board you could do the following:
Buy either:
IBM BR10i (approx. price: R1,476.00)
Intel SASUC8I (approx price: R1,531.00)

Both those cards are identical hardware wise (only firmware is different) and actually a LSI SAS3081E-R LSI 1068e, which is a 8 PORT SAS controller. With each card you'll have 8xSATA II ports. Each card requires PCi-E x8 lane (PCI-E v1.0).

In both cases it would be best to flash the LSI firmware on the card. The card is well supported even in old versions of virtually all OSs (FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris/Windows) and FreeNAS 7 & 8 support it very well.

You'll also need MiniSAS to 4xSATA x2 cables for each controller. (like these or these)
 
Last edited:
Gnome said:
Space of 3x2TB, with single drive failure redundancy. But 2TB drives aren't really 2TBytes so it'll be around ~5TB in space.

Also, if the performance of the HP Microserver is good (good IMHO is anything above 60mb/s), instead of buying another board you could do the following:
Buy either:
IBM BR10i (approx. price: R1,476.00)
Intel SASUC8I (approx price: R1,531.00)

Both those cards are identical hardware wise (only firmware is different) and actually a LSI SAS3081E-R LSI 1068e, which is a 8 PORT SAS controller. With each card you'll have 8xSATA II ports. Each card requires PCi-E x8 lane (PCI-E v1.0).

In both cases it would be best to flash the LSI firmware on the card. The card is well supported even in old versions of virtually all OSs (FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris/Windows) and FreeNAS 7 & 8 support it very well.

You'll also need MiniSAS to 4xSATA x2 cables for each controller. (like these or these)
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I think I'll check ebay for those cards and see if I can get it cheaper.. I'll also need to get a HDD cage as the Microserver needs some hacking in order to fit more hdd's..

I have setup my nas with the 4x HDD's and the 8GB RAM... I also installed sickbeard & sabnzbd... It's working but I'm struggling with the folder permissions..

Whats the best way of setting folder permissions?

I would like to have some folders shared for all users (with or without password)...
A private home folder for each user..
Download Folders for Sabnzb (password protected, so basically another user folder)
*All CIFs shares

Currently my download folder is not accessible, I can however download using sab but cant browse the folder.. I just created the folder from the sab settings..

I have looked @ the freenas forum and there is a thread that shows how to create folders and assign permissions but that is via the CLI.. I would prefer to do it via the webgui if possible..
 
mh348 said:
I have setup my nas with the 4x HDD's and the 8GB RAM... I also installed sickbeard & sabnzbd... It's working but I'm struggling with the folder permissions..
Click to expand...
How did you install Sickbeard & SabNZBd on your FreeNAS?

mh348 said:
Whats the best way of setting folder permissions?
Click to expand...
The way I usually do it:
Firstly, I use SSH (putty) and log in remotely and do everything the first time that way. If you select Inherit Permissions on the CIFS/FTP/etc. pages in the web-config it'll work from then on every time you add files. SSH must be enabled from the GUI (services)!

So I hope you are fimiliar with Unix/Linux/FreeBSD permissions.
There are 3 categories, permission for the owner, a group permission and finally everyone permission.

In FreeNAS (on the web-GUI) I create a group called RW (read-write).

Then I set the permissions as follows:
Owner = root
Group = RW

To do it from the command line you log in as root (and your web-GUI password).
Code: 
chown -R root:RW /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--

Then I set the permissions as follows:
For Files:
Owner = Read/Write/Execute
Group = Read/Write
Everyone = Read (but also Read/Write for public folders)

For Folders:
Owner = Read/Write/Execute
Group = Read/Write/Execute
Everyone = Read/Execute (but also Read/Write/Execute for public folders)

To do this from the shell you navitage to the folder, eg.
Code: 
cd /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--
find . -type f -print -exec chmod 764 {} \;
find . -type d -print -exec chmod 775 {} \;

OR if you want everyone to be able to write to the share

Code: 
cd /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--
find . -type f -print -exec chmod 766 {} \;
find . -type d -print -exec chmod 777 {} \;
Replace the --zpool name-- with the name of the pool and directory in zpool where you want you specific permissions.

To see the pool names just do the following:
Code: 
cd /mnt
ls

In fact use ls whenever you want to know file/directory/mount names. To see folder permission add -l (eg. ls -l)
 
Last edited:
Gnome said:
How did you install Sickbeard & SabNZBd on your FreeNAS?


The way I usually do it:
Firstly, I use SSH (putty) and log in remotely and do everything the first time that way. If you select Inherit Permissions on the CIFS/FTP/etc. pages in the web-config it'll work from then on every time you add files. SSH must be enabled from the GUI (services)!

So I hope you are fimiliar with Unix/Linux/FreeBSD permissions.
There are 3 categories, permission for the owner, a group permission and finally everyone permission.

In FreeNAS (on the web-GUI) I create a group called RW (read-write).

Then I set the permissions as follows:
Owner = root
Group = RW

To do it from the command line you log in as root (and your web-GUI password).
Code: 
chown -R root:RW /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--

Then I set the permissions as follows:
For Files:
Owner = Read/Write/Execute
Group = Read/Write
Everyone = Read (but also Read/Write for public folders)

For Folders:
Owner = Read/Write/Execute
Group = Read/Write/Execute
Everyone = Read/Execute (but also Read/Write/Execute for public folders)

To do this from the shell you navitage to the folder, eg.
Code: 
cd /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--
find . -type f -print -exec chmod 764 {} \;
find . -type d -print -exec chmod 775 {} \;

OR if you want everyone to be able to write to the share

Code: 
cd /mnt/--zpool name--/--directory in zpool--
find . -type f -print -exec chmod 766 {} \;
find . -type d -print -exec chmod 777 {} \;
Replace the --zpool name-- with the name of the pool and directory in zpool where you want you specific permissions.

To see the pool names just do the following:
Code: 
cd /mnt
ls

In fact use ls whenever you want to know file/directory/mount names.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try this tonight when I get home.. I'm a little familiar with unix/linux, I know windows, but linux is mostly basic.. I have a tivo (also linux) but haven't worked on it for a while so I forgot most of what I knew, hehe.. I did Linux+ a few years ago, but hardly ever use linux, except for tivo/dd-wrt etc..

For the sab/sickbeard installation I used this guide.. It was quite easy, simply had to copy and paste the commands.. and create the mysql & USer accounts (for sab) from the gui
http://eto.homeip.net:90/wordpress/?author=1
 
mh348 said:
Thanks, I'll try this tonight when I get home..
Click to expand...

LOL, np, I'm going to bookmark this page anyway as my own personal quick reference. Once everything is setup you hardly touch it and you have to research everything again because it isn't used much.
 
For those interested:

I'm selling my NAS. Have a look, it's still working great, but I only have 200GB of storage left so I need to upgrade my NAS. I've decided to sell my current NAS and build a new one.

Link: http://mybroadband.co.za/classified...52&title=8-5tb-network-attached-storage&cat=3

I'm not sure if this isn't permitted (posting here about the sale) but it is a speciality item so I don't see too much harm from "advertising" in a thread related to NAS.
 
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