Configuring software raid on freenas f reenas has the ability to combine disks and either use them in a concatenated manner meaning they are added together and will appear as one large disk or use them together for redundancy and improved performance by. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard. I also have a separate server running esxi that im hopefully going to transition to proxmox in the near future. Now i have to configure that server for the freenas, but i have found that the freenas wont support the hardware raid. The first is just get a sata controller for that machine and keep going as is, since its software raided through windows storage spaces.
Freenas generally has steeper hardware requirements than unraid. It has built in data integrity checks and scales very well. The raid can be implemented either using a special controller hardware raid, or by an operating system driver software raid. Raid 1 or raid 10 solutions work fairly well even without expensive hardware raid controllers and can be acquired relatively inexpensively. Windows software raid vs hardware raid 10 posts arlesterc. The hardware configuration of the system is typically raw disks jbod connected to the pool. Before raid was raid, software disk mirroring raid 1 was a huge profit generator for system vendors, who sold it as an addon to their operating systems. Software raid under linux is pretty stellar feature, and its cpu cost, especially with current hardware, is neglible. Therefore if you want performance and the capability to sustain multiple drive failure at the same time you should investigate hardware raid solutions.
As for the hardware vs software raid question, adaptec raid cards are good at what they do. Software raid vs hardware raid hard disk drives hdd. But with budget favoring the software raid, those wanting optimum performance and. Since im using freenas, im thinking of using a solid state drive for a zls. Freenas raid selection hardware vs software solutions.
Software raid, as you might already know, is usually builtin on your os and unlike a hardware raid, you will need to spend a little extra on a controller card. It is used to improve disk io performance and reliability of your server or workstation. A software raid can also be affected if the host computer is heavily loaded. But with budget favoring the software raid, those wanting optimum performance and efficiency of raid will have to go with the hardware raid. I constantly am playing with the server and scripting, and i literally havent rebooted the server in over 4 months. Zfs raid is of a software nature but its integrated as part of the running system.
It is licensed under the terms of the bsd license and runs on commodity x8664 hardware. Another possibility is for me to just upgrade my raid 5 array to raid 6, but keep the os and everything else the same. Benefits and drawbacks of hybrid, hardwareassisted software raid. For a small nas, the requirements are a boot drive of at least 8 gb, and 8 gb of ram. Zfs is the best parity raid implementation on the planet and when we state the horror numbers for raid 5 we do it assuming zfs so that no one can dispute the numbers and if you run anything besides zfs for parity raid the risks actually increase. Conclusion this was a big article to write for an evening, but hopefully it helps people understand the general implications of different raid implementations. Jun 12, 2019 i currently have a dedicated miniitx box running freenas 9. Freenas is a free and open source network attached storage nas software based on freebsd. But it cant do raid 6, only the standard raid 0,1, 5, 10. You need a way to load the drivers and boot the system, mainly. Nas set up, hardware raid vs freenas or nas4free h. One of them will be used for the os and cant be used for other raid configuration.
Scott lowe responds to a techrepublic discussion and one members raid dilemma. Freenas is awesome, decently easy to setup following a setup guide, but the best part is all the options and abilities freenas offers, while being rock solid stable using ver 9. Mar 06, 2018 it can either be performed in the host servers cpu software raid, or in an external cpu hardware raid. The company behind it, ixsystems, has been around since the dot com era and has made a name for itself in terms of both the hardware it delivers and the software like freenas that is shipped with it. Therefore, hardware raid is not needed and should not be used with freenas. Can i use the jbod option on the raid card, or do i have to buy a. Potentially able to upgrade the hardware to another freenas box. Configuring software raid on freenas learning freenas. Honestly, if your server has sufficient cpu, your network is still the bottleneck. Freenas makes two partitions on the drive, one for swap i think 2g or 4g is the default and a second for zfs. A redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. So after getting some community feedback on what disk configuration i should be using in my pool i decided to test which raid configuration was best in freenas.
Youll also need an ethernet connection and at least one storage drive. Another advantage of freenas in terms of hardware is the fact that normally synology nas imposes a limit on the maximum memory, that you do not find in a custom built pc or freenas server. Jan 02, 2016 zfs raid is of a software nature but its integrated as part of the running system. While freenas will install and boot on nearly any 64bit x86 pc or virtual machine, selecting the correct hardware is highly important to allowing freenas to do what it does best. Freenas is managed primarily through a graphical user interface gui. Zfs is used on top of hardware and software raid in most cases, this is the. As part of this transition, im planning on virtualizing my nas on.
Finally moving forward with the nasserver i have been talking about doing. Zfs with raidz3 with compatible hardware is probably a cheaper solution, beterperforming in terms of hardware and better data survivability for the large disks and the storage requirement. Differences between hardware raid, hbas, and software raid. Heavy processing can cause some pieces of data to be delayed by a small amount of time. Why im switching from synology to freenas not quite. The easy thing to do is just use freenas, set up raidz2, and forget.
Then in raidz1 it will take your four disks and stripe across them exactly the same as raid5. Hardware redundant array of inexpensive disks raid and software raid are two main ways for setting up raid system. Any environment that uses microsoft software and hardware should run with a windows server infrastructure behind it. Can i use the jbod option on the raid card, or do i have to buy a normal sas controller for the zfs option. As part of this transition, im planning on virtualizing my nas on the proxmox server and freeing up my itx box for other uses.
Benefits and drawbacks of hybrid, hardware assisted software raid. I have a server with 16 gb ram and 4x1tb hdds configured as raid 10. Apr 06, 2014 for freenas you would be running zfs which is considered one of the better software raid s. This requires a modern web browser on a separate computer on the same network as the freenas device. And for just as long, it has been plagued by substandard readwrite performance which is why. The hardware raid controller performed slightly better than the raidz implementation. My hardware is an amd fx4100 quad core, 8 gb of ram, and 3 x 1. Recently, however, i have been looking into freenas and the zraid options. May 24, 2005 scott lowe responds to a techrepublic discussion and one members raid dilemma. When watching the test, i had the impression that the raidz configuration was faster, especially when comparing the results with a large record length. I back up all my data using dropboxstyle sync software called. Selfbuilt nas wfreenas and a hardware raid controller.
Use freenas with zfs to protect, store, and back up all of your data. Difference between hardware raid and software raid. If you are considering raid 5 youll want to lean more heavily towards zfs software raid vs. Oct 25, 2007 software raid under linux is pretty stellar feature, and its cpu cost, especially with current hardware, is neglible. If you are talking about rebuilding, a zfs system will only rebuild the actual data on disk, rather than the full disk in the case of a hardware raid card. Comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server or pc, and the management of those drives. Using hardware raid in addition not only does not make things better, it makes things worse with extra unnecessary hardware and software layers between zfs and the drives. Raid 6 or if i should invest in pcie card to raid it. Jul 10, 2017 so after getting some community feedback on what disk configuration i should be using in my pool i decided to test which raid configuration was best in freenas.
Put xfs or even well set ext3, lvm2 on top of it, and you have very flexible solution open for expansion in the future. Hardware beats out software substantially in output for parity raid, with hardware being 66% faster for block output and 20% faster for rewrite performance in a 256kb chunk raid6. Hardware raid will cost more, but it will also be free of software raids. Freenas is a free and opensource networkattached storage nas operating system based on freebsd and the openzfs file system. Also you can run into problems with memory exhaustion. I am about to reemploy some antiquated hardware to add storage and have come to a chicken vs. I am still learning how the freenas pool expansion works and it. When done correctly, raid is what allows you to combine disk drives while providing the necessary protection against disk failure. Freenas is the simplest way to create a centralized and easily accessible place for your data. Hardware raid offers better reliability compared to software raid. Top hardware components for freenas nas servers freenas is a freebsd based storage platform that utilizes zfs. Its primary uses will be as a nas, a plex server, and running game servers. Jan 31, 2014 i would take a look at using windows software raid vs.
Additionally, hardware assisted software raid usually comes with a variety of drivers for the most popular operating systems, and therefore, is more os independent than pure software raid. First, youll need to be running 64bit hardware, as 32bit isnt supported at all. Which will be good choise hardware raid or zfs based. Zfs allows dynamic resizing growth of pools when the host is running. But my problem has been if i should be doing software raid with freenas raidz2 ie. Selfbuilt nas w freenas and a hardware raid controller guys, i am just starting to do research and spec out a desktop nas freenas but as i read more into it i found that mobo raid controllers i plan to do 4x3tb raid5 are considered evil of all sorts, so they encourage people to get a controller.
Hardware raid strongly discouraged ixsystems community. Raid1 for startup disks, iscsi exporting lvm2software raid5 over 5. Solved freenas setup, hardware raid or zfs array spiceworks. A raid can be deployed using both software and hardware. Lsi 92618i raid only, no itmodejbod running a sas array of its own.
Imagine that your put your swap file on a iscsi export and you use. Whether software raid vs hardware raid is the one for you depends on what you need to do and how much you want to pay. Windows software raid vs hardware raid ars technica. But i have problem deciding that should i use hardware raid raid6 or zfs based raidz2. This way you can easy replace devices if they are hot swappable, manage new pools and so on. Here are some tips on raid levels and some feedback on the software vs. Freenas is a trusted and robust operating system for your network attached storage nas.
So after getting some community feedback on what disk configuration i should be using in my pool i decided to test which raid configuration. I would take a look at using windows software raid vs. I want a two drive fail recovery, raid 6 or what ever freenas uses for that. Mar 29, 2019 unraid vs freenas vs openmediavault, which is the best nas software in 2019 see drives down below in description. The fact that it uses a thoroughly enterprise file system and it is free means that it is extremely popular among it professionals who are on constrained budgets. Jun, 2016 comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server or pc, and the management of those drives. Selfbuilt nas wfreenas and a hardware raid controller guys, i am just starting to do research and spec out a desktop nas freenas but as i read more into it i found that mobo raid controllers i plan to do 4x3tb raid5 are considered evil of all sorts, so they encourage people to get a controller. Choosing a raid configuration for your home server butter, what.
But in order to expand a raidz3, you need to add at least 4 drives at a time, and you should add more to form an entire additional raidz3 vdev. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a raid controller card inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard. Deciding between hardware and software raid in my freenas. It is a way to virtualize multiple, independent hard disk drives into one or more arrays to improve performance, capacity and reliability. You fill your server with drives, because many hardware raid. No remote ipmi management, still nonecc memory, will eventually have to upgrade since mobo wont support raid card, etc option 2 sell used hardware including the raid card, build nas box with good server equipment. For freenas you would be running zfs which is considered one of the better software raids. Instead, it has the software raid but the software raid requires 5 hdds.
Raid stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks. Ive worked in organisations in the past that have used windows pcs and no server behind them and it causes a huge number of problems in terms of time to manage the use of devices and causes problems with security over the network and access to shared data. The pool can then be configured to the particular raid level, depending on your needs. Freenas based on freebsd flexraid not an os, but a multiplatform app openmediavault debian port of freenas not yet stable im in a strange position with this, because i have a really nice raid card. The downsides are similar to ones with software raid vs hardware raid real raid, not that fakeraid onboard stuff you get from people like nvidia or intel. Zfs is the best parity raid implementation on the planet and when we state the horror numbers for raid 5 we do it assuming zfs so that no one can dispute the numbers and if you run anything besides zfs for parity raid the risks actually. Lets start the hardware vs software raid battle with the hardware side. Jul 07, 2009 a redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. I currently have a dedicated miniitx box running freenas 9. You could also get away with using onboard sata ports. Additionally, hardwareassisted software raid usually comes with a variety of drivers for the most popular operating systems, and therefore, is more os independent than pure software raid. Soft possibly the longest running battle in raid circles is which is faster, hardware raid or software raid. Freenas is free and seems to have a lot of community support out there, but the ability of unraid to allow random additions of drives and simple setup it appealing as well.
But the real question is whether you should use a hardware raid solution or a software raid solution. Linux software raid mdadm vs zfs zraid for file server. Unraid vs freenas vs openmediavault, which is the best nas software in 2019 see drives down below in description. When setting up a raid array, common knowledge says that hardware raid is preferable to software raid. In zfs the raid5 idea exists as raidz, its the same parity idea. Hardware raid will cost more, but it will also be free of software raid s. Freenas is an operating system that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. The server i want comes with an adaptec 5805 hardware raid card. Zfs has two tools zpool and zfs to manage devices, raid, pools and filesystems from the operating system level. Freenas vs unraid open source storage operating system.