# Server/NAS/ZFS/RAID



## doc1623 (Jan 10, 2016)

Actually this is a few questions in one post. I bought a TS440 Lenovo server to replace my QNAP NAS I've used for years. I bought two 6TB drives. The TS440 only has the chipset RAID (no card).(Intel C220)

History
I use my NAS for media/data ...well lots. I have it mounted on all my other computers through NFS. I play media from my media center with mplayer using the mounted drive (both music and HD video). It also houses all my data. Some programs work ok with having their data on a NFS mounted drive. Others I just back up or store there.

1. First should I use FreeBSD or FreeNAS? I use FreeBSD on my main desktop and (of course) enjoy it (Thank YOU guys). I know FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD.

2. My QNAP is just mirrored. Two 2TB drives. My freebsd uses the ZFS file system. I guess/think for best data security/stability. I should just disable the chipset RAID and use ZFS mirrored?

I just wanted some expert opinions before I installed/configured the server. Thank you for any tips/advice/opinions.

Future
I have/may use(d) it for personal webserver (used that on the qnap). I might use other X programs from it on other computers ssh -X. I like flexibility.

Thanks Again for any/all help! (and any other cool things you think of!)


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## usdmatt (Jan 10, 2016)

Using FreeBSD or FreeNAS is mainly down to which you are more comfortable with. I prefer just using FreeBSD as I have more control over what's going on. FreeNAS is obviously more user friendly and I believe is a bit more tuned for file serving out of the box.

I would strongly recommend using a ZFS mirror over any onboard RAID. Set the motherboard to AHCI if available.


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## doc1623 (Jan 10, 2016)

Thank you usdmatt!

I'm going to look at the "bios now". Also, if anybody can point me toward a quick... recommended cronjob snapshot setup. I'm sorry but I'm no zfs expert. I would like to learn more and will try to but I need to get this box running & secure today, if possible.


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## NewGuy (Jan 10, 2016)

If the box is going to be used for storage exclusively, I'd probably run FreeNAS. But if you are going to doing anything else, such as running a web server or torrents, then I'd go with FreeBSD. Both will do the job nicely, but FreeNAS is designed to be more appliance-like, do just one set of tasks. FreeBSD gives you a full range of functionality. FreeBSD can take more effort to set up, but if installing FreeBSD doesn't phase you, then you will probably get more functionality out of FreeBSD in the long run.


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## doc1623 (Jan 10, 2016)

Thank You NewGuy,


I'm going to go with FreeBSD. I was comfortable installing it (been a little while). Looks like gummiboot is dead... guess I'll try refind...

Really the main reason I considered FreeNAS was the ZFS settings... that I still need to work on


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## gofer_touch (Jan 10, 2016)

As far as your question 1 goes (because I've never used QNAP).

FreeNAS and FreeBSD user here. It literally takes about half an hour to get a FreeBSD based NAS up and serving files over NFS on an internal network. Other things like weekly/monthly scrubs can be set up or jails if you need them in addition.

FreeNAS is really nice if you just want to configure something and go, it also does a lot of things for you like automatically schedules scrubs and so on (a click menu walks you through a lot of things). The defaults are decent and there are lots of other options besides. I would spend some time on the FreeNAS forums as well to get a sense of what people are doing there. There is a LOT of very useful advice for NAS building...especially from users like cyberjock (read cyberjock's tutorials, they are solid gold).

But I've found if you are at least comfortable with the command line, FreeBSD offers a great deal of flexibility and can be easier to troubleshoot when problems arise. As someone has already mentioned (and what you've alluded to), I would recommend going with mirrors instead of any RAIDZ options for home use if you don't mind having 50% of the raw storage available. It is easier to expand later and the performance is quite good.


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## ANOKNUSA (Jan 11, 2016)

doc1623 said:


> Looks like gummiboot is dead... guess I'll try refind...



Why do you need a boot manager for one operating system?


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## doc1623 (Jan 16, 2016)

Sorry about the late reply. Well haven't done it yet... been busy with work. Thanks gofer_touch. Flexibility is what I want. I may eventually do other things. I like a more flexible boot manager. I did like Gummiboot, simple but configurable. Maybe freebsdFreeBSD could do that ...Anyway I guess the sticking point now is I have to manually install again... still not able to install ZFS on root with EFI from what understand. I've used vermaden's ZFS Madness. Is that still up to date? Is there another tutorial/instruction set you could recommend... I guess I'll install the bootloader first. refind...then move on. I'm taking my time because this is a huge deal for me... I've never had such a machine to play with!


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