FreeNAS vs Openfiler dilemma

Scott Salisbury · 20 Feb 2012 at 02:04

Hey all,

Got myself into a bit of a pickle, currently working to build myself a home NAS solution.

Setup:
- HP Proliant Microserver N40L
- 8GB RAM
- 4x 2TB WD20EAR

I've tried both FreeNAS (Raidz1) and Openfiler (Software RAID 5) and I really like them both for different reasons and I can't decided which one to go for.

I'm currently swaying towards Openfiler because write speeds over CIFs are better than FreeNAS (85mbs vs 55mbs), but performance isn't such a game changer (but would be nice).

I don't know much about raid, but I hear people talking about a raid 5 write hole, does this still exist in software raid on something like openfiler?

I may also use my set up as a iSCSI target for my other ESXI host, but I've not done this before so not sure yet (still learning).

These are my findings after some research:

FreeNAS 8:

PROS
- Uses ZFS (apparently the mutts nuts)
- RaidZ (is a bit like Raid5 without 'write hole' issue)
- Faster webgui when installed on usb drive
- More active community

CONS
- Slower write performance
- Less 'finished' product feeling
- Not as pretty webgui
- Rumours of instability despite people worshipping ZFS like it is god

Openfiler 2.99
PROS
- Faster write performance
- Prettier easy to use webgui
- Feels/looks reliable and a bit more trustworthy

CONS
- Less active community
- Potential raid 5 'write hole'?
- Slower webgui installed on usb flash

So those are my findings, but I can't come to a decision. I will be backing up my most important data to a cloud backup service in addition to this set up.

Another option would be to not use raid, or use a different raid option but I feel raid5 fits my needs quite well. Redundancy isn't so important to me that I need to sacrifice even more storage.

Is there anyone who is able to offer an option or thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Scott.

bremen1874 · 20 Feb 2012 at 02:19

'RAID5 write hole' = Using Wikipedia as a primary reference?

IMO it isn't something you need to be worrying about.

Scott Salisbury · 20 Feb 2012 at 02:25

Cheers for the reply, was hoping someone would say something like that

bremen1874 said:
'RAID5 write hole' = Using Wikipedia as a primary reference?

IMO it isn't something you need to be worrying about.

As it happens, yes. That was the first place I noticed that, however I've seen many other blog posts, forums posts that have also mentioned it in an attempt to discourage using raid5 *shrug*.

Cheers.

bremen1874 · 20 Feb 2012 at 02:43

If you're doing something where the 'RAID5 write hole' was a real issue then you hopefully wouldn't be using a HP Microserver in the first place (and you'd have it running off a UPS).

101001101 · 24 Feb 2012 at 15:01

Check out Nexentastor as well based on ZFS - I ran it on a custom rig (8GB RAM QUAD CORE etc) and it was very fast but bugged - kept dropping iSCSI targets under load (might be a COMSTAR issue / didnt like my rig) - worth a shot though:

http://www.nexentastor.org/projects/site/wiki/CommunityEdition

and also OpenIndiana (fork from Solaris Express):

http://openindiana.org/

Combine above (OpenIndiana) with a nice front end to manage it:

http://www.napp-it.de/

You can also run Napp-IT with Oracle Solaris 11....

Essexraptor · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:36

Had a look at FreeNAS 8 initially for my N40L but went with the older 7 version ( 32 bit from usb with just 3Gb of RAM) Read/write speeds are in the high 70's - mid 80's Mbs. which is fast enough for me

Mainly because the 8 version, IMO only mind you, seemed to be aimed more towards the enterprise/commerical end of the market. Also meant that as a learner, like yourself, I did not have to go all out and overstuff the Micro with RAM that was not going to be utilised in my little home setup. RAM is cheap and I will go that way.... if I need it.

I'm also running a Openfiler project server on a little Socket 462 rig with IDE drives. Hardware does not look exciting but it's quite nippy. As you point out it's not as well supported but as a plaything I find it more than holds it own against FreeNAS.

Between the 2 though I would go with FreeNAS for main. Will look at 8 when they have tweaked out more bugs and added some more features like torrent client etc.

This caught my eye the other day

http://www.openmediavault.org/

And will be the next on my check out list

100110..... also has some good leads