Newbie questions about FreeNAS

[Operations]

Let me start by saying that this is my first FreeNAS installation. I am pretty tech (Windows, network etc.) savvy but FreeNAS is new to me. I really like this forum!

I have read a lot but do have a couple of questions, first my setup:

X9SCM-F
Xeon E3-1270
32GB
Kingston 120GB SSD for FreeNAS installation
8x2TB RAIDz2 on a LSI 9207 in IT mode (So 10TB usable)
Mellanox Connectx-3 10Gbit network

I know not all the hardware is recommended but this is what i had laying around, if i like it i like switch to recommended hardware

Questions:

I was in doubt regarding Raidz1 or z2. But as far as i could tell, Raidz1 is not recommended because of when a drive fails rebuilding the pool takes too long and the data might be corrupt afterwards?

As for as i know i don't need LOG or CACHE, because i have enough memory. I will use this FreeNAS server as media storage and backups and learn about the Plugins and Jails. But if i like it i could change from my Hyper-V server to FreeNAS for my virtual machines. Am i right saying i don't need LOG or CACHE for now?

If so, when do you need LOG and or CACHE? I have read about the ARC, but not really sure how to interpret this number. My data will come from an 8x1,92TB SSD RAID10 array (Areca 1882) on a Windows machine, so i will use the 10Gbit for about 70/80%.

Is it best practice to install Plugins and/or Jails on a different (as fast as possible) pool? For example on a NVME SSD, or two SSD's in mirror.

Is there a HowTo somewhere which tells me what best practice is after installing FreeNAS? I have changed the Email Alerts and looked around a bit, but not really sure what i should do now. Yes i could start adding data to my pool, after i figured out how to create a share (SMB i think?) But is there no post install setup?

I assume it is not recommended to use the root account? probably better to create a different admin account?

I have installed FreeNAS with 4x4GB i assume it is not a problem to change the memory after installation? I will upgrade to 4x8GB.

Which card is the successor to the widely used and very populair LSI 9207/9211 series? I know there are a lot of HBA cards, but my guess is there is a newer model which is also often chosen.

I am also curious about Proxmox and Unraid. So i will also install two machines with both.

 

[gea]

From your alternatives.
Proxmox is a virtualisation environment bets for Linux VMs. Unraid is similar but with a focus on a media server.

As an option for a virtualisation environment especially with nix and Windows VM you can try ESXi als bases. FreeNAS would be a possible storage VM but you should prefere a more lightweight one like OmniOS. This is Solaris based (where ZFS was developped for). Unlike FreeNAS it comes with newest Open-ZFS features like ZFS encryption and special vdevs and the ZFS/kernelbased SMB server, see my manual chapter 5b at napp-it // webbased ZFS NAS/SAN appliance for OmniOS, OpenIndiana and Solaris : Manual

32 GB is okif you want to virtualize. Calculate 2 GB for ESXi, 4-16 GB for OmniOS and then the needed RAM for VMs.

With enough RAM you do not need an SSD readcache (L2Arc) but on a VM storage you should enable a secure sync write behaviour. With disks this is slow. An Slog (ramcache protector, not a writecache) can help to keep performance high. As an option you may add a SSD mirror for VMs (with sync enabled) and use the disk pool for filer and backup (sync disabled). With SSDs you should prefer ones with powerloss protection.

"Successor" of the 6G LSI are the 12G ones ex BroadCom 9300.

 

[Operations]

Thanks for your reply. I sort of figured that FreeNAS wasn't the best option for my primairy use case. But i wanted to try it once anyway.
Is OmniOS also GUI based? Like i said before i am a bit out of my depth here, so going into an OS with only/mostly a CLI is at the moment not what i was hoping for... I will look at your HowTo site later today, thanks for all the work!

If i would wanna use ESXi isn't it better to just use ESXi without FreeNAS? I am familiar with ESXi. You are saying it would be better to put VM's on a different faster pool. I get that, but i was talking about the plugins and jails. Should those be on a seperate pool? Even if my primairy pool would have been faster? Is it ok to put plugins and jails on the same pool as media / backup files?

If i would add a SLOG, i have read that Optane is the best way to go. Well i use an Optane 480GB disk in my workstation so i can confirm it is really really fast
But wouldn't a 500GB 970 EVO be good enough speed wise? And size wise is a give or take 500GB drive enough as a SLOG?

I looked at a Broadcom 9300 (for example on ebay).
But i see nothing about IT mode, isn't that a thing with the newer model anymore?

Even though i will probably not use all the advice i am getting i still would like to learn as much as possible