Suggestions: Building a NAS
Hello Experts,
I am evaluating the possibility to build a NAS appliance from existing hardware we have in our company. I need some advice and input on what to evaluate further and what caveats to keep in mind. Also, though I am firm with handling Linux, I am not that far with UNIX (FreeBSD, OmniOS, OpenIndiana, Solaris).
The appliance would mainly be used as backing iSCSI storage for a few VM hosts/nodes (2-4). Also, it might be possible that we provision some classical network shares with it.
Here are scope statements, 'must have':
- Cut costs (as an alternative to a new QNAP)
- iSCSI, 10GbE
- Thin Provisioning
- LUN Backup and snapshotting (via API / shell script)
'Nice to have':
- Hierarchical storage
- Compression
- Dedup
- Replication
- High Availability
From the specs, I really like to use ZFS, which I am somewhat familiar with and can do all this.
This in mind, I came across two distros:
FreeNAS: http://www.freenas.org/
napp-it on OmniOS: http://www.napp-it.org/downloads/omnios.html
I already have FreeNAS running in a VM and from what I can do it looks promising.
Special Questions:
- From what I read Oracle pulled ZFS from Open Source, so the FreeBSD port is not very up to date any more. Is it therefore better to use a Solaris fork like OmniOS / OpenIndiana?
- What matters the most to me is the iSCSI performance. I read the whole iSCSI layer is not such a good performance in FreeBSD then the other distros I mentioned?
- Can you suggest more distros / appliances or even whole different approaches which make better sense?
Thanks in advance,
Daniel
I am evaluating the possibility to build a NAS appliance from existing hardware we have in our company. I need some advice and input on what to evaluate further and what caveats to keep in mind. Also, though I am firm with handling Linux, I am not that far with UNIX (FreeBSD, OmniOS, OpenIndiana, Solaris).
The appliance would mainly be used as backing iSCSI storage for a few VM hosts/nodes (2-4). Also, it might be possible that we provision some classical network shares with it.
Here are scope statements, 'must have':
- Cut costs (as an alternative to a new QNAP)
- iSCSI, 10GbE
- Thin Provisioning
- LUN Backup and snapshotting (via API / shell script)
'Nice to have':
- Hierarchical storage
- Compression
- Dedup
- Replication
- High Availability
From the specs, I really like to use ZFS, which I am somewhat familiar with and can do all this.
This in mind, I came across two distros:
FreeNAS: http://www.freenas.org/
napp-it on OmniOS: http://www.napp-it.org/downloads/omnios.html
I already have FreeNAS running in a VM and from what I can do it looks promising.
Special Questions:
- From what I read Oracle pulled ZFS from Open Source, so the FreeBSD port is not very up to date any more. Is it therefore better to use a Solaris fork like OmniOS / OpenIndiana?
- What matters the most to me is the iSCSI performance. I read the whole iSCSI layer is not such a good performance in FreeBSD then the other distros I mentioned?
- Can you suggest more distros / appliances or even whole different approaches which make better sense?
Thanks in advance,
Daniel
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Not sure what license are you talking about, FC based connection?
Think that openfiler indicated no further development beyond version 2.99
Think that openfiler indicated no further development beyond version 2.99
ASKER
Hello arnold,
I mean this:
https://store.openfiler.com/index.php/advanced-iscsi-target-plugin-14.html?___store=default
As I understand it, it is some advanced GUI settings. Since I expect to use this feature a lot, I rather use the GUI than command line.
Its 1000 Euro. I do not need the FC target licence; I would only deploy iSCSI luns. Also, I think I would need a commercial license?
I mean this:
https://store.openfiler.com/index.php/advanced-iscsi-target-plugin-14.html?___store=default
As I understand it, it is some advanced GUI settings. Since I expect to use this feature a lot, I rather use the GUI than command line.
Its 1000 Euro. I do not need the FC target licence; I would only deploy iSCSI luns. Also, I think I would need a commercial license?
Since you will mainly use this setup for backup purposes, why do you think you need the plugin?
I could understand the need for the plugin if you use this storage for continuous and time sensitive IO such as a storage for a database.
Try the VM version of openfiler, and see if it meets your needs.
I could understand the need for the plugin if you use this storage for continuous and time sensitive IO such as a storage for a database.
Try the VM version of openfiler, and see if it meets your needs.
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ASKER
Thank you, I did not know that Nexenta has a community edition. I will def. give it a try.
Apart from support and the 18TB cap, are there any restrictions worth noting? I briefly looked over their site and did not find anything.
Apart from support and the 18TB cap, are there any restrictions worth noting? I briefly looked over their site and did not find anything.
I haven't used Nexenta as we have always decided that we would rather pay a vendor to do the integration rather than have separate hardware and software vendors with us stuck in the middle. For what it is worth, the paid version is pretty inexpensive.
ASKER
True, this is how I like it best, too.
Thanks!
For what it is worth, the paid version is pretty inexpensive.Before I get a quote, can you tell me what that means? And is it licensed per raw storrage or net storage? The net storage I need in the beginning would be little more than 5TB - but mirrored.
Thanks!
last I checked it's licensed as raw. So if you have 4 3tb drives in a raid 10, you get 6tb but licensed for 12tb
ASKER
Has any of you an estimate on how much they charge?
ASKER
Hi.
thanks for all the input on that matter. In the end I decided for NexentaStor. I also want to thank smckeown777 for the insight:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28194467/ZFS-Server-Build.html?anchorAnswerId=39957246#a39957246
If anyone is interested, a 18TB commercial license for NexentaStor is about 1.800.00 Euro atm.
thanks for all the input on that matter. In the end I decided for NexentaStor. I also want to thank smckeown777 for the insight:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28194467/ZFS-Server-Build.html?anchorAnswerId=39957246#a39957246
If anyone is interested, a 18TB commercial license for NexentaStor is about 1.800.00 Euro atm.
Remember it's raw storage for cost purposes. So with raid 10 18tb is 9tb...
ASKER
Right! I read about zfsguru. It is still beta? Any problems? What is your usecase? I know it is about the GUI; zfs as basis is considered stable.
Hello arnold, your comment seems to be truncated? I know about openfiler. I dropped it from my list though because it is Linux, and ZFS support in Linux is experimental. Also, I would need the advanced iSCSI license I think. In this case, I rather by a QNAP.
Can anyone tell me something about the general performance of the FreeBSD ports of ZFS and COMSTAR compared to Solaris (clones like OmniOS, OpenIndiana)?
Also, I now have a second VM with Napp-It. I consider FreeNAS more comfortable and with a larger user base, but it seems to be very powerful as well as it features the latest ZFS. Also, I was able to create a thin provisioned iSCSI LUN in almost the same time as in FreeNAS; usability is ok for me I suppose. Does anyone here use Napp it?