Zfs has its own names for its software raid implementations. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie. A hardware raid controller costs money but has no overhead on the server. Difference between hardware raid and software raid. The only advantage hardware raid has over software raid today is that it requires less iops for writes, as it can do all the paritity iooperations on the controller memory and write data sequentially to the disks. But i have problem deciding that should i use hardware raid raid6 or zfs based raidz2. Hardware raid will cost more, but it will also be free of software raid s. What is the difference between hardware raid and software. Raid 0 striped drives raid 1 mirror raid 5 raidz1 raid 6 raidz2 raid 10 striped mirrors. I successfully installed windows 7 on the system disc, without the raid drives being installed. Freenas vs unraid freenas open source storage operating.
Hardware raid 5e vs 6 vs 10 for home media server hard. Top hardware components for freenas nas servers freenas is a freebsd based storage platform that utilizes zfs. Freenas is the simplest way to create a centralized and easily accessible place for your data. 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. Now i want to create a new box using freenas using the same size drives of 4tb wd red nas to get the same amount of usable storage space 10tb or more. This is a common experience in the smb world where software raid from windows on low powered intel processors was used as the benchmark in the 1990s.
Linux md raid is exceptionally fast and versatile, but linux io stack is composed of multiple independent pieces that you need to carefully understood to extract. Freenas has been open source software since its inception in late 2005 and its 10m downloads make it the worlds largest softwaredefined storage operating system. Differences between hardware raid, hbas, and software raid. Although it could be said that both synology and freenas arrive with free software, there is no denying the cost of the synology dsm software forms part of the price tag with buying a synology nas. Today we dive into what the differences are and whe we choose them. Freenas is a trusted and robust operating system for your network attached storage nas. For software raid i used the linux kernel software raid functionality of a system running 64bit fedora 9. The easy thing to do is just use freenas, set up raidz2, and forget about it. Software vs hardware raid performance and cache usage. Windows software raid has a bad reputation, performance wise, and even storage space seems not too different. It is three completely different products rolled into one so works differently in different scenarios.
So after getting some community feedback on what disk configuration i should be using in my pool i decided to test which raid configuration. But the real question is whether you should use a hardware raid solution or a software raid solution. I want a two drive fail recovery, raid 6 or what ever freenas uses for that. If a given set of disks is provided to zfs using a hardware raid card, zfs will not. Freenas uses the file system zfs, which is not exclusive to freenas but is an extremely powerful file system, volume manager and software raid controller in one. May 24, 2005 scott lowe responds to a techrepublic discussion and one members raid dilemma. I would take a look at using windows software raid vs.
Freenas has been open source software since its inception in late 2005 and its 10m downloads make it the worlds largest software defined storage operating system. In this post, ill share my results comparing hardware to software raid on modern windows 10, then to take things up a notch, ill see how a storage spaces volume with parity maybe microsoft is charged money for using the word raid, because they avoid that word like the plague. A redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. The paritity calculation itself is so cheap that a modern cpu wouldnt even sweat at 1gbs. I want to recreate this set up using windows 7 pro 64 bit running on a msi 790gxg65 mother board. A software raid is free but does carry some overhead on the server and may be less reliable under certain circumstances. Nas set up, hardware raid vs freenas or nas4free h. There will be contention for disk as your server needs to seek as it jumps from one video to another. It is used to improve disk io performance and reliability of your server or workstation. I see a lot of you run freenas, i just came into a free r710 with 6x 1tb drives and a raid controller. Windows raid storage spaces is still iffy and a little immature so youll be relying on your hardware raid. Hardware raid vs software raid windows 7 help forums.
A raid can be deployed using both software and hardware. After i decide the raid level i need to choose an os. Where that processing occurs can be important depending on the complexity of your raid setup. The hardwarebased system manages the raid subsystem independently from the host and presents to the host only a single disk per raid array. In some sense, i dont have much of a choice since my existing raid controller cant see drivers greater than 2 tb.
That why i wrote my very first sentence have anyone used software raid 1 in windows as im thinking of changing to software raid over hardware raid. The drives are configured, so that the data is either divided between disks to distribute load, or duplicated to ensure that it can be recovered once a disk fails. One big advantage of software raid is that it can be hardware agnostic when it comes to migrating drives and arrays. Aug 16, 2018 how to set up a home file server using freenas. Truenas allflash and hybrid storage open source freenas. Seds do not experience the performance overhead introduced by software. Nas4free how to create a software raid volume and share it to windows ok, i got frustrated at how unintuitive nas4free can be to setup. 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.
Nas set up, hardware raid vs freenas or nas4free hardforum. Choosing between software raid and hardware raid depends on what you need to do and cost. Hardware raid 5e vs 6 vs 10 for home media server hardforum. How to set up a home file server using freenas windows central. Nas4free 11 how to create a software raid volume and share. I back up all my data using dropboxstyle sync software called seafile. The official freenas hardware guide ixsystems, inc. Can i use the jbod option on the raid card, or do i have to buy a normal sas controller for the zfs option. We develop freenas, the open source version of truenas. 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. By kris wouk posted on mar 8, 2019 mar 7, 2019 in software tools if youre building a network attached storage nas, youll know its more than just the hardware that matters. Aug 18, 2019 if you are using raid on a server or workstation, then there is a case for hardware raid as the processing power and the hardware raid controller means that there is a possibility of data retrieval speed increases but not with software or storage spaces which is, as i understand it, simply a new version of the ms dynamic disk. We have seen the same hba perform around 5% slower with raid firmware vs. With hardware raid, because the processing work is done on a discrete controller card in the server or at the level of the storage subsystem, theres no added load to the server processor and buses.
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. With freenas free it is, as the name describes, free and you can install it on number of systems. Raid stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks. Setting up a hardware raid under windows 7, with a. Windows, freenas, esata, port multipliers, nonit raid. This applies to any system implementing zfs, not just freenas, and these.
The server i want comes with an adaptec 5805 hardware raid card. If you just want jbod, buy a hba instead of raid card. This is a method of improving the performance and reliability of your storage media by using multiple drives. It is generally fine, however, to use windows software raid on simple storage. The linux implementations of nfs and iscsi are generally more mature and reliable. The hardware raid card has no insights into what file system or data you have on the disk. If anything they should be advised to increase ram and be done with it. Imho, im a big fan of kernel developers non directly related to zfs, so i really prefere mdadm to hardware raid. One of them will be used for the os and cant be used for other raid configuration. And hardware raid has been a great, but expensive and labor intensive, solution for those who have the expertise or can hire it as needed. Oct 30, 2015 while the intel raid controller blows the software raid out of the water on sequential reads, surprisingly the windows software raid was better in nearly every other respect. If you have a hardware raid controller it will be more stable than a software.
If you are using raid on a server or workstation, then there is a case for hardware raid as the processing power and the hardware raid controller means that there is a possibility of data retrieval speed increases but not with software or storage spaces which is, as i understand it, simply a new version of the ms dynamic disk. The fact that it uses a thoroughly enterprise file system and it is free means that it is extremely popular among it. Storage spacessoftware raid what are my best options. The first is just get a sata controller for that machine and keep going as is, since its software raided through windows storage spaces. Software vs bios vs hardware raid ars technica openforum. If youre using a hardware raid controller, it has its own independent operating system that communicates with your disks and often has caches to improve read and write performance.
Jan 25, 2017 the purpose of this post asking if someone used software raid. You have to firstly tell your system to stop using the disk and then replace the disk. That is what the thread was about, mainly, will raid 1 benefit enough to justify the extra risk and investment for a hw controller. Features freenas open source storage operating system. Windows software raid vs hardware raid ars technica. Freenas is a free and opensource networkattached storage nas operating system based on freebsd and the openzfs file system. Hardware raid and software raid are both important storage tools that we use with our systems. Hardware raid presents logical disks that are already configured to the system or the san, mirrored and ready to go. Any environment that uses microsoft software and hardware should run with a windows server infrastructure behind it. How to set up a home file server using freenas windows.
Freenas isnt bad but it is not freebsd and since freebsd does everything that. Raidz, the software raid that is part of zfs, offers single parity protection like. 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. We list the pros and cons of hardware vs software raid to help you decide which one is best for you. Solved freenas setup, hardware raid or zfs array spiceworks. Easy gui management with an option to get into the shell if you want. We know that software raid in windows has always sucked. But is this product the only option when it comes to nas. Instead, it has the software raid but the software raid requires 5 hdds. 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.
Aug 28, 2017 hardware raid and software raid are both important storage tools that we use with our systems. If youre using freenas arent you stuck with zfs anyway. There will likely be more advanced features, such as drives being hotswappable in case of failure. If you are considering raid 5 youll want to lean more heavily towards zfs software raid vs. Replacing failed disk in the software raid is a bit more complex. 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. In windows, you can map the freenas location to a specific drive letter so. 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.
This is something of a misconception as all raid is software raid. Nas or desktop hdd for raid 1 or windows software raid. For hardware raid, that cpu can be in a disk array or in a raid controller. Create 4 raid 1 devices and let software make a raid 5 of that or create raid 1. We have explained what raid is and the two types of raid, today we want to discuss the difference between hardware raid and software raid, as many users have been confused by them brief introduction about hardware raid. Raid is hardware or software that provides redundancy in multiple device environments, and accelerates hdds. 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. 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. Under software raid, that configuration is performed in the. Nas or desktop hdd for raid 1 or windows software raid hi, i want to buy two new hdd for my raid 1 mirror in desktop to store my data.
It is licensed under the terms of the bsd license and runs on commodity x8664 hardware. These software solutions create parity drives to ensure an equal level of dataavailability compared to raidzfs solutions, but do not have the potential of killing the entire pool. Which will be good choise hardware raid or zfs based. Every major operating system is supported with smbcifs windows file shares. Deciding between hardware and software raid in my freenas.
Like ahci and ide, raid supports sata controllers, and many raid products enable ahci upon installation to provide advanced storage features for singledisk applications. Dont use the raid functions of external controller but use the zfs software raid that is available in freenas against disks connected to the raid controller jbod. And hardware raid has been a great, but expensive and labor intensive, solution for. Freenas is an operating system that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. Jan 31, 2014 i would take a look at using windows software raid vs. If repurposing hardware raid cards with freenas, be aware that. Zfs does not support growing the array by 12 drives at a time. These software solutions create parity drives to ensure an equal level of dataavailability compared to raid zfs solutions, but do not have the potential of killing the entire pool. But with budget favoring the software raid, those wanting optimum performance and efficiency of raid will have to go with the hardware raid. You can use it as simply a filesystem on top of hardware raid or you can use it as your complete stack of software raid, lvm and filesystem. Now i have to configure that server for the freenas, but i have found that the freenas wont support the hardware raid.
I do agree though, that hardware raid is the best choice on business class windows servers or even important. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard. Honestly, if your server has sufficient cpu, your network is still the bottleneck. Here are some tips on raid levels and some feedback on the software vs. For purposes of picking hardware, if one continues use of windows home server v1 drive extender, then the software raid category is probably the place to look for ideas. Nas4free 11 how to create a software raid volume and. Use freenas with zfs to protect, store, and back up all of your data. They provide free and opensource enterprise grade network attached storage software. Jul 07, 2009 a redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. I was running a windows xp pro machine with a hardware raid set to run as raid 5 a 3 disc raid and a separate disc for the system and programs files. Potentially able to upgrade the hardware to another freenas box.
Freenas supports windows, macos and unix clients and various virtualization hosts such as xenserver and vmware using the smb, afp, nfs, iscsi, ssh, rsync. I have a server with 16 gb ram and 4x1tb hdds configured as raid 10. Is it bad for the raid mode that there are different disks. Reasons for using software raid versus a hardware raid setup. Which is why i like hardware raid 10 and software parity raid with zfs on top either way. It seems that no matter if you use a hardware or a software raid controller, you should expect to lose performance when youre duplicating every write, which makes sense. Choosing a raid configuration for your home server butter, what.
Differences in permissions between unix nfs and windows cifs. Zfs can be software raid or it can simply be your filesystem. The purpose of this post asking if someone used software raid. Scott lowe responds to a techrepublic discussion and one members raid dilemma. I do agree though, that hardware raid is the best choice. Configuration is still required, but that configuration takes place outside the system.