1.1.1. RELEASE-U1¶

• Netatalk has been updated to3.1.12 to addressCVE-2018-1160.

1.1.2. U2¶

• The base operating system has been patched to address these securityadvisories:

• ZFS vnode reclaim deadlock
• Insufficient bounds checking in bhyve(8) device model
• sqlite update
• Timezone database information update
• kqueue race condition and kernel panic
• System call kernel data register leak

• Themlx5ib(4)driver for the Mellanox ConnectX-4 family of infiniband drivers hasbeen added.
• Samba has been updated to4.9.4 whichis the current stable release receiving new features. This version bumpprovides significant performance improvements as well as improved TimeMachine support. This deprecates the dfs_samba4, fake_acls, skel_opaque,skel_transparent, and snapper modules which have been removed fromSharing ‣ Windows (SMB) Shares ‣ ADD ‣ ADVANCED MODE ‣ VFS Objects.
• OpenSSL has been updated to1.0.2qto address CVE-2018-5407.
• curl has been updated to7.62.0 to addresssecurity vulnerabilities.
• Pool widgets in theDashboardnow change color to reflect the current pool status.
• Help text can now be pinned to the screen, remaining visible whenthe cursor moves from the help icon.
• Disable Endpoint Region andUse Signature Version 2 checkboxes have been added toSystem ‣ Cloud Credentials ‣ Add Cloud CredentialwhenAmazon S3 is chosen as theProvider.
• TheReboot After Update checkbox has been added toSystem ‣ Update ‣ Manual Update
• A  (Browse) option displays with theFolder field inTasks ‣ Cloud Sync Tasks ‣ ADD.This allows browsing through the connectedCredentialremote filesystem.
• Rollback for any dataset snapshot is supported inStorage ‣ Snapshots.
• Theixnas VFS module has been added to and theaio_pthread VFS module has been removed fromSharing ‣ Windows (SMB) ‣ VFS Objects.
• TheTime Machine field has been added toSharing ‣ Windows (SMB) Shares ‣ Add.
• AnNAA column has been added toSharing ‣ Block (iSCSI) ‣ Extents.
• TheEnable SMB1 support checkbox has been added toServices ‣ SMB.
• AnADVANCED PLUGIN INSTALLATION option has been added toPlugins ‣ Available ‣ Install. This allowsfull plugin jail customization before plugin installation.
• Theallow_mlock,vnet_interfaces,hostid_strict_check, andallow_tun fields havebeen added to theJails ‣ Add ‣ Advanced Jail CreationandJails ‣ Editforms.
• TheARC Size graph inReportingnow shows the compressed physical L2ARC size.
• Theopenipmi package andusr/local/lib/collectd/ipmi.so have been removed to disablethe non-functional collectd IPMI plugin.
• TheWait to Boot field inVirtual Machines ‣ Devices ‣ VNC Device ‣ Edithas been renamed toDelay VM Boot until VNC Connects.
• AnAlert forsyslog-ngstopping has been added toSystem ‣ Alert Settings.

1.1.3. U3¶

• ZeroTier has been updated to1.2.12.
• TheConfirm Password field has been removed fromSystem ‣ Email.
• A  (Refresh) button has been added toSystem ‣ Update.
• TheMultipaths page has been added toStorage.This page only appears when compatible hardware is detected.
• The chosen snapshot name and creation date has been added to therollback warning dialog inStorage ‣ Snapshots ‣  (Options)‣ Rollback.
• ThePool column has been removed fromStorage ‣ Disks.
• SettingEnable AD Monitoring inDirectory Services ‣ Active Directorynow prevents modifyingServices ‣ Domain Controller.
• Theshadow_copy_zfs VFS object has replaced theshadow_copy_test object inSharing ‣ Windows (SMB) Shares ‣ ADD ‣ ADVANCED MODE.
• TheHost field has been added toServices ‣ TFTP.
• Jails displays a DHCP prefix before theIPv4 Address for DHCP-enabled Plugins and Jails.
• CPU Temperature graphs have been added toReporting ‣ CPU.
• Activity graphs have been updated to report Megabytes/s inReporting ‣ Network.
• Restart has been added to the  (Options) menu for arunning VM inVirtual Machines.
• TheState column ofVirtual Machines haschanged to a start/stop slider. Hover over the slider to view thecurrent state.
• TheAutostart column has been added toVirtual Machines.
• TheRaw filename password field has been added toDocker HostStorage File options inVirtual Machines ‣ ADD.
• TheBind drop-down menu has been added toVirtual Machines ‣ ADD and toVirtual Machines ‣ Devices ‣ VNC ‣ Edit.

Note

88 bytes is equal to 88 ASCII characters. The number ofcharacters varies when using Unicode.

Warning

If the mounted path length for a snapshot exceeds 88bytes, the data in the snapshot is safe but inaccessible. Whenthe mounted path length of the snapshot is less than the 88 bytelimit, the data will be accessible again.

Note

A snapshot that cannot be mounted automatically by ZFS canstill be mounted manually from theShell with a shortermountpoint path. This makes it possible to mount and accesssnapshots that cannot be accessed automatically in other ways, suchas from the web interface or from features such as “File History” or“Versions”.

Note

FreeNAS^® boots from a GPT partition. This means that thesystem BIOS must be able to boot using either the legacy BIOSfirmware interface or EFI.

1.3.1. RAM¶

The best way to get the most out of a FreeNAS^® system is to installas much RAM as possible. More RAM allows ZFS to provide betterperformance. TheFreeNAS® Forumsprovide anecdotal evidence from users on how much performance can begained by adding more RAM.

General guidelines for RAM:

• A minimum of 8 GiB of RAM is required.

  Additional features require additional RAM, and large amounts ofstorage require more RAM for cache. An old, somewhat overstatedguideline is 1 GiB of RAM per terabyte of disk capacity.

• To use Active Directory with many users, add an additional 2 GiB ofRAM for the winbind internal cache.

• For iSCSI, install at least 16 GiB of RAM if performance is notcritical, or at least 32 GiB of RAM if good performance is arequirement.

• Jails are very memory-efficient, but can still use memorythat would otherwise be available for ZFS. If the system will berunning many jails, or a few resource-intensive jails, adding 1 to 4additional gigabytes of RAM can be helpful. This memory is shared bythe host and will be used for ZFS when not being used by jails.

• Virtual Machines require additional RAM beyond anyamounts listed here. Memory used by virtual machines is notavailable to the host while the VM is running, and is not includedin the amounts described above. For example, a system that will berunning two VMs that each need 1 GiB of RAM requires an additional 2GiB of RAM.

• When installing FreeNAS^® on a headless system, disable the sharedmemory settings for the video card in the BIOS.

• For ZFS deduplication, ensure the system has at least 5 GiB of RAMper terabyte of storage to be deduplicated.

If the hardware supports it, install ECC RAM. While more expensive,ECC RAM is highly recommended as it prevents in-flight corruption ofdata before the error-correcting properties of ZFS come into play,thus providing consistency for the checksumming and paritycalculations performed by ZFS. If your data is important, use ECC RAM.ThisCase Studydescribes the risks associated with memory corruption.

Do not use FreeNAS^® to store data without at least 8 GiB of RAM. Manyusers expect FreeNAS^® to function with less memory, just at reducedperformance. The bottom line is that these minimums are based onfeedback from many users. Requests for help in the forums or IRC aresometimes ignored when the installed system does not have at least 8GiB of RAM because of the abundance of information that FreeNAS^® may notbehave properly with less memory.

1.3.2. The Operating System Device¶

The FreeNAS^® operating system is installed to at least one device thatis separate from the storage disks. The device can be a SSD, USBmemory stick, or DOM (Disk on Module). Installation to a hard drive isdiscouraged as that drive is then not available for data storage.

When determining the type and size of the target device where FreeNAS^®is to be installed, keep these points in mind:

• The absolutebare minimum size is 8 GiB. That does not provide muchroom. Therecommended minimum is 16 GiB. This provides room for theoperating system and several boot environments created by updates.More space provides room for more boot environments and 32 GiB ormore is preferred.

• SSDs (Solid State Disks) are fast and reliable, and make very goodFreeNAS^® operating system devices. Their one disadvantage is thatthey require a disk connection which might be needed for storagedisks.

  Even a relatively large SSD (120 or 128 GiB) is useful as a bootdevice. While it might appear that the unused space is wasted, thatspace is instead used internally by the SSD for wear leveling. Thismakes the SSD last longer and provides greater reliability.

• When planning to add your own boot environments, budget about 1 GiBof storage per boot environment. Consider deleting older bootenvironments after making sure they are no longer needed. Bootenvironments can be created and deleted usingSystem ‣ Boot.

• Use quality, name-brand USB sticks, as ZFS will quickly revealerrors on cheap, poorly-made sticks.

• For a more reliable boot disk, use two identical devices and selectthem both during the installation. This will create a mirrored bootdevice.

1.3.3. Storage Disks and Controllers¶

TheDisk sectionof the FreeBSD Hardware List lists the supported disk controllers. Inaddition, support for 3ware 6 Gbps RAID controllers has been addedalong with the CLI utilitytw_cli for managing 3ware RAIDcontrollers.

FreeNAS^® supports hot pluggable drives. Using this feature requiresenabling AHCI in the BIOS.

Reliable disk alerting and immediate reporting of a failed drive canbe obtained by using an HBA such as an Broadcom MegaRAID controller ora 3Ware twa-compatible controller.

Some Highpoint RAID controllers do not support pass-through ofS.M.A.R.T. data or other disk information, potentially including diskserial numbers. It is best to use a different disk controller withFreeNAS^®.

Suggestions for testing disks before adding them to a RAID array canbe found in thisforum post.Additionally,badblocks isinstalled with FreeNAS^® for testing disks.

If the budget allows optimization of the disk subsystem, consider theread/write needs and RAID requirements:

• For steady, non-contiguous writes, use disks with low seek times.Examples are 10K or 15K SAS drives which cost about $1/GiB. Anexample configuration would be six 600 GiB 15K SAS drives in a RAID10 which would yield 1.8 TiB of usable space, or eight 600 GiB 15K SASdrives in a RAID 10 which would yield 2.4 TiB of usable space.

For ZFS,Disk Space Requirements for ZFS Storage Poolsrecommends a minimum of 16 GiB of disk space. FreeNAS^® allocates 2 GiBof swap space on each drive. Combined with ZFS space requirements,this means thatit is not possible to format drives smaller than 3 GiB.Drives larger than 3 GiB but smaller than the minimum recommendedcapacity might be usable but lose a significant portion of storagespace to swap allocation. For example, a 4 GiB drive only has 2 GiB ofavailable space after swap allocation.

New ZFS user who are purchasing hardware should read throughZFS Storage Pools Recommendationsfirst.

ZFSvdevs, groups of disks that act like a single device, can becreated using disks of different sizes. However, the capacityavailable on each disk is limited to the same capacity as the smallestdisk in the group. For example, a vdev with one 2 TiB and two 4 TiBdisks will only be able to use 2 TiB of space on each disk. Ingeneral, use disks that are the same size for the best space usage andperformance.

TheZFS Drive Size and Cost Comparison spreadsheetis available to compare usable space provided by different quantitiesand sizes of disks.

1.3.4. Network Interfaces¶

TheEthernet sectionof the FreeBSD Hardware Notes indicates which interfaces are supportedby each driver. While many interfaces are supported, FreeNAS^® usershave seen the best performance from Intel and Chelsio interfaces, soconsider these brands when purchasing a new NIC. Realtek cards oftenperform poorly under CPU load as interfaces with these chipsets do notprovide their own processors.

At a minimum, a GigE interface is recommended. While GigE interfacesand switches are affordable for home use, modern disks can easilysaturate their 110 MiB/s throughput. For higher network throughput,multiple GigE cards can be bonded together using the LACP type ofLink Aggregations. The Ethernet switch must support LACP, whichmeans a more expensive managed switch is required.

When network performance is a requirement and there is some money tospend, use 10 GigE interfaces and a managed switch. Managed switcheswith support for LACP and jumbo frames are preferred, as both can beused to increase network throughput. Refer to the10 Gig Networking Primerfor more information.

Both hardware and the type of shares can affect network performance.On the same hardware, SMB is slower than FTP or NFS because Samba issingle-threaded.So a fast CPU can help with SMB performance.

Wake on LAN (WOL) support depends on the FreeBSD driver for theinterface. If the driver supports WOL, it can be enabled usingifconfig(8). Todetermine if WOL is supported on a particular interface, use theinterface name with the following command. In this example, thecapabilities line indicates that WOL is supported for theigb0interface:

[root@freenas ~]# ifconfig -m igb0igb0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500        options=6403bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,VLAN_HWTSO,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>        capabilities=653fbb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,WOL_UCAST,WOL_MCAST,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>

If WOL support is shown but not working for a particular interface,create a bug report using the instructions inSupport.