best freebsd version for zfs file server

[Ronald Klop]

On Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:32:02 +0100, Jason Keltz <jas at cse.yorku.ca> wrote:

> Hi.
> I hope to soon put into production a new file server hosting many ZFS  
> filesystem with FreeBSD.  The system has 2 x 9205-8e cards, and 1 x  
> 9207-8i card and 24 x 900 GB 10K RPM drives.   I'm trying to figure out  
> what is ultimately the "best" version of FreeBSD to run on a production  
> file server.  I believe that it doesn't make sense to stick directly to  
> the 9.1/release because there have already been many ZFS problems that  
> were solved in 9.1/stable.  On the other hand, stable doesn't  
> necessarily have to be "stable"! Of course "release" might not be  
> "stable" either if there's a bug that say, causes a hang on my  
> controller card, and it's not fixed in anything but "stable"!   Yet,  
> "stable" might "break" something else.  I'm wondering what people who  
> are running FreeBSD file servers in production do --   do you track  
> individual changes, and compile release + individual bug fixes that  
> likely affect you, or, in my case, if I run "stable", do all my testing  
> with "stable", do I run that version of stable, and only attempt to  
> upgrade to the next "stable" release while very carefully reviewing the  
> bug list, then holding my breath when the server comes up?  Any  
> recommendations would be appreciated.  I know there are a lot of people  
> who are happily running FreeBSD file servers. :)

I would run 9-RELEASE until there is a really (really really) good reason  
to do otherwise.
There is no reason to get h*rny about every feature or every additional  
commit if just serving files works really well.

Ronald.

>
> Jason.
>
>   On 03/19/2013 03:04 PM, Dmitry Morozovsky wrote:
>> On Tue, 19 Mar 2013, Tom Evans wrote:
>>
>>>> I'm currently in process of making new backup server, based on LSI  
>>>> 9260
>>>> controller.  I'm planning to use ZFS over disks, hence the most  
>>>> natural way
>>>> seems to configure mfi to JBOD mode - but I can't find easy way to  
>>>> reach this,
>>>> neither in BIOS utilities nor via MegaCli
>>> 9260 should be SAS-2008 based, so mps(4) not mfi(4).
>> Well, it at least detected by stable/9 GENERIC as mfi
>>
>>> The internet[1] suggests that this card should be flashable to a
>>> 9211-8i with IT mode firmware, which is just about the ultimate ZFS
>>> card, instant-JBOD on inserting a disk, passthru for SMART, high
>>> performance, etc.
>> Will check, thanks for the reference.
>>
>>> [1]  
>>> http://blog.grem.de/sysadmin/LSI-SAS2008-Flashing-2012-04-12-22-17.html
>>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-fs at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-fs
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-fs-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"