OpenSource NAS solution

Syed Atif Ali

Dated 03-Apr-2007

OR
 Opensource NAS Server
Dated: 03-04-07

Introduction :
This document tests FreeNAS and OpendFiler accessed thru SMB/CIFS NFS
protocol and check there performance over different tests.

Objective:
To find a reliable , cheap and commodity hardware based open source
solution for NAS , the two options tested are OpenFiler and FreeNAS .

Test Environment:

Pentium 4 3.0 GHz

512 MB RAM
3x1 SATA 250 GB 7200 RPM hard drives To make RIAD 5
1x1 6 GB old hard drive to store OS
1000/100/10 Mbps network card (Connected at 100Mbps)

Test plan :

Test plan is simple , create different sizes of files on the storage server using both
NFS and SMB protocol and check their performance . To minimize The file system
cache multiple tests were performed and sync I/O was used to minimize the affect
. The sizes of file used are

Small file = 1K
Medium file = 5M
Big file = 100M

Number of files created

small files =1000

Medium files = 500
Big Files = 10

{small,med,big}{NFS,SMB} = small, medium and big files over NFS or SMB

protocol

Disclaimer:
Both Openfiler and FreeNAS provide a lot more functionality than tested in this
document. They both provide other protocols to support. This document does not
checks that . This document should only be read in order to see the comparison of
SMB and NFS usage in an environment. Author is interested in only these two
protocols. using which these NAS servers will be used in his office.
Write Tests :

Server smallNFS smallSMB medNFS medSMB bigNFS bigSMB

FreeNAS real
0m8.179s
real
0m6.927s
real
4m34.098s
real
35m27.237s
real 1m48.207s
user 0m1.484s
real 13m55.671s
user 0m1.600s
user user user user 0m5.496s sys 0m8.985s sys 0m18.293s
0m1.244s 0m1.216s 0m3.868s sys 1m1.740s
sys sys sys
0m3.232s 0m2.360s 0m22.813s

OpenFil real
0m19.382s
real
0m6.478s
real
5m44.807s
real
23m56.588s
real 1m52.971s
user 0m1.220s
real 11m12.332s
user 0m4.016s
er user user user user 0m9.277s sys 0m7.616s sys 0m37.230s
0m0.740s 0m1.176s 0m3.440s sys 1m20.393s
sys sys sys
0m3.580s 0m2.148s 0m20.421s

Write Tests
37.5000
35.0000
SMB preforms better on OpenFiler with 32.5000
30.0000
significant difference as compared to 27.5000
Time in Minutes

FereNAS. 25.0000
22.5000
FreeNAS edges out FreeNAS on NFS tests 20.0000
17.5000 FreeNas
but with very little difference. 15.0000 OpenFiler

I also found out that SMB implementation 12.5000

10.0000
on BSD is known to be slow compared to 7.5000
5.0000
Linux. 2.5000
0.0000
S mall S mall Med MedS BigN BigS M
NFS S MB NFS MB FS B

Different File Sizes over NFS or SMB protocol

Read Tests:
Server smallNFS smallSMB medNFS medSMB bigNFS bigSMB

FreeNAS real
0m1.469s
real
0m2.198s
real
7m36.032s
real
9m34.758s
real 1m55.273s
user 0m0.124s
real 3m41.032s
user 0m0.132s
user user user user sys 0m7.924s sys 0m9.761s
0m0.028s 0m0.024s 0m0.472s 0m0.308s
sys sys sys sys
0m0.260s 0m0.204s 0m21.029s 0m26.010s

OpenFil real
0m1.263s
real
0m1.150s
real
4m24.180s
real
8m57.914s
real 1m33.185s
user 0m0.192s
real 3m32.674s
user 0m0.184s
er user user user user sys 0m8.437s sys 0m10.577s
0m0.028s 0m0.032s 0m0.424s 0m0.320s
sys sys sys sys
0m0.256s 0m0.260s 0m21.205s 0m26.370s
 Read Tests
10.0000
9.0000
8.0000

In read tests Open Filer shows better

Time in Minutes
7.0000

performance both in SMB and NFS protocol. 6.0000

5.0000
FreeNas
4.0000
OpenFiler
3.0000
2.0000
1.0000
0.0000
Sma Sma Med Med BigN BigS
llNF ll- NFS SMB FS MB
S SMB

Different File S izes Over NFS or SMB protocol

Some notes about both solutions :

OpenFiler :
Open filer on abrupt restart lost all the raid definitions and hence all the
availability of data . I need to test this again , as after RAID creation i had not
restarted machine after a proper shutdown. Before that the machine was abruptly
shutdown due to power failure .

FreeNAS :
I could not find in FreeNas multiple share creation based on multiple folders . One
way to achieve this is to create separate partitions for each share , but this is not
practical as after creating RAID 5 on FreeNAS it recognized whole RAID partition as
a single mount point. It also did not have any LVM support so that i could mount
different Logical volumes . It also took 5 hours for FreeNAS to format a 460GB
partition using UFS. FreeNAS distribution also makes troubleshooting a lot difficult
as its just 32 MB distribution and does not contain all trouble shooting utilities.
Being based on mOnOwall it will be a hassle to compile or update software .

So what are we going to use ?

Results clearly show that Openfiler overall gives better result than FreeNAS . Even
though FreeNAS slightly edges out OpenFiler in WRITE tests as far as NFS protocol
is concerned.
Openfiler is easier to manage than FreeNAS . Based on Red hat clone rPath , its
much easier to install or update . Another important aspect that needs to be kept
in mind is that in case of a failure which distribution is easier to recover . I will
consider again openfiler as it comes with standard Linux mdadm , and and LVM
utilities . FreeNAS being based on mOnOwall , has to sacrifice a lot on achieving a
small distribution status . The best thing about FreeNAS is that it can be installed
on a USB or a Compact Flash card . But since we already had a small hard drive
this feature was of no importance to us .