CPU maxed out?

[Chris230291]

Hello. I am wondering if I need to upgrade my system.
I have set up a multiplayer game server inside a Jail on my FreeNas system and the performance is poor so I was wondering if it's a hardware limitation or something else.

Can someone take a look at this screenshot and tell me if the CPU is being fully utilized?

As far as I can tell it's not maxed out at all!? If this is the case then why does my server run poorly? I get the same performance in both a Ubuntu jail and a Portjail. Is there any way to use more of it?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[Lordadmiral Drake]

Yea, as you can see, you max CPU load was a near 14%. What hardware do you have in your box, what kind of network, and what gameserver do you run?
Also, what's your network load?

 

[ser_rhaegar]

What are your system specs?

 

[Chris230291]

Yea, as you can see, you max CPU load was a near 14%. What hardware do you have in your box, what kind of network, and what gameserver do you run?
Also, what's your network load?

Hi guys. I thought so.
I have an i7 860 s, 16 GB RAM, GA-H55M-UD2H and a RAID card. The Jails are installed on a separate non RAID drive.

My network is gigabit but runs much lower because of poor cable quality and runs. I have no idea what sort of load it's under but when I run the server in a VM it runs great, so I don't think it's the network. The VM ran on its own IP so it was going through my network setup.

The server I'm running is an Arma 3 server.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Nindustries]

When virtualized, did you use the exact same network?
Cool to know btw that an arma3 server runs in a jail ;)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[panz]

Hi guys. I thought so.
I have an i7 860 s, 16 GB RAM, GA-H55M-UD2H and a RAID card. The Jails are installed on a separate non RAID drive.

My network is gigabit but runs much lower because of poor cable quality and runs. I have no idea what sort of load it's under but when I run the server in a VM it runs great, so I don't think it's the network. The VM ran on its own IP so it was going through my network setup.

The server I'm running is an Arma 3 server.

Thanks,
Chris

RAID card with FreeNAS = no good.

 

[Chris230291]

When virtualized, did you use the exact same network?
Cool to know btw that an arma3 server runs in a jail ;)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Hi. Yes it ran through the same network.

It might be worth mentioning that when I tried to install the Steam app for ArmA it fails in freeNas. From what I've read it's a common problem with people running FreeBSD and the solution I found was to download and install it in a VM then copy/paste it into the Jail.

If anyone want's a quick guide I don't mind posting one. It would be good to see if others have the same problem or not.

Chris.

EDIT: Maybe someone can change the title? It's not the greatest

 

[Nindustries]

I see your motherboard uses a Realtek RTL8111E.
Try putting in a Intel Gigabit network card and see if that solves the problem.
FreeNAS doesn't like Realtek :)

 

[cyberjock]

You've made several fatal mistakes..

RAID + ZFS = fail... both in performance and in protecting your data.
Realtek + FreeBSD = fail.. both in performance and network connection reliability.

Neither of these should be shocking to you, so I'm not sure why you are upset when these mistakes are abundantly documented EVERYWHERE to be problems for so many people.

Why not solve those 2 well known problems before asking us to troubleshoot a problem that is quite possibly self-inflicted?

Unrelated but important.. your hardware doesn't support ECC RAM, so you are taking risks of losing your pool.

 

[Nindustries]

RAID + ZFS = fail... both in performance and in protecting your data.

I was hoping he just meant a Raid card flashed to IT mode, so basically a HBA. Let's hope so.

 

[Chris230291]

I see your motherboard uses a Realtek RTL8111E.
Try putting in a Intel Gigabit network card and see if that solves the problem.
FreeNAS doesn't like Realtek :)

Sorry I should have mentioned that I already have a card in there because for whatever reason the onboard NIC stopped working.
It now has a D-Link DGE-528T

To be honest I cant see how the network speed could affect it? The game runs just as smooth as it does when I play on a reputable server hosted by a proper hosting company. The issue is the in game AI/bots run really bad (if and when they load at all). The AI are controlled server side and are supposed to be very CPU intensive, but as you can see the CPU runs barely above idle. I think that's the issue. The server should be calculating their actions regardless of whether people are connected to the server or not (eradicating any network issues?). I remember reading that someone with a similar CPU (slightly better) was seeing his CPU at 60% load all day long while running the game server.

Are there any limitations imposed on FreeNAS Jails stopping them from using as much horsepower as they want?

Are there any tests I can do to see if it's a system issue or a software issue inside the Jail?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[Chris230291]

You've made several fatal mistakes..

RAID + ZFS = fail... both in performance and in protecting your data.
Realtek + FreeBSD = fail.. both in performance and network connection reliability.

Neither of these should be shocking to you, so I'm not sure why you are upset when these mistakes are abundantly documented EVERYWHERE to be problems for so many people.

Why not solve those 2 well known problems before asking us to troubleshoot a problem that is quite possibly self-inflicted?

Unrelated but important.. your hardware doesn't support ECC RAM, so you are taking risks of losing your pool.

RAID + ZFS is fail? The RAID is configured inside FreeNAS following the online docs available at the time of building. I run a RAID Z using a HighPoint card that was recommended on here.
Sorry I forgot to mention I have a network card installed.

So I should look into ECC RAM and a board that supports it? To be honest I was already looking at used duel Opteron servers on eBay.

Chris.

 

[cyberjock]

When you run Realtek networking goes to shit. Performance AND reliability go out the window for many users. Unexplainable and seemingly non-network related issues appear. That's why we advocate to just go Intel and don't waste our time(or yours) trying to justify using the onboard. It's time that you(and I) could better spend watching paint dry.

 

[Nindustries]

RAID + ZFS is fail? The RAID is configured inside FreeNAS following the online docs available at the time of building. I run a RAID Z using a HighPoint card that was recommended on here.
Sorry I forgot to mention I have a network card installed.

So I should look into ECC RAM and a board that supports it? To be honest I was already looking at used duel Opteron servers on eBay.

Chris.

If you're using the right card, stop saying RAID card. If you bought a RAID card and flashed it to IT mode, it becomes a HBA.
Saying 'raid card' makes us think you have hardware raid running under FreeNAS, which is a terrible idea.

 

[cyberjock]

he RAID is configured inside FreeNAS following the online docs available at the time of building. I run a RAID Z using a HighPoint card that was recommended on here.

What? But you JUST said...

I have an i7 860 s, 16 GB RAM, GA-H55M-UD2H and a RAID card.

How is that not saying hardware. ZFS is software, it has no "RAID card". Accurate depiction of your situation is important or our advice could cost you your data.

And what Highpoint card was recommended here... I've yet to see a "recommended" Highpoint card, and I'm the highpoint sticky maintainer! Highpoints have been one or more of the following:

• Expensive compared to recommended alternatives.
• Don't support SMART
• Don't work at all in FreeBSD
• Are unreliable
• Are too "smart" to be used in ZFS with data-integrity in mind.

Pick one or more of the following, it probably applies.

 

[Chris230291]

If you're using the right card, stop saying RAID card. If you bought a RAID card and flashed it to IT mode, it becomes a HBA.
Saying 'raid card' makes us think you have hardware raid running under FreeNAS, which is a terrible idea.

OK, sorry I'm not well educated on the terminology. I have not flashed the card, not knowingly anyway.

What? But you JUST said...



How is that not saying hardware. ZFS is software, it has no "RAID card". Accurate depiction of your situation is important or our advice could cost you your data.

And what Highpoint card was recommended here... I've yet to see a "recommended" Highpoint card, and I'm the highpoint sticky maintainer! Highpoints have been one or more of the following:

• Expensive compared to recommended alternatives.
• Don't support SMART
• Don't work at all in FreeBSD
• Are unreliable
• Are too "smart" to be used in ZFS with data-integrity in mind.

Pick one or more of the following, it probably applies.

The card I have is a RocketRaid 2720SGL. It wasn't recommended to me as such, it was just confirmed compatible by more than one person (said drivers were included in FreeBSD), bad wording on my part, sorry. To be honest I bought it before I had even heard of FreeNAS, the original plan was a Hackintosh server.

I am concerned now, I have a lot of data on my server.
As far as I'm aware the card just acts as like a SATA card giving me extra ports. The drives were "initialised" in the card BIOS, then the RAID Z was created inside the FreeNAS web GUI following the instructions in the online docs.

However, as you can see the Jails are installed on a separate drive away from my storage pool.

I'm interested to learn if I've done bad here. If it's necessary to flash the card, can that be done without loosing my data?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[Nindustries]

Good news for you, it's a HBA and not a RAID card! :D

 

[Chris230291]

Good news for you, it's a HBA and not a RAID card! :D

FEW! I did make sure to read the docs properly before building it, so hearing I could of made a fudge up was beyond worrying. I guess my poor terminology threw you guys off.
So there's no need to alter anything then, other than maybe look into a new board and ECC RAM?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[cyberjock]

1. There is no reflashing that card. It is what it is. If the card isn't acceptable out of the box the solution is to replace it.
2. As for if that card is good or bad, I don't know. I'd never ever consider it for a server that I intend to store data on.
3. If you had to initialize the disks in the highpoint controller, that's normally a sign that things aren't appropriate for ZFS.

 

[Chris230291]

Ok well when the computer boots and I see the RR BIOS appear, each disk is "legacy". Looking that up I found this

Legacy disk
Disks attached to the host adapter that contain valid partition tables will be identified
as “legacy” disks. A legacy disk attached to the host adapter can be accessed by the
operating system, but cannot be used to create RAID arrays. A legacy disk must be
initialized before assigning it to an array.

I read that as "legacy" means no RAID mode. I'm 80% sure I did initialize them, but that was obviously undone when I created the RAID Z in the GUI. At no point did I create an array in the BIOS.

Chris.

EDIT: Forgot to ask, is my network card OK?
Also could the problem be in /mnt/Jails/ArmA/compat/linux/proc somewhere? I understand that's where the Jail sources its hardware info from.