Today we have the launch of two new products that are a long time coming. The new FreeNAS Mini E and FreeNAS Mini XL+ models bring the Intel Atom C3000 “Denverton” series to the iXsystems appliances. These bring lower price points, higher performance, and lower power consumption to the line.
FreeNAS Mini E and FreeNAS Mini XL+ Join the Family
iXsystems is adding two new models to its lineup of FreeNAS Mini products. At the low-end, the FreeNAS Mini E is a dual-core model based on the Intel Atom C3338 CPU. This is 4-bay NAS has 8GB of DDR4 memory, half of the original FreeNAS Mini and is designed to get the price point down for those who just need to get four hard drives online. With the FreeNAS Mini E, one still gets features like out-of-band IPMI management which is not present on this class of NAS from companies like Synology and QNAP.
On the other end of the spectrum is the FreeNAS Mini XL+. This is an 8-bay NAS based on the Intel Atom C3758 SoC. Even though it is still only eight cores, the performance of the newer generation of processors is vastly higher than previous generations.
This is now the highest-end NAS in the FreeNAS Mini line. The FreeNAS Mini XL+ gets 32GB of DDR4 memory and onboard dual 10Gbase-T. The addition of 10GbE networking is sorely needed in the FreeNAS Mini line and the XL+ delivers on this. For those that need an appliance to serve multiple clients and host a number of services in jails this is is going to be the option to get.
Both of the new units can be managed through TrueCommand for those deploying multiple units in remote branch offices and at clients. STH will have our review of the FreeNAS Mini XL+ early next week. In the meantime, we were told that you can find the new units both bare and with drives on Amazon here.
FreeNAS Mini E and FreeNAS Mini XL+ Specs
Here is the spec table with the new FreeNAS Mini E and FreeNAS Mini XL+ alongside the previously announced two models.
|
Features |
Mini E |
Mini |
Mini XL |
Mini XL+ |
|
Chassis |
4 Bay Enclosure |
4 Bay Enclosure |
8 Bay Enclosure |
8+1 Bay Enclosure |
|
Hard Drive Bays* |
4 x SATA 3.5” Hot-Swappable Drive Bays 2 x SATA 2.5” Internal SSD Bays |
8 x SATA 3.5” Hot-Swappable Drive Bays 2 x SATA 2.5” Internal SSD Bays |
8 x SATA 3.5” Hot-Swappable Drive Bays 1 x SATA 2.5” Hot-Swappable SSD Bay 1x SATA 2.5” Internal SSD Bay |
|
|
Maximum Capacity |
Up to 40 TB depending on RAID layout |
Up to 80 TB depending on RAID layout |
||
|
CPU |
Intel Atom C3338 |
Intel Atom C2750 |
Intel Atom C2750 |
Intel Atom C3758 |
|
Memory |
8 GB DDR4 with ECC |
16 GB DDR3 with ECC |
32 GB DDR3 with ECC |
32 GB DDR4 with ECC |
|
RAID |
OpenZFS – RAIDZ1 (RAID 5), RAIDZ2 (RAID 6), Multi-Disk Mirror (RAID 10), and RAID0 (stripe) |
|||
|
Disk Management |
Hot-Swappable Drives, Bad Block Scan + HDD S.M.A.R.T ISO Mounting Support, Hardware-Accelerated Disk Encryption |
|||
|
Network |
Standard: 4 x 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports (10/100/1000) Dedicated RJ45 IPMI Port (Remote Hardware Management) |
Standard: 2 x 1 Gigabit Ethernet Ports (10/100/1000) Dedicated RJ45 IPMI Port (Remote Hardware Management) Optional: Dual-Port 10Gb upgrade via PCIe Card |
Standard: 2 x 1 Gigabit Ethernet Ports (10/100/1000) Dedicated RJ45 IPMI Port (Remote Hardware Management) Optional: Dual-Port 10Gb upgrade via PCIe Card |
Standard: 2 x RJ45 10GBaseT Ethernet LAN ports Dedicated RJ45 IPMI Port (Remote Hardware Management) |
|
USB Ports |
2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Front) 1 x USB 3.0 Port (Rear) |
2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Front) 1 x USB 2.0 Port (Rear) |
2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Front) 1 x USB 2.0 Port (Rear) |
1 x USB 3.0 Port (Front) 1 x USB 2.0 Port (Front) 2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Rear) |
|
Read/Write Cache |
(Optional) Boost performance by adding a dedicated, high-performance read cache (L2ARC) or by adding a dedicated, high-performance write cache (ZIL/SLOG) |
|||
|
PCIe Expansion |
N/A |
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x8 slot (Low Profile) |
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x8 slot |
1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4 (Open-Ended) |
|
Power Supply |
100V to 240V AC, 50/60 HZ, Single Phase |
|||
|
Power Consumption* (Maximum) |
Diskless: 16.5W, With drives: 56.5W |
Diskless: 33W, With drives: 73W |
Diskless: 39W, With drives & 10GbE:106W |
Diskless: 34W, With drives & 10GbE: 101W |
|
Power Management |
Remote Power-On/Off (IPMI), UPS Signal Response and Alerts |
|||
|
User Control Interface |
Web Browser and Remote Hardware Management (IPMI) |
|||
|
Dimension (WxDxH) |
8.25” x 11.2” x 9.5” / 210 x 284 x 241mm |
8.4” x 11” x 15.1” / 213 x 279 x 384mm |
||
|
Weight (no drives) |
10.8lb / 4.9Kg |
10.8lb / 4.9Kg |
23.15lb / 10.5Kg |
23.15lb / 10.5Kg |
|
Limited Warranty |
1 Year Standard 3 year Option Available |
|||
|
Package Contents |
FreeNAS Mini, Power Cord, Quick Start Guide, 2 Case Door Keys,4 Removable Disk Trays, bag of HDD screws, 7 ft copper cable |
FreeNAS Mini, Power Cord, Quick Start Guide, 2 Case Door Keys,4 Removable Disk Trays, bag of HDD screws, 7 ft copper cable |
FreeNAS Mini XL, Power Cord, Quick Start Guide, 2 Case Door Keys, 8 Removable Disk Trays, bag of HDD screws, 7 ft copper cable |
FreeNAS Mini XL, Power Cord, Quick Start Guide, 2 Case Door Keys, 8 Removable Disk Trays, bag of HDD screws, 7 ft copper cable |
Cliff, the processor chart is good at explaining the encryption and application performance of these CPUs. For file sharing, the performance difference are less pronounced and more a function of number of drives and network speeds.
The other major criteria for selecting processors is “total cost of ownership”, which is driven by power. The Atom C3xxx series is significant lower power than the Xeon scalable series. It has lower TDP, fewer DIMMs and needs less airflow (fan power, noise). For many configs, the Mini E will be less than 50W total power including the drives.
At the current price point these devices are not at all interesting. For far less money you can get an x86 powered NAS from other vendors with a much more polished software experience. On the other hand if you’re looking at this because you really like freeNAS you can just buy the SuperMicro chassis and motherboard these are based on at a lower price point as well.
If lastly you’re just looking to get freeNAS and don’t care about the exact hardware, a system based on a Ryzen 3 or Intel i3 will still give you ECC but cost you less than half for the same performance level (but mostly fewer features).
David, we are going to have our full review in about 48 hours. I will say, that I do not necessarily agree with this assessment. There are quite a few value-add bits that I really like. They are charging a premium, but it is pretty reasonable for what they are providing. We are going to cover this in the review.
Seem one of the best nases out their for prosummers. I’m following you guys for a while but I can’t seem to get my hand on any of them via al eu distributer because those In port taxes while will add another 800 +