Has anyone compared FreeBSD ZFS vs ZFS on Linux?

mrjayviper · May 18, 2014

I will be rebuilding my file server soon and I'm thinking of using ZFS this time instead of FreeBSD. I am currently using FreeBSD 10 (not FreeNAS or similar distros) and it's generally working fine.

I've been using FreeBSD since version 5 or 6 (it's been more than a decade for sure

) but trying out new things can be fun for me.

The big advantage I see of sticking to FreeBSD is the level of ZFS support that is available since it's built-in to the core. The advantage i see of using Linux is better package management (sure FreeBSD has ports but its package updates is bad).

I'm not really concern with write/read speeds as much since it's only for a home network. But I don't want atrocious speeds either.

Thanks very much for the reply

Automata · Jun 11, 2014

This is a bit of an older thread, but I have first hand experience with ZFS-on-Linux. I store all of my data on a virtual machine running CentOS 6 with ZFSoL and I've never had an issue. Speed wise, it is just as fast as FreeBSD.

Shell · Jun 11, 2014

I've find Linux destroys BSD across the map in performance, however LLVM is getting a lot better and BSD's security-then-optimise model is nice.

g0dM@n · Jun 12, 2014

thideras said:
This is a bit of an older thread, but I have first hand experience with ZFS-on-Linux. I store all of my data on a virtual machine running CentOS 6 with ZFSoL and I've never had an issue. Speed wise, it is just as fast as FreeBSD.

^This guy is my mentor.

flynismo · Jul 12, 2014

Shell said:
I've find Linux destroys BSD across the map in performance, however LLVM is getting a lot better and BSD's security-then-optimise model is nice.

Same here.

funzie · Jul 13, 2014

I use both FreeBSD and Linux on Production machines. I like FreeBSD because as you said it's built in so it's real easy to setup. However FreeBSD is lacking in the newer technology. It's kind of a pain when you want to use the newest release or software and it's not available on FreeBSD yet. But if you want something rock solid I would go with FreeBSD.

As we all know ZFS is not native on Linux, so you have to do some work to get it installed an running. The benefits it's that you get all the software and support that is not available on FreeBSD.

For me in the end it's a toss up for what you want the machine to be doing. If you want a database server I would go with FreeBSD for the stability. A web server go with Linux. At this point in the game, it's about preference.

cw823 · Jul 15, 2014

funzie said:
I use both FreeBSD and Linux on Production machines. I like FreeBSD because as you said it's built in so it's real easy to setup. However FreeBSD is lacking in the newer technology. It's kind of a pain when you want to use the newest release or software and it's not available on FreeBSD yet. But if you want something rock solid I would go with FreeBSD.

As we all know ZFS is not native on Linux, so you have to do some work to get it installed an running. The benefits it's that you get all the software and support that is not available on FreeBSD.

For me in the end it's a toss up for what you want the machine to be doing. If you want a database server I would go with FreeBSD for the stability. A web server go with Linux. At this point in the game, it's about preference.

There are several Solaris based OS out there that have good ZFS implementation as well.

Has anyone compared FreeBSD ZFS vs ZFS on Linux?

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