NAS crashes when using SMB service through Windows

TrueNAS General
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1

Hello,

I’ve set up TrueNAS Scale, as a local cloud storage for my data. Whenever I try to transfer large(r) files (more than only 2GB) over SMB to my NAS from my Windows computer, it freezes, and then crashes.

This is followed by these alerts:
-Pool data state is SUSPENDED: One or more devices are faulted in response to IO failures.
-Device: /dev/nvme2n1, failed to read NVMe SMART/Health Information.

On the web interface, the data VDEVs are just gone without any further information. Since I’m using a RAIDZ2 that is 4 wide, I don’t think it’s likely that all of my drives faulted at once like the error suggests.
After restarting the NAS, which takes about 20 minutes, the VDEVs return as though nothing happened and I can access my data again, although the large transfer remains failed.

Strangely, this doesn’t happen when I transfer files from my Android phone to the NAS. It only crashes when I do it through Windows, be it from Windows 10 or 11 computers.

Neither updating or reinstalling Truenas solved the issue.

Looking on the forum, I couldn’t find any problems analogous to mine — or ones where I understood the execution of the solution.
I’m still a beginner, so initially I may not understand a lot jargon or acronyms, along with a language barrier. Please be patient with me.

You’ll see that my build may be a bit weird, but given that SMB transfers work through the phone without crashing, I don’t think this is a hardware issue.

System Information:
-TrueNAS SCALE Fangtooth 25.04.2.3

Motherboard: CWWK X86-P6
CPU: Intel N150
RAM: Crucial DDR5 RAM 32GB 4800MHz SODIMM
System drive: SanDisk High Endurance (64 GB, microSDXC, U3, UHS-I) through a no name micro-SD reader from Aliexpress on the M2 WIFI slot.
Storage drives: 4x WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 2 TB Gen4, in 1 x RAIDZ2 | 4 wide

2

I couldn’t find much documentation about that minipc, so how did you connect those 4 drives? Directly on the motherboard? Some kind of expansion card or external disk enclosure via usb?

3

It’s a proprietary expansion card using PCIe 3.0 x1, basically splitting the one M2 NVMe slot of the motherboeard into four. I couldn’t find more info either. The company does exist, so I could contact them if that’s needed.

4

on this site:

https://cwwk.net/products/cwwk-x86-p6-pocket-nas-board-pc-intel-i3-n55-n150-2xi226-v-2-5g-ddr5-4800mhz-4xm-2-nvme-firewall-router-mini-pc-case-2xusb3-2-2xhdthere

is a Customer-Review, which brings up the topic of possible power limitations….. :

”Works well with TrueNAS, but be aware of power limitations

I researched the power issues with certain types of SSDs before ordering. But didn’t know until the end if it would work. Happy to report that’s it’s very possible to run ZFS on 4 drives (2TB) without issue. Key was to use lower-power NVMes (Lexar NM790 for me) and put them in a lower power state after booting”

List, get and set power states nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0 -H nvme get-feature /dev/nvme0 -f 0x02 -H nvme set-feature /dev/nvme0 -f 0x02 -v

I also limited the CPU a bit, but this may not be necessary, especially the second command. This can also be done in BIOS via Performace Mode: Max Battery and Platform PL1/PL2 Power.

cpupower frequency-set -g powersave echo “1” > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo”

maybe it’s worth to have a look in that direction ?
strange idea, but possibly, an SMB connection from a Windows PC is more demanding than one from an Android device ??

5

Interesting.

strange idea, but possibly, an SMB connection from a Windows PC is more demanding than one from an Android device ??

Maybe. Uploading from Android takes much longer than my PC, so it may use less power.

How can I change the nvme power settings in the NAS? Where do I have to go for this?

6

I don’t know…..
I just copied what was written in the Customer-Review, on this page (scroll down…)
https://cwwk.net/products/cwwk-x86-p6-pocket-nas-board-pc-intel-i3-n55-n150-2xi226-v-2-5g-ddr5-4800mhz-4xm-2-nvme-firewall-router-mini-pc-case-2xusb3-2-2xhd

My copy & paste was a bit messy…, sorry, maybe you should check the page directly.

7

Different clients can specify different connection settings (for example not requiring signing / encryption), they can also have different access patterns. For example, perhaps the File Explorer is doing an extra directory listings when linux client isn’t. If it were me, I’d probably return the server as defective rather than try to hack the power settings. This just sounds like a recipe for a bad long-term experience with that hardware.

1 Like
8

I fully agree with @awalkerix
It’s almost unbelievable how badly they messed up this device.
They pushed the design so far (extreme miniaturization, cutting costs wherever possible, and loading it with technical “gimmicks” (at least on paper…)), that the actual intended use is seriously compromised.
Sorry to say that, but from my point of view, this device simply cannot be trusted as a NAS.

9

I see. That is a shame, I thought it’d be suitable as a simple, power-efficient storage. On different retailers it had good ratings too. The only complaints I could find were cooling issues with older versions, which mine doesn’t.