best backup solution closest to failover clustering?

[justinm001]

Hello all, New to freenas and installing software right now to do some testing. We have a ton of spare servers but no SAN or storage solution so are looking for something to fit the bill. We're planning on building a VPS solution and webhosting all on Xenserver with clustered servers. I'm looking for a way to minimize dowtime incase of any failure as well as ability to upgrade hardware without downtime.

Hardware: Dell R610 32GB ram with PERC5e connected to MD1000 array with 6x2TB drives. also have 6x300GB 15k SAS(possible 6x250SSD's). Have about 6 other R610's laying around and available for freeNAS.
VPS hardware: pair of HP DL580G7's with 4xE7 Xeons and 384GB ram each running Xenserver clustered. Also have about 6 spares of these but dual processors and only 64GB ram.

1. Is there anyway we can take a freeNAS server offline for scheduled maintenance without bringing down storage?
2. Does freeNAS support any data dedup or replication to offsite either through WAN or LAN? Is this a free or paid software?
3. Any hardware change recommendations?

We're looking for a cheap/free software solution so we can minimize our initial costs until we become profitable and upgrade to new hardware with full HA

 

[melloa]

[QUOTE="justinm001, post: 322830, member: 65104"Hardware: Dell R610 32GB ram with PERC5e connected to MD1000 array with 6x2TB drives. also have 6x300GB 15k SAS(possible 6x250SSD's). Have about 6 other R610's laying around and available for freeNAS.[/QUOTE]

it's not recommended use a hardware raid with FreeNAS. Please check: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/hardware-recommendations-guide.12/ for more information.

1. Is there anyway we can take a freeNAS server offline for scheduled maintenance without bringing down storage?

Don't think so, but I might be wrong.

2. Does freeNAS support any data dedup or replication to offsite either through WAN or LAN? Is this a free or paid software?

Yes. Replication, rsync, etc, built in.

3. Any hardware change recommendations?

Yes, see above mentioned link.

We're looking for a cheap/free software solution so we can minimize our initial costs until we become profitable and upgrade to new hardware with full HA

FreeNAS is a FOSS. For commercial applications see TrueNAS: https://www.ixsystems.com/truenas/

 

[depasseg]

1. Is there anyway we can take a freeNAS server offline for scheduled maintenance without bringing down storage?
2. Does freeNAS support any data dedup or replication to offsite either through WAN or LAN? Is this a free or paid software?
3. Any hardware change recommendations?

1. Not for free. TrueNAS has HA, but is a paid product.
2. Yes to both. Dedupe usually isn't worth it, and will likely require more RAM. Replication is easy and can be done both locally and remotely. Both are free.
Do more research on the PERC. You want a pure HBA, not RAID. And possibly more RAM (more is always better, but if you enable Dedupe, then it's important to add more).

 

[justinm001]

Thanks guys, the PERC is supported with FreeNAS and is supported with an MD1000, also is dirt cheap and have a couple spares. It can do RAID-0 which is basically JBOD. Any suggestions on another card that has external SAS?

From what I read TrueNAS requires their hardware and isn't just software, so its a lot more of an expense if we have hardware laying around. I'm also considering running 2 freeNAS's with a Virtual SAN type appliance on top but didn't want additional software to manage.

 

[Ericloewe]

It can do RAID-0 which is basically JBOD.

No, it isn't. This discussion has been pursued to death and back again. Cyberjock's guide (linked in my sig) has the gory details.

Any suggestions on another card that has external SAS?

Check the hardware recommendations guide, linked in my sig. Note that you'd be looking for the -4e4i and -8e versions of the LSI cards - or you can just use SFF8087-SFF8088 brackets.

From what I read TrueNAS requires their hardware and isn't just software, so its a lot more of an expense if we have hardware laying around.

Yes, it's the whole package, much like big vendors do.