Connect two ZFS servers for backup purposes.

[helloha]

So,

Right now I have a completely functional setup with 16 disks and I'm connected over 10GbE using Chelsio T3 cards. I don't have a SPF+ 10GbE switch, I'm directly attached with one workstation.

Right now I'm thinking about designing a second server instance that would be used to backup the existing server.

I'm talking about 40TB of data that needs to be duplicated as an on-site backup. The backup server would be turned on every evening to do the backup.

I want to keep it off and unplugged from power whenever not in use, to minimise as much risk as possible.

What would be the best approach to connect both systems? And to backup using Rsync for example?

On the main server I have dual port 10GbE card (Chelsio T320) one port is still unused. I still have another Chelsio T310 card that I could use in the backup server. I could use a direct attach SFP+ cable. The connection could be on a different subnet.

I use SSH regularly to copy things from one pool to another but it is always on the same server. Is it possible to ssh in the main server and copy things over to the backup machine over the network, to a machine on a different subnet etc...?

Or is it better to use a completely different approach, such as infiniband? I have exactly 0 experience in that department.

Many thanks for the advice!
K.

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

1. Use Snapshots and FreeNAS Replication.

2. Direct-attach with new subnet.

3. Never turn anything off.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[BarryCarey]

I currently do this same thing with my setup. My main server has 2 10gbe NICs. One goes to my work station, the other to my backup server. The one to the backup server is on a different subnet.

I have my replication set to run between 1am and 3am. I power up the backup server at night and have a cron job that shuts it down at 4am.

 

[helloha]

Yeah, it seems to work quite well, I tested it with a 1U node yesterday. Had to do some tinkering and update to the latest version before it worked.

Do you know what happens in terms of users and permissions? Do I make an identical user on the backup copy and do the replication under that user?

Is the main server goes down, I'd like to just plug in, change an IP address and move along. But i'll do more testing for sure.

Cheers!
K.

 

[helloha]

So I got my new HGST disks, I'm setting up the backup server. Would I copy the configuration file of the other server? Just to have all the same users and shares in place should something happen to the main server? Then I just have to change an IP address, unplug a cable and continue to work?