PotatoMasher
Cadet
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2012
- Messages
- 3
Hello!
I have been a FreeNas user for the past two years (or so, been using it since the first versions of 7). My box and I have been through various crashes, loss of data, etc... so I have been experimenting a lot with FreeNas. But my box is filling fast, mainly because my whole family is using it, and the time has come to upgrade it!
Before going further, here is a description of my actual setup:
Mobo: A8N32-SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+
RAM: 4gb DDR (don't laugh, it's powerful enough for my needs)
HDD: 4x 2TB WD Caviar Green, set up in Raid-Z
My main goal, if possible, is to come up with a setup that will evolve through the years and adapt to the growing need of my family to store lots of stuff. I have been looking around, reading posts, reviews of products and have been compiling pros and cons for potential solutions. Here they are, along with the underlying questions:
Question 0: Is there a way to make sure I don't lose data while doing a backup of my array? Since all of my solutions include creating a JBOD to contain the existing data, can I just move the data from the existing pool to the temporary JBOD with a single command line that will check the data integrity?
Solution 0)
"Drop FreeNAS and go for Ubuntu Server with mdadm"
This solution is the more "painful" one, but it fits my needs (or so I read...). Mdadm seems to have the capability to expand an existing array with parity without having to destroy it beforehand.
Pros:
-Array with parity
-Expandable array
Cons:
-Modular --> Lots of tweaks to get what FreeNAS had built-in
-Not sure if it will run from USB stick
-Loooong resilver downtime when expanding array
Question 1: Is FreeNAS able to use an equivalent to mdadm in terms of array extensibility?
Solution 1)
"Upgrade existing RAID-Z after destroying it"
This solution is the more by-the-book one, which means that I will need to destroy my existing array (after backing it up, of course) to build it again with more drives.
Pros:
-FreeNAS rocks
-Still using the good old Raid-Z
Cons:
-Doesn't fix the problem, I will have to add another vdev when I will need more space --> More expensive
Question 2: What is the end-user benefit of using Raid-Z2 compared to Raid-Z, except from the double drive failure capacity?
Solution 2)
"Buy a hardware solution"
This solution would mean that I would have to buy some sort of SAS card that supports hardware raid expansion. I have not really explored that solution yet, but I have been reading more and more about some basic SAS cards since my motherboard currently only have 4 SATA plugs.
Pros:
-FreeNAS still rocks (if the SAS card is supported)
-Easy array expansion depending on the card I choose to buy
Cons:
-The usual hardware raid concerns: If the card breaks, so does your array if you don't find an identical card to replace the old one
-The price tag on some SAS + Raid cards
Question 3: I get it that it would be easier in a long-term view to get a SAS card instead of a PCI-e SATA port duplicator, but is there a list of "officially supported cards" for the current FreeNAS version?
Thank you for the time you spent going through my first wall of text on those new forums, and if you have any clue, comment, input or any answer to my questions, feel free to reply!
PotatoMasher
-His family's IT guy-
I have been a FreeNas user for the past two years (or so, been using it since the first versions of 7). My box and I have been through various crashes, loss of data, etc... so I have been experimenting a lot with FreeNas. But my box is filling fast, mainly because my whole family is using it, and the time has come to upgrade it!
Before going further, here is a description of my actual setup:
Mobo: A8N32-SLI Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+
RAM: 4gb DDR (don't laugh, it's powerful enough for my needs)
HDD: 4x 2TB WD Caviar Green, set up in Raid-Z
My main goal, if possible, is to come up with a setup that will evolve through the years and adapt to the growing need of my family to store lots of stuff. I have been looking around, reading posts, reviews of products and have been compiling pros and cons for potential solutions. Here they are, along with the underlying questions:
Question 0: Is there a way to make sure I don't lose data while doing a backup of my array? Since all of my solutions include creating a JBOD to contain the existing data, can I just move the data from the existing pool to the temporary JBOD with a single command line that will check the data integrity?
Solution 0)
"Drop FreeNAS and go for Ubuntu Server with mdadm"
This solution is the more "painful" one, but it fits my needs (or so I read...). Mdadm seems to have the capability to expand an existing array with parity without having to destroy it beforehand.
Pros:
-Array with parity
-Expandable array
Cons:
-Modular --> Lots of tweaks to get what FreeNAS had built-in
-Not sure if it will run from USB stick
-Loooong resilver downtime when expanding array
Question 1: Is FreeNAS able to use an equivalent to mdadm in terms of array extensibility?
Solution 1)
"Upgrade existing RAID-Z after destroying it"
This solution is the more by-the-book one, which means that I will need to destroy my existing array (after backing it up, of course) to build it again with more drives.
Pros:
-FreeNAS rocks
-Still using the good old Raid-Z
Cons:
-Doesn't fix the problem, I will have to add another vdev when I will need more space --> More expensive
Question 2: What is the end-user benefit of using Raid-Z2 compared to Raid-Z, except from the double drive failure capacity?
Solution 2)
"Buy a hardware solution"
This solution would mean that I would have to buy some sort of SAS card that supports hardware raid expansion. I have not really explored that solution yet, but I have been reading more and more about some basic SAS cards since my motherboard currently only have 4 SATA plugs.
Pros:
-FreeNAS still rocks (if the SAS card is supported)
-Easy array expansion depending on the card I choose to buy
Cons:
-The usual hardware raid concerns: If the card breaks, so does your array if you don't find an identical card to replace the old one
-The price tag on some SAS + Raid cards
Question 3: I get it that it would be easier in a long-term view to get a SAS card instead of a PCI-e SATA port duplicator, but is there a list of "officially supported cards" for the current FreeNAS version?
Thank you for the time you spent going through my first wall of text on those new forums, and if you have any clue, comment, input or any answer to my questions, feel free to reply!
PotatoMasher
-His family's IT guy-