Monkey_Demon
Explorer
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2016
- Messages
- 85
I've read Sections 10.2.5 & 10.2.6 of The Fine Manual and perused the numerous entries about spares on this forum, but I still have questions.
My system runs FreeNAS-11.2-U7 and has 5 x 4TB WD Red drives configured as 1 pool (Volume 1) consisting of 2 x 8 TM mirrored vdevs containing 8 TB (i.e., 2 drives x 4 TB) each. It has 2 hot-swap cages that can hold 4 drives each for a total of 8 hot-swap drives.
The fifth drive is the spare. Currently it's configured to go into standby mode after 5 minutes and Level 1 (minimum) power usage. I believe these settings qualify the drive as a "warm" spare, and I plan to set it up as a warm spare.
The system is used at home to store music, videos, and a library of electronic documents containing much of my life's work. At least once per year I travel away from home from a week to almost two months. While away, I often use the server for entertainment (music & videos) or work (the library). While not entirely critical, not having access to this material can be a major inconvenience.
So here are my questions:
1. What, if any, are the drawbacks of this configuration?
2. Are the standby settings of the spare worthwhile in the sense they keep it from spinning needlessly, even though it has to spin up from standby?
3. I'm confused by the documentation in 10.2.5, which says, "To add a device to an existing pool, Extend that pool." This is because Section 12.2.6 on extending a pool seems mainly addressed to increasing a pool's storage. Specifically, regarding extending a mirrored pool like mine it says, "to extend a ZFS mirror, add the same number of drives." Does this mean I can't just use one drive as the warm spare?
Any further suggestions or comments from persons more knowledgeable and experienced about this would be greatly appreciated.
My system runs FreeNAS-11.2-U7 and has 5 x 4TB WD Red drives configured as 1 pool (Volume 1) consisting of 2 x 8 TM mirrored vdevs containing 8 TB (i.e., 2 drives x 4 TB) each. It has 2 hot-swap cages that can hold 4 drives each for a total of 8 hot-swap drives.
The fifth drive is the spare. Currently it's configured to go into standby mode after 5 minutes and Level 1 (minimum) power usage. I believe these settings qualify the drive as a "warm" spare, and I plan to set it up as a warm spare.
The system is used at home to store music, videos, and a library of electronic documents containing much of my life's work. At least once per year I travel away from home from a week to almost two months. While away, I often use the server for entertainment (music & videos) or work (the library). While not entirely critical, not having access to this material can be a major inconvenience.
So here are my questions:
1. What, if any, are the drawbacks of this configuration?
2. Are the standby settings of the spare worthwhile in the sense they keep it from spinning needlessly, even though it has to spin up from standby?
3. I'm confused by the documentation in 10.2.5, which says, "To add a device to an existing pool, Extend that pool." This is because Section 12.2.6 on extending a pool seems mainly addressed to increasing a pool's storage. Specifically, regarding extending a mirrored pool like mine it says, "to extend a ZFS mirror, add the same number of drives." Does this mean I can't just use one drive as the warm spare?
Any further suggestions or comments from persons more knowledgeable and experienced about this would be greatly appreciated.