suppaduppax
Dabbler
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2018
- Messages
- 45
I am currently running Freenas on a Dell T3600 with a 3x750gb RaidZ1 configuration. I back up the more important data to a Dell Optiplex FreeBSD box using 2x500gb Stripe as a temporary backup solution as I improve my home server setup.
I recently purchased a HP DL180 G6 server to migrate my Freenas box to. The T3600 only has room for 3 drives (you can squeeze in 4 uncomfortably) so now with the new server, I’ll have 12 bays to work with. I have 5x1tb drives and an additional 3x2tb I can use across my new server and backup machine (I will most likely sell the T3600 to offset the money spent on the DL180 after i have everything set up). Overtime I will have access to more used 1tb hdds through a friend of mine. I have an 8tb hdd coming in that I will use as a secondary backup of my critical files, copying to it every month-ish and then storing it offsite.
My budget is tiny as you can probably tell from all the used hardware including the hdds.
I was wondering what the best long term zfs layout for both a freenas server and backup server would be.
What I use my current server for:
Media, Plex/Emby Server
Sonarr/Radar/Transmission
Backup for 2 desktop computers
NextCloud
VMs to run Linux for game servers
Learning and playing around with server stuff
Here are my thoughts:
Mirrors
Start off with 4x1tb (2 2x1tb) striped mirrors in the DL180. Have a 3way 3x2tb mirror for the backup server. This way I can expand the main server easily over time as I get more 1tb drives. When the backup server runs out space I can buy 2 or 3 larger drives to upgrade that pool and use the 2tb drives that were replaced inside the main server to upgrade its capacity.
RaidZ1
When I set up my first FreeNAS server I used the Dell optiplex and I went with a 3x750gb raidz1 configuration because that’s all I could fit into the chassis. When I got the T3600, I migrated my Freenas server over and I turned my old server into a backup server. Now that I have my 12 bay HP server, an option would be to just migrate the current server onto it and use additional 1tbs to create more 3x1tb vdevs to expand the pool. I know this is really bad for redundancy but it gives me more usable space without having to rebuild and destroy my current pool.
RaidZ2
With a 5x1tb RaidZ2 configuration I can have decent storage with good redundancy but upgrading won’t be as easy. It also leaves me with 2 bays leftover in the 12 bay server after adding another 5 drive vdev but I can use that for cache down the road. I can still do a 3way 2tb mirror for my backup server using this layout.
If I used 6x1tb hdds to make a RaidZ2 configuration (it would actually have to use one of the 2tb hdds to get 6 drives— 5x1tb + 1x2tb) I would have a decent amount of usable storage without sacrificing redundancy. But expanding the pool becomes costly down the road since I would have to have more drives upfront. It also leaves me with only a 2way mirror for my backup server.
Other considerations:
I can wait a few months to somehow gather enough 1tb drives to make a 12x1tb RaidZ2 or RaidZ3 configuration to have the most usable space right up front. Upgrading will be much much later on, if at all, and by then it might be worth just buying a DAS or come up with a new solution when the time comes. The biggest downside would be performance and also that I’m coming close to filling up my current server and I’m not sure I’d be able to wait to have enough drives to do this.
I’m still trying to figure out how much redundancy I’m actually going to need since I will have 2 different backups and can restore it all if worst comes to worst.
I know this is all extra complicated with a minimal budget but hopefully someone can offer some insight or point out some things I haven’t even considered.
I recently purchased a HP DL180 G6 server to migrate my Freenas box to. The T3600 only has room for 3 drives (you can squeeze in 4 uncomfortably) so now with the new server, I’ll have 12 bays to work with. I have 5x1tb drives and an additional 3x2tb I can use across my new server and backup machine (I will most likely sell the T3600 to offset the money spent on the DL180 after i have everything set up). Overtime I will have access to more used 1tb hdds through a friend of mine. I have an 8tb hdd coming in that I will use as a secondary backup of my critical files, copying to it every month-ish and then storing it offsite.
My budget is tiny as you can probably tell from all the used hardware including the hdds.
I was wondering what the best long term zfs layout for both a freenas server and backup server would be.
What I use my current server for:
Media, Plex/Emby Server
Sonarr/Radar/Transmission
Backup for 2 desktop computers
NextCloud
VMs to run Linux for game servers
Learning and playing around with server stuff
Here are my thoughts:
Mirrors
Start off with 4x1tb (2 2x1tb) striped mirrors in the DL180. Have a 3way 3x2tb mirror for the backup server. This way I can expand the main server easily over time as I get more 1tb drives. When the backup server runs out space I can buy 2 or 3 larger drives to upgrade that pool and use the 2tb drives that were replaced inside the main server to upgrade its capacity.
RaidZ1
When I set up my first FreeNAS server I used the Dell optiplex and I went with a 3x750gb raidz1 configuration because that’s all I could fit into the chassis. When I got the T3600, I migrated my Freenas server over and I turned my old server into a backup server. Now that I have my 12 bay HP server, an option would be to just migrate the current server onto it and use additional 1tbs to create more 3x1tb vdevs to expand the pool. I know this is really bad for redundancy but it gives me more usable space without having to rebuild and destroy my current pool.
RaidZ2
With a 5x1tb RaidZ2 configuration I can have decent storage with good redundancy but upgrading won’t be as easy. It also leaves me with 2 bays leftover in the 12 bay server after adding another 5 drive vdev but I can use that for cache down the road. I can still do a 3way 2tb mirror for my backup server using this layout.
If I used 6x1tb hdds to make a RaidZ2 configuration (it would actually have to use one of the 2tb hdds to get 6 drives— 5x1tb + 1x2tb) I would have a decent amount of usable storage without sacrificing redundancy. But expanding the pool becomes costly down the road since I would have to have more drives upfront. It also leaves me with only a 2way mirror for my backup server.
Other considerations:
I can wait a few months to somehow gather enough 1tb drives to make a 12x1tb RaidZ2 or RaidZ3 configuration to have the most usable space right up front. Upgrading will be much much later on, if at all, and by then it might be worth just buying a DAS or come up with a new solution when the time comes. The biggest downside would be performance and also that I’m coming close to filling up my current server and I’m not sure I’d be able to wait to have enough drives to do this.
I’m still trying to figure out how much redundancy I’m actually going to need since I will have 2 different backups and can restore it all if worst comes to worst.
I know this is all extra complicated with a minimal budget but hopefully someone can offer some insight or point out some things I haven’t even considered.