Hello all,
The config scenario I want to build revolves around HP's Microserver Gen8. I plan to buy a second Gen8 since the price is dirt cheap with the basic config, 190 pounds for the lowest config.
Now these little cubes support 16Gb of RAM max which is the limiting factor into getting more performance out of my FreeNAS. The whole idea is to have two servers linked together into providing the best performance out of two very different workloads.
The Microserver currently in use has the below specs and it servers all the workloads:
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1265L V2 @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 16Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X 3Tb WD Red in a RAIDZ-1 Array | 100Gb Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: Intel 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 | built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet
Workloads: Backups, file storage, VMware ISCSI Datastore, local DNS server
The plan is to build a two tiered storage by buying the second Microserver and move the drives to it. This will be the mechanical tier and the current Xeon based server is supposed to house SSD based storage.
The final setup should be:
Tier 1 (SSD)
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1265L V2 @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 16Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X S-ATA SSD drives (capacity TBD) in either RAID 10 or RAIDZ-1 array | Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: Intel 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 | built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet (LACP mode)
Target workload: VMware Datastore over 10Gb ISCSI and other potential low latency workloads
Tier 2 (HDD)
CPU: Intel(R) G2020T @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 8Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X 3Tb WD Red in a RAIDZ-1 Array | 100Gb Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet (LACP mode)
Target workload: Backups, file storage, local DNS server, AD Controller
The whole idea is to have a single point to run both workloads. My logic goes as far as mounting the Tier 2 shares as NFS with the gigabit LACP between the servers and having the Tier 1 being the main entry point for all resources being either VMware Datastore ISCSI over the 10Gb link or a samba share that points to the Tier 2 server.
Between the servers there is a Netgear GS108T Gigabit smart switch with management.
Is there a way to have the Tier 1 (SSD) server act like a cache for the Tier 2? I'm thinking of 2 SSD drives serve the VMware Datastore and 2 SSD drives cache data for Tier 2 (HDD).
Any input is greatly appreciated.
The config scenario I want to build revolves around HP's Microserver Gen8. I plan to buy a second Gen8 since the price is dirt cheap with the basic config, 190 pounds for the lowest config.
Now these little cubes support 16Gb of RAM max which is the limiting factor into getting more performance out of my FreeNAS. The whole idea is to have two servers linked together into providing the best performance out of two very different workloads.
The Microserver currently in use has the below specs and it servers all the workloads:
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1265L V2 @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 16Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X 3Tb WD Red in a RAIDZ-1 Array | 100Gb Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: Intel 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 | built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet
Workloads: Backups, file storage, VMware ISCSI Datastore, local DNS server
The plan is to build a two tiered storage by buying the second Microserver and move the drives to it. This will be the mechanical tier and the current Xeon based server is supposed to house SSD based storage.
The final setup should be:
Tier 1 (SSD)
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1265L V2 @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 16Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X S-ATA SSD drives (capacity TBD) in either RAID 10 or RAIDZ-1 array | Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: Intel 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 | built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet (LACP mode)
Target workload: VMware Datastore over 10Gb ISCSI and other potential low latency workloads
Tier 2 (HDD)
CPU: Intel(R) G2020T @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 8Gb ECC Unbuffered DDR3@1333Mhz
Disks: 4 X 3Tb WD Red in a RAIDZ-1 Array | 100Gb Laptop HDD for the boot volume
Network: built-in Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet (LACP mode)
Target workload: Backups, file storage, local DNS server, AD Controller
The whole idea is to have a single point to run both workloads. My logic goes as far as mounting the Tier 2 shares as NFS with the gigabit LACP between the servers and having the Tier 1 being the main entry point for all resources being either VMware Datastore ISCSI over the 10Gb link or a samba share that points to the Tier 2 server.
Between the servers there is a Netgear GS108T Gigabit smart switch with management.
Is there a way to have the Tier 1 (SSD) server act like a cache for the Tier 2? I'm thinking of 2 SSD drives serve the VMware Datastore and 2 SSD drives cache data for Tier 2 (HDD).
Any input is greatly appreciated.
