BUILD Offsite backup 30TB

[dopeelf]

Hey all, complete noob looking to build a freenas box to do offsite backup of video files. The existing SAN which we work on is 30 TB so the backup should be the same size. The existing SAN is well setup for protection so this solution is in case there is something catastrophic like fire or flooding.

The plan is to use a USB stick for booting, the SSD for ZFS cache and swap. 12 drives in RAIDZ.

From what I gather this hardware should work.

• Gigabyte Z68MX-UD2H-B3 mATX
• Crucial 16GB (2x8192MB) CL9 1600Mhz Ballistix Sport (room for 16Gb more if needed).
• 12 x 3TB Toshiba 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
• SSD 60GB Intel 330 Reseller 2.5"
• be quiet! Straight Power E9 400W 80+ Gold (Do I need a beefier supply? I used a calculator online to get the number but it looks low).
• Intel Core i5 3450 3,1Ghz (Ivy Bridge)
• LSI LOGIC SAS9201 16-PORT

I am thankful for any and all comments on this since I am really a noob at this.

 

[cyberjock]

What I'd do is use ZFS replication. For instance, if you are a business owner and want to keep the backup at your house then you should let the 2 servers do the first ZFS replication on a LAN connection, then take the backup server home. If you aren't generating gigs and gigs of data every day I wouldn't expect a backup to take more than a couple of mins even from your home cable internet. But that first backup will be the entire size of your data.

ZIL and L2ARC are a waste of money since you didn't use the keywords "big fat database" or "iscsi". They don't work like you think and are only useful is very specific situations.

 

[dopeelf]

What I'd do is use ZFS replication. For instance, if you are a business owner and want to keep the backup at your house then you should let the 2 servers do the first ZFS replication on a LAN connection, then take the backup server home. If you aren't generating gigs and gigs of data every day I wouldn't expect a backup to take more than a couple of mins even from your home cable internet. But that first backup will be the entire size of your data.

It's going to vary but I do expect there to be days when more than 100 Gb is generated but most days it'll be the same. Yes, the plan is to do a backup before we send it off. I am not sure what the SAN uses but it's a proprietary system and we don't have access to the nitty gritty stuff so I am pretty sure ZFS replication is out of the picture. I was thinking about doing it as simple as possible since there's no one really technical over there. Probably a AFP share and some kind of synchronization software.

ZIL and L2ARC are a waste of money since you didn't use the keywords "big fat database" or "iscsi". They don't work like you think and are only useful is very specific situations.

Thanks for clearing that up! I looked at the slideshow about ZFS vdevs etc and was thinking in that direction. Thanks for spelling it out for me!