Reporting Database questions

[George Kyriazis]

Ok, I'm trying to figure out what's the best practices for the Reporting Database settings, but I haven't found anything yet giving reasons as to why one would choose one vs another. There is a lot of documentation of "you can put your database here or there", and "do it by ...", but nothing satisfactory as to why.

So, there are 2 parameters that I see, that seem to be independent:

1. System dataset pool.

One could choose the boot pool or a data pool. Documentation says don't put in the boot pool, since it is frequently written, but one could argue that an SSD boot pool is faster, so why not put it there? What are the bottlenecks when using the boot pool?

2. Reporting database checkmark.

Documentation says that if unchecked it's put in a temp filesystem and then copied to 'on-disk' files. Um.. Is the temp filesystem not on disk, then? Which one? Why would one choose one option vs another?

Thanks for some

 

[Chris Moore]

System dataset pool.

One could choose the boot pool or a data pool. Documentation says don't put in the boot pool, since it is frequently written, but one could argue that an SSD boot pool is faster, so why not put it there? What are the bottlenecks when using the boot pool?

The documentation saying not to put it in the boot pool is based on the possibility that you might use a USB memory stick as your boot device. Many people do that. I have been using a mirrored pair of mechanical hard drives for my boot pool for about three years and it has presented no problem to keep the system dataset in the boot pool. The speed is not a problem, it isn't about a bottleneck, it is because the amount of wear would kill a USB memory stick in just a few months.
As an example:

This is the activity on my boot pool when there is really nothing happening on the server. The access is virtually constant.

Reporting database checkmark.

Documentation says that if unchecked it's put in a temp filesystem and then copied to 'on-disk' files. Um.. Is the temp filesystem not on disk, then? Which one? Why would one choose one option vs another?

I can't say for sure on this, but I think the 'temp' file system is in memory. I don't know with certainty where the "on disk" location is but I think it is in the system dataset, where ever that happens to be.

I'm trying to figure out what's the best practices for the Reporting Database settings, but I haven't found anything yet giving reasons as to why one would choose one vs another.

The "best practice" would depend on your specific hardware, so there is no single answer that is right for everyone. Many of the decisions about your FreeNAS configuration depend on your specific hardware which is the reason for the content of this post:

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