Suggested configuration - new install

[ozwald]

Hi,

I have acquired some new hardware (new to me) and i want to set up some network storage.. the end goal is just regular storage (I have one PC and one apple laptop) but if possible add a NFS share for esxi (only three or four vm's) The NFS sahre would be used for Data vmdk's only as the OS vmdk is hosted locally on esxi box

if you can suggest the best zfs setup ( zpool/vdev/ etc) i am new to freenas so be kind lol Thanks for the help in advance!!

this is the hardware i have to use:

Drives:
6 x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300
8 x 1 TB Seagate Video
4 x 3 TB WD Red Drives

Hardware: (2 boxes)

Box #1
Intel Xeon E5-2603
32 GB RAM ( i believe ECC)
LSI HBA
Corsair 65oW PSU
currently only have enough connections for 10 Drives
booting off of 16GB USB

Box #2
Intel i3
16GB Ram
Seasonic 450W PSU
currently only have enough connections for 6 Drives
booting from 16GB USB

 

[ozwald]

Is ikt better to putt all the 3TB drives in to one box? and create a ZFS vloume consisting of 2 vdev's in zf2? that would allow for two drives in each vdev to fail? that seem to really eat up a lot of disk space though...

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

At first glance:

Option 1
Box 1: 6 x 3TB Toshiba in RAIDZ2 - 'production' pool
Box 2: 4 x 3TB WD Red in RAIDZ1 - replication target, aka backup pool

This doesn't look like a good platform for SAN hosting.

Option 2
Box 1: 5 x 2 x 3TB, i.e. 5 striped mirrors

Striped mirrors are what I always see recommended in these forums for SAN hosting.

Since you're new to FreeNAS, you'll want to start reading all the stickies and guides, and possibly go through a few test setups before making any hard-to-reverse decisions.

 

[ozwald]

update:

Turns out on of my #TB was an ugly Seagate and it is toast.. surprise surprise.... so ihave 4 WD Red and 5 Toshiba

yes i agree and i am constantly reading... although i am familiar with 'raid' i am not sure of the striped mirrors...

should i even worry about running both boxes?


thanks

 

[ozwald]

i was thinking of doing a RAIDz2 with all 9 drives

this would give double redundancy and maximize my space? Pro Cons?

Cheers

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

A 9-wide RAIDZ2 pool will deliver high capacity but will not deliver good performance for SAN hosting. In general, you can't optimize capacity and IOPS at the same time.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

although i am familiar with 'raid' i am not sure of the striped mirrors...

When you combine multiple vdevs into a pool, that's known as 'striping'. When those vdevs are mirrors, that's known as 'striped mirrors'.

 

[Ericloewe]

Cyberjock's guide seems like a good place to start, OP.

Link is in my sig.

 

[ozwald]

i failed to mention there are only two users at this time. i was also hoping to save a copy of two vm's here as well. so speed may not be as high on the list...

Cyberjock's guide seems like a good place to start, OP.

Link is in my sig.

Would you be able to show me a screen shot of what it should look like. i will recreate my pool today and do what i think you are talking about lol... i will include screen shots..

 

[ozwald]

Thanks for the help still new to zfs... Do either of these make sense? i am trying to make striped mirrors

Option #1

Option #2

 

[Bidule0hm]

Option 2 ;)

The first option is two striped mirrors of 4 drives.

 

[cyberjock]

Option 2 ;)

The first option is two striped mirrors of 4 drives.

+1

Option 1 is really conservative.. nobody does 4-disk mirrors. ;)

 

[ozwald]

+1

Option 1 is really conservative.. nobody does 4-disk mirrors. ;)

i this the best/recommened use of my 9 3 TB Drives?

there is really just me and i am using to for backups (windows)/NFS storage ( esxi storage) and movie/music storage.

 

[ozwald]

So Option #2 would let me have one drive fail in each mirror
what id both drives failed in one of the stripes?

 

[ozwald]

how about this:

this allows me to have 3 drive failures. is the biggest difference the resilver time upon drive failure?

 

[Bidule0hm]

RAID-Z3 should be far safer than striped mirrors ;)

The resilver time shouldn't be that much different.

 

[ozwald]

hmm welcome to the world of ZFS haha...

here is good link with visual descriptions. Not sure i agree with his 'recommendations' but still some good reading and hopefully it can help someone out...

https://icesquare.com/wordpress/zfs-performance-mirror-vs-raidz-vs-raidz2-vs-raidz3-vs-striped/

One of the hardest things to overcome is the loss of drive space.

Would it make sense to make a volume of four drives in striped mirrors (for backups)

and one volume of five drives in a Raidz2 (for data)

hopefully between scrubs and S.M.A.R.T tests i should have fair warning if a drive goes?

cheers

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I'm a bit confused. You said in your 1st post, "The NFS sahre would be used for Data vmdk's only". Does that mean that you want the NAS to host VMDKs that are attached to live VMs?

If so, you'll be steered towards mirrors for IOPS performance reasons, as stated earlier.

If not - e.g. if you're just planning to copy VMDKs to the NAS for backup - then you probably don't need to bother with mirrors and you could just set up a RAIDZ2 or RAIDZ3 array. You could use all 9 drives, or use 8 and keep one on the shelf as a spare.