ZFS or UFS, hardware RAID y/n?

[BOFH]

Hi,

I've been given the task to setup a fileserver at work. I've been Linuxing and BSDing away for as long as I've been around but unfortunately my hardware knowledge is limited. I have previously experimented with ZFS at home but never in critical production systems.

I have some very basic questions which I would appreciate if somebody could help me out with.

1. I initially recommended that we use FreeNAS due to ZFS. While reading the FreeNAS 9.2.1 documentation this portion stood out: "The current FreeBSD ZFS implementation will not notice that a drive is gone until you reboot or put the volume on high load." The risk of data loss here makes me want to consider using UFS instead. Am I being rational?

2. I'm a little bit confused regarding the combination of RAIDZ and hardware RAID controllers. Are they compatible? If I use RAIDZ, can I use a box without the hardware RAID controller? Would there be any benefits of having one? The fileserver which I have been ordered to install will be used specifically for this purpose so if a hardware RAID breaks something for one reason or another then I would save some money by not using a hardware RAID.

3. Should there be any hardware differences regarding the question above if I used ZFS instead of UFS or vice versa?

4. When using UFS, is it equally important having 1 GB RAM per 1 TB disk as with ZFS? If not, how much RAM does UFS require per 1 TB disk to perform optimally?

I apologize if my questions are stupid or could've been answered had I done some more RTFM. It is not often that I am ordered to focus on hardware and when I am it is rare that I do something that I have done before. This is a new world for me in many ways.

Thank you.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

If you are doing this for a paycheck. I would RTFM and understand TFM as well.

#1 Not that I am an expert, I don't remember reading that. One of my drives broke. My FreeNAS server bitched about it to me in an email. It was never rebooted. I think FreeNAS knows exactly when a drive pisses sideways. But maybe an expert can clear this up.

#2 Some are, some are not. If the on board controller can handle the drives I don't see a need for one. But FreeNAS is very picky. If you must have one. You really need to read up.

#3 #4 I have heard the resident experts say, if you are not going with ZFS, then FreeNAS is probably not your best option. But yes, hardware requirements are different. UFS uses less ram.

This is all making some REALLY large assumptions. I have no idea what you need this thing to do, your budget, or what. You didn't really provide much info.

But I am 100% sure of one thing. You need to RTFM, research, and google. Other wise we are gonna have to do to you what the other reindeer did to poor Rudolph.

 

[danb35]

There is no need for a hardware RAID controller, there is no benefit to a hardware RAID controller, and the best you can hope for is that it won't cause problems if you get the right one. Much better, if you need more disk ports than your motherboard provides, to get an HBA instead.

If you're concerned about data integrity, ZFS is the thing to use. UFS does not provide data integrity, and is going away in FreeNAS 9.3.

As @9C1 Newbee said, you really do need to RTFM carefully. In addition to the manual (here), two other major resources are cyberjock's presentation and the hardware recommendations sticky. Also, if this is going to be for a work environment, consider giving iXSystems a call for a quote on a pre-built and configured TrueNAS device. No doubt it'll cost more than something you piece together, but I'd think support would be worth quite a bit for a business environment.

 

[cyberjock]

Hi,

I've been given the task to setup a fileserver at work. I've been Linuxing and BSDing away for as long as I've been around but unfortunately my hardware knowledge is limited. I have previously experimented with ZFS at home but never in critical production systems.

I have some very basic questions which I would appreciate if somebody could help me out with.

1. I initially recommended that we use FreeNAS due to ZFS. While reading the FreeNAS 9.2.1 documentation this portion stood out: "The current FreeBSD ZFS implementation will not notice that a drive is gone until you reboot or put the volume on high load." The risk of data loss here makes me want to consider using UFS instead. Am I being rational?

2. I'm a little bit confused regarding the combination of RAIDZ and hardware RAID controllers. Are they compatible? If I use RAIDZ, can I use a box without the hardware RAID controller? Would there be any benefits of having one? The fileserver which I have been ordered to install will be used specifically for this purpose so if a hardware RAID breaks something for one reason or another then I would save some money by not using a hardware RAID.

3. Should there be any hardware differences regarding the question above if I used ZFS instead of UFS or vice versa?

4. When using UFS, is it equally important having 1 GB RAM per 1 TB disk as with ZFS? If not, how much RAM does UFS require per 1 TB disk to perform optimally?

I apologize if my questions are stupid or could've been answered had I done some more RTFM. It is not often that I am ordered to focus on hardware and when I am it is rare that I do something that I have done before. This is a new world for me in many ways.

Thank you.

1. No, that doesn't matter if you have redundancy. ZFS will eventually fail the drive out when I/O requests are unanswered.
2. RTFM... it makes it 10000% clear you do NOT mix hardware RAID with ZFS, PERIOD.
3. RTFM... yes, but read the next answer.
4. UFS is dead on FreeNAS. If you are even considering using UFS because of hardware requirements, this is not the OS for you.