What RAID Config will be best for my needs?

Status
Not open for further replies.

theEmbark

Explorer
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
53
Might want to start a thread for this so there is more room to type. I will gladly post there and even include screenshots if needed. Just note other may ask for system specs and what your "use-case" is in order to provide input.
@Mirfster - good idea :D

Hey guys,

A big thanks to the community here and mirfster for getting me this far!

I just purchased a new NAS here are the specs:

Dell FS12-TY CS2100
  • 2 x L5630 (planning to upgrade these down the road)
  • 46 gb RAM
  • Perc H200
  • 12 x 500gb WD Black Cavier

Uses:
Primary - Used to store music files. Not just .mp3s Logic Pro X files and Cubase files which I plan to back up on the NAS but also host on the NAS so I can open the files in the respected programs and work on them.

Secondary - Just your normal backups. Pictures files etc.

Alright, so down to the question. What type of config should I run? I am new to FreeNAS and haven't done any RAID work in about 6 years.

My understanding is the following:

RAID-Z1 = RAID5
RAID-Z2 = RAID6

So in the past I've always ran RAID 10 (1+0) - with the thought process that I have the parity of a RAID 1 with the performance boost of RAID 0.

At the end of the day I am looking for the best performance with parity in case of drive failure.

I am open to all suggestions but would greatly appreciate an explanation of why you suggest whatever you suggest so I can be well informed at the end of the day.

Thank you for your help and time!
Kevin
 

danb35

Hall of Famer
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
15,455
Best would probably be two six-disk RAIDZ2 vdevs, which will give you the capacity of eight disks, or about 4 TB. You could make a single 12-disk RAIDZ2 vdev, which would give you a little more usable space (~ 5 TB), but is about as wide of a vdev as you'd want to use, and would require replacing all 12 disks to expand the pool (otherwise you could do six at a time).
 

theEmbark

Explorer
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
53
Best would probably be two six-disk RAIDZ2 vdevs, which will give you the capacity of eight disks, or about 4 TB. You could make a single 12-disk RAIDZ2 vdev, which would give you a little more usable space (~ 5 TB), but is about as wide of a vdev as you'd want to use, and would require replacing all 12 disks to expand the pool (otherwise you could do six at a time).
Thanks for the quick reply! So going with 2 pools would give me more parity which I do like. How about performance? Would they perform about the same or would 1 pool vs 2 pools differ?

Thanks again,
Kevin
 

danb35

Hall of Famer
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
15,455

theEmbark

Explorer
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
53
No, not two pools (though that's yet another option), one pool composed of two vdevs. See https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/ for more information about how ZFS works. Multiple vdevs in a pool will increase the IOPS for that pool.
Thanks for the clarification - I got the terms backwards. That link is very helpful :D I like the idea of 2 vdevs as in the future I may experiment with 2tb drives. Even with parity the idea of losing a 2tb drive vs a 500gb drive terrifies me haha. This would allow me to do so without having to replace all 12 drives at once (quite a large investment) and doing 6 at a time.

Thanks,
Kevin
 

Mirfster

Doesn't know what he's talking about
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Messages
3,215
Best would probably be two six-disk RAIDZ2 vdevs
Agree with DanB355 here. RaidZ2 is the better choice for your use-case. It is a very good balance between Speed, Redundancy and Space. Using two vDevs will make it easier in the long run (plus a slight bump in IOPS).

BTW, I think you have 48 GB of RAM and not 46 (odd number). If it shows only 46, you may have some bad RAM.

Edit: Just recalled that the system you got came with 32 GB, so maybe you added some more and I wrong in that assumption...

P.S. Don't forget to properly burn in your system (will take ~ 1 week, just for the basic "quick" process) before calling it "Production Ready". Info is linked in my sig. I know, you're excited to get the system going but anything worth doing....etc....
 
Last edited:

theEmbark

Explorer
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
53
Agree with DanB355 here. RaidZ2 is the better choice for your use-case. It is a very good balance between Speed, Redundancy and Space. Using two vDevs will make it easier in the long run (plus a slight bump in IOPS).

BTW, I think you have 48 GB of RAM and not 46 (odd number). If it shows only 46, you may have some bad RAM.

P.S. Don't forget to properly burn in your system (will take ~ 1 week, just for the basic "quick" process) before calling it "Production Ready". Info is linked in my sig. I know, you're excited to get the system going but anything worth doing....etc....
Thanks Mirfster - I also agree after reading more into it that RaidZ2 looks the best option and using 2 vdevs also sounds most sensible for the discussed reasons!

Yes 48gbs of RAM! sorry that was a typo :D

And yes, thank you. I am eager to get this up and running but I want to do it properly so if that means waiting another week then that's just what's going to have to happen!

Thanks for all the help,
Kevin
 

CraigD

Patron
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
343
I am eager to get this up and running but I want to do it properly so if that means waiting another week then that's just what's going to have to happen!

Thanks for all the help,
Kevin

I'm new but take your time setting up FreeNAS and configuring your pool(s)

My testing took more than a week....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top