CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet
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- Sep 13, 2014
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I'm currently planning my next big server disk upgrade and I'd like some advice on the best way to go about it given various criteria.
I have two FreeNAS servers. "X10" is my primary server and "Gen8" is the backup. Their specs are as follows.
Primary server, aka "X10"
FreeNAS9.10.2-U5 11.2-U5 finally!!!
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220v3
Mobo: Supermicro X10SL7-F
RAM: 32GB Crucial DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM
Boot: Sandisk X400 128GB SSD... I had it laying around and USB sticks fail too often.
HDD: 8x WD Red 3TB in RAIDz2
PSU: Seasonic SS-660XP2
UPS: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500i
Backup server, aka "Gen8"
FreeNAS 11.2-u4.1
SYSTEM: HPE MicroServer Gen8
CPU: Intel Celery G1610T
RAM: 2GB of HP + 8GB of Crucial DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM
HDD: 4x Seagate IronWolf 8TB in 2x mirrors
UPS: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500i
Here's the rough plan I have worked out.
For step 10...
I need to figure out the best way of connecting the old 8x 3TB pool to Gen8 without breaking the bank. My working idea is to get a HBA, a second PSU and a Supermicro CSEPT-JBOD-CB1, a nifty little PCB that controls disk and fan power in external, disk only chassis. I need to look into the Supermicro board in more detail though, specifically whether my Gen8 will play nice with it or whether any of the Gen8's idiosyncrasies would be problematic.
I'd keep the Gen8 hardware unnchanged aside from the addition of a HBA and cables run from it to a second chassis (a Fractal Design Define XL R2 I have laying around).
A decent PSU would set me back £50 to £60 quid, the Supermicro control board is £40 minus shipping and I'm not sure how much a decent HBA is going for these days but let's call the grand total, for all three items, £200.
Are there any other options I should be looking at with a budget of ~£200?
For step 11...
Aside from slightly better hardware failure scenarios, is there any upside to having the 4x 8TB RAIDz2 vdev and the 8x 3TB vdev in separate pools? It would create some extra work with dataset sizes and replication on/from X10. You could also argue that having two pools on Gen8 would eliminate the need for and risk associated with step 8 as I would need to blow away the 2x 8TB mirrored vdevs.... feel free to chip in your two cents on the subject.
I have two FreeNAS servers. "X10" is my primary server and "Gen8" is the backup. Their specs are as follows.
Primary server, aka "X10"
FreeNAS
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220v3
Mobo: Supermicro X10SL7-F
RAM: 32GB Crucial DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM
Boot: Sandisk X400 128GB SSD... I had it laying around and USB sticks fail too often.
HDD: 8x WD Red 3TB in RAIDz2
PSU: Seasonic SS-660XP2
UPS: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500i
Backup server, aka "Gen8"
FreeNAS 11.2-u4.1
SYSTEM: HPE MicroServer Gen8
CPU: Intel Celery G1610T
RAM: 2GB of HP + 8GB of Crucial DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM
HDD: 4x Seagate IronWolf 8TB in 2x mirrors
UPS: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500i
Here's the rough plan I have worked out.
- Purchase 8x 8TB disks and burn them in. [EDIT] 6x 10TB or 6x 12TB Toshiba N300's might be an option.
- Make a fresh snapshot of X10.
- Replicate the snapshot to Gen8.
- Disconnect the 8x 3TB RAIDz2 pool from X10.
- Connect the 8x 8TB disks to X10 in a RAIDz2.
- Replicate the data from Gen8 to the new X10 pool.
- Verify everything is hunky dory.
- Change Gen8's 2x mirrored 2x 8TB vdevs to a single 4x 8TB RAIDz2.
- Send snapshot of X10 to the new Gen8 pool (meaning that I'm back to having three copies of my data).
- ????????
- Add the 3x 8TB disks to the same pool as the 4x 8TB RAIDz2.
For step 10...
I need to figure out the best way of connecting the old 8x 3TB pool to Gen8 without breaking the bank. My working idea is to get a HBA, a second PSU and a Supermicro CSEPT-JBOD-CB1, a nifty little PCB that controls disk and fan power in external, disk only chassis. I need to look into the Supermicro board in more detail though, specifically whether my Gen8 will play nice with it or whether any of the Gen8's idiosyncrasies would be problematic.
I'd keep the Gen8 hardware unnchanged aside from the addition of a HBA and cables run from it to a second chassis (a Fractal Design Define XL R2 I have laying around).
A decent PSU would set me back £50 to £60 quid, the Supermicro control board is £40 minus shipping and I'm not sure how much a decent HBA is going for these days but let's call the grand total, for all three items, £200.
Are there any other options I should be looking at with a budget of ~£200?
For step 11...
Aside from slightly better hardware failure scenarios, is there any upside to having the 4x 8TB RAIDz2 vdev and the 8x 3TB vdev in separate pools? It would create some extra work with dataset sizes and replication on/from X10. You could also argue that having two pools on Gen8 would eliminate the need for and risk associated with step 8 as I would need to blow away the 2x 8TB mirrored vdevs.... feel free to chip in your two cents on the subject.
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