Drive configuration suggestions

[Rusky]

I have 6x 500GB drives and a 1TB drive
I have 2x 120GB SSD that I will mirror for ZIL

I have ~250GB of backup and ~600GB of media

Are there any reasons to separate the backup and media on different vdevs or zpools? Like use 2 drives mirrored for backup and 4 for media or something.
I run backup once a night and watch a show here or there, nothing too intense.

Would appreciate any suggestions on using all my drives

 

[m0nkey_]

I have 2x 120GB SSD that I will mirror for ZIL

Let's get you started off on the right foot. Your FreeNAS server will have a ZIL already, this is RAM. What you're describing is a SLOG device.

Please can I ask what you intend to use a SLOG for, as there are very few reasons to utilize one.

 

[Nick2253]

Please can I ask what you intend to use a SLOG for, as there are very few reasons to utilize one.

I agree with this. If the extent of your use case is running backup and watching a show here or there, there is probably no reason to have a SLOG.

I would recommend segregating backup as much as possible. While it may not be feasible for your use to have a separate server for backup, I would definitely use at least a different zpool. That way, if you have any corruption in your primary pool for whatever reason, your backups are still safe.

 

[Rusky]

Let's get you started off on the right foot. Your FreeNAS server will have a ZIL already, this is RAM. What you're describing is a SLOG device.

Please can I ask what you intend to use a SLOG for, as there are very few reasons to utilize one.

I agree with this. If the extent of your use case is running backup and watching a show here or there, there is probably no reason to have a SLOG.

I would recommend segregating backup as much as possible. While it may not be feasible for your use to have a separate server for backup, I would definitely use at least a different zpool. That way, if you have any corruption in your primary pool for whatever reason, your backups are still safe.

I found some setup guides that mentioned setting it up and this article mentioned better performance
https://www.zfsbuild.com/2010/06/03/howto-zfs-add-log-drives-zil/

I care most about reliability and storage, what raid level do you suggest do you suggest for the backup and for the media?
Do you think dedicating 2 drives for the backup is enough?

 

[Nick2253]

I hate to be negative about a third party resource, but the last post in that blog was from back in 2013, and I'm not sure I agree with all the advice present.

At the very least, the advice about adding a SLOG is good if you have a high IO, multi client setup. There, you'll see a benefit to a SLOG. For most home users, even some of the more intense use cases, a SLOG does not provide any real benefit, especially when a faster CPU, more RAM, or more HDDs will provide more of a benefit for those users.

As far as backup drives go, only you know what you need. A mirror for backup could be more than adequate, depending on how much data you're backing up, and what you data retention policy is.

 

[m0nkey_]

I found some setup guides that mentioned setting it up and this article mentioned better performance
https://www.zfsbuild.com/2010/06/03/howto-zfs-add-log-drives-zil/

A SLOG or L2ARC is going to do nothing for you in terms of performance, based on the usage you described.

 

[Rusky]

I'm new to all of this so I'm just trying to figure out what I need, but thank you for the input about SLOG.

I have 8x 120GB SSD drives laying around so I was just trying to figure out something to do with them.
I found a guide to create a Jail for Plex using an SSD to improve performance so I might do that.

I decided to setup 2 of the 500GB drives in mirror for my backup and use the rest for Media.

I have 4x 500GB and a 1TB drive...can I mix and match drive size or for RaidZ they all have to be matching size?

 

[Nick2253]

I have 8x 120GB SSD drives laying around so I was just trying to figure out something to do with them.

I found a guide to create a Jail for Plex using an SSD to improve performance so I might do that.

If you've got the SATA ports, I would definitely put at least a few of those SSDs into an array for low-latency storage, for stuff like jails.

I decided to setup 2 of the 500GB drives in mirror for my backup and use the rest for Media.

I have 4x 500GB and a 1TB drive...can I mix and match drive size or for RaidZ they all have to be matching size?

You can definitely mix and match. However, you're limited by the size of the smallest disk. In your case, ZFS will only use 500GB of the 1TB drive, giving you, in effect, 5x 500GB drives.