Feedback on storage setup

[freebsdrules]

Hi all-

I have a new build I've just about completed for our home FreeNAS server. Hardware specs are below, as are intended uses. I've had a FreeNAS server in the past but wanted to get feedback on best possible storage/pool setups given my setup. Let me know what you would do.

Hardware
1. Supermicro 3U case which includes 16x 3.5" drive bays and backplane.
2. 16x 6TB Seagate 6TB Enterprise Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SAS 12Gb/s 128MB 3.5" ST6000NM0034.
3. Supermicro X8DTH-i motherboard.
4. 2x LSI 9211-8I IT Mode SAS SATA 8-port PCI-E 6Gbps HBA Cards
5. 2x X5680 Xeons @ 3.33 GHz, 6 cores each, 12 cores total
6. 96GB ECC RAM
7. 10gbps fiber NIC (can't recall exact one off hand).

Uses
1. This is mostly used as a local/home storage server. I use it to store regular data (tax returns, financial spreadsheets, etc.) as well as photos, music, and movies for streaming.
2. I've recently added DVR data and tons of data from home security cameras.
3. Plex - it will run/host our internal plex server to both stream local media and stream live and dvr playback from 2 hdhomerun boxes fed from an over air antenna.

Setup
I am thinking I'll use raidz3 and was initially thinking one big pool. Thoughts? At least half the space will be reserved for security camera footage.

 

[Arwen]

In someways it's more important to have a ZFS pool layout than to have a broad comment that you will use RAID-Z3. Specifically, it's not recommended to go above 11/12 disks in a single vDev. (But you can have more disks in a pool using multiple vDevs.)

So, instead of RAID-Z3, I would say 2 x 8 disk vDevs in RAID-Z2. You use 4 out of 16 disks for redundancy. But much better performance than a single 16 disk vDev using RAID-Z3.

Without looking up the motherboard, the X8 series seems a bit old. (Unless you are getting it free, or buying it used.) But, as I said, I did not look it up.

 

[freebsdrules]

In someways it's more important to have a ZFS pool layout than to have a broad comment that you will use RAID-Z3. Specifically, it's not recommended to go above 11/12 disks in a single vDev. (But you can have more disks in a pool using multiple vDevs.)

So, instead of RAID-Z3, I would say 2 x 8 disk vDevs in RAID-Z2. You use 4 out of 16 disks for redundancy. But much better performance than a single 16 disk vDev using RAID-Z3.

Without looking up the motherboard, the X8 series seems a bit old. (Unless you are getting it free, or buying it used.) But, as I said, I did not look it up.

Thanks, this is exactly the type of advice I'm seeking! It is probably a bit older if a mb...is there some concern with that?

Any other feedback?

 

[Stux]

X8 series seems a bit old

Nehalem class

BTW, you still need to have a backup. Thus you shouldn't require RaidZ3, and I would recommend 2x 8-way RaidZ2 as well.

 

[freebsdrules]

Nehalem class

BTW, you still need to have a backup. Thus you shouldn't require RaidZ3, and I would recommend 2x 8-way RaidZ2 as well.

That sounds like the way to go. I will have a backup as well.