FreeNAS HD Setup

[chrysis]

Hey everyone,

I'm setting up my first FreeNAS box and I have a few questions regarding the storage setup. I currently have 11 x3TB drives in my FreeNAS box. What would be the best configuration be for the following scenarios:

1. Maximize storage capacity

2. Maximize storage capacity w retaining redundancy for x1 failed drive

3. Maximize storage capacity w retaining redundancy for x2 failed drives

4. Maximize storage capacity w plans for expansion in the future

If you are able to provide any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

regards,
chrysis

 

[darkwarrior]

Hi there,

a single VDEV with 11 3TB disks starts to be a bit wide, but you could consider this solution using RAIDZ3 (x3 failed drives before loosing any redundancy). RAIDZ2 in that kind of configuration would be a bit risky, IMO.
Or else you can go with 2 * 6-disk RAIDZ2 VDEVs (buying 1 additional disk) allowing you to lose up to 2 disks per VDEV.
From my point of view that would be a quite good compromise.

Concerning the storage capacity, you should have a look for @Bidule0hm 's ZFS pool capacity calculator:
ZFS RAID Size/Reliability Calculator

Have fun ;)

 

[vibratingKWAX]

Or else you can go with 2 * 6-disk RAIDZ2 VDEVs (buying 1 additional disk) allowing you to loose up to 2 disks per VDEV.

I would also prefer striping two VDEVs with build-in redundancy (RAIDZ1 or 2 depending on your risk tolerance) because of the added IOs and the general rule of no more than 8 drives in a single VDEV

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Taking the question 100% literally:

1. stripe
2. RAIDZ1
3. RAIDZ2
4. stripe

None of the above is a very desirable layout, as indicated by the other posts.

 

[chrysis]

Taking the question 100% literally:

1. stripe
2. RAIDZ1
3. RAIDZ2
4. stripe

None of the above is a very desirable layout, as indicated by the other posts.

Do you think it would make more sense to get a 12th 3TB and create 3 VDEV's w 4 drives in each VDEV [RAIDZ2], or 2 VDEV's w 6 drives in each VDEV?

 

[darkwarrior]

Do you think it would make more sense to get a 12th 3TB and create 3 VDEV's w 4 drives in each VDEV [RAIDZ2], or 2 VDEV's w 6 drives in each VDEV?

Technically, you could go with 3 * 4 disk VDEVs but you are far away from getting space efficiency and a good bang for buck. 6 disks would be lost to parity in that configuration.
if you're creating 2 * 6-disk VDEVs you are "only" loosing 4 disks to the parity.
Choice would be quite clear for me :p

 

[Stux]

I'd suggest 2x 6 disk Raidz2 if you're interested in expansion either via adding more vdevs or by replacing drives.

It also dove tails Nicely into a 24 bay system one day.

If you want more efficiency then go to 7 or 8 disk z2

 

[Scharbag]

I'd suggest 2x 6 disk Raidz2 if you're interested in expansion either via adding more vdevs or by replacing drives.

It also dove tails Nicely into a 24 bay system one day.

If you want more efficiency then go to 7 or 8 disk z2

Agree 100% with Stux, and not just because that is how my system is setup :) Great fault tolerance as well as better performance than a single vDev.

Cheers,