LIGISTX
Guru
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2015
- Messages
- 525
Ok, I am getting closer to purchasing all the hardware for the new FreeNAS setup, but I am trying to figure everything out and have a plan going farther into the future so I can properly plan the build now.
So, a little background...
I have been running a openmediavault nas for years now, it has done its job, and I have had no issues with it, but going into the future the greater "power" freenas and ZFS provide would be much appreciated. Problem is, ZFS is a huge difference coming from a much more standard computer mentality, lots of terms I have not fully digested and then the statistics of proper vdev and pool setup to support the redundancy I want, fun stuff for sure.
My current questions are based around harddrive setup and the chassis required to make it all work in an economical way.
I currently have 11 3 TB drives I will want to use, I already own them, so they are "locked in" to this build. I will want to add more storage space to this immediately, and possibly more in the future and my plan to do this is to buy another 2-3 3 TB drives now to total 13 or 14, and run these in a RAIDZ3 configuration.
First, is this a sufficiently redundant way to do this? Should I instead use two 7 vdev arrays with RAID Z2? (I hope that is the proper use of vdev, I think it goes vdev<Pool?)
But then, going into the future, I will need to expand to a larger amount of storage. So, would it be smarter to just buy say 5 3 TB drives today for a total of 16 3 TB's, set up a single vdev with RAID Z3 for a usable pool size of of 39TB? Or 2 vdev's with Z2 for a total of 36 TB usable? Or, just chill with my 13 or 14 drive pool now (in whatever vdev/Z* I decide) and in a year add in 5 4TB drives in RAID Z2 for an additional 12 TB of usable pool space?
I am just not sure what the best way to go about this is, and how to properly plan for it today. Obviously I will want to plan on utilizing the hardware I buy today properly, so I would want to buy a chassis either with a SAS backplane or a barebone chassis and a HBA card that will support the total amount of drives I plan to have in the future.
Another question that I suppose should be asked in this same thought process, how much RAM is required for such a setup? I know I know, 1 GB per 1 TB, but does that scale 100%?If I buy 2 16 gig kits and fill out my motherboard with 32 gigs of RAM today, and end up with ~39TB usable space in the future, will I have kneecapped myself? Just get 2x16GB kits today so I can add another 16 gigs in the future if needed <--- probably the best idea huh. Well, this is a moot point, I knew, but forgot to actually acnowledge, this mobo can only support 32 gigs of RAM. I guess the real question here..... is this enough? Do I need to move up a class to get more RAM slots? This won't be a heavy hitting server, it just needs to stream multimedia to a few destinations at once, nothing too crazy. If it will max out gigabit LAN, I will be happy!
And on the topic of chassis, any suggestions? At the 16+ drive option, I think I am fully into a server rack type of case, I don't see much way around that which is fine. I just need to figure out the way to best spend my money. I don't mind buying a "nice" 4U chassis with a backplane which eliminates the need for an HBA card since I plan on using a X10SL7-F motherboard which I can use reverse breakout cables with to get 2 mini SAS connectors out of. So whatever chassis I use would need to be setup so I can use 2 SAS connectors and plug in all of my potential drives, or, have a plan to get an HBA card if required. I am just not sure how many drives I can use per SAS connector, maybe that depends how the backplane is setup? I am 100% new to backplans and SAS in general, so I am trying to learn up on it all.
Also, if it matters, I am planning to run a XEON CPU in this guy, so CPU power shouldn't be a concern, at least for this thread.
Thanks for the advice guys. I am really trying to set this all up correctly from the get go, and have proper future expansion ability without spending an exuberant amount.
So, a little background...
I have been running a openmediavault nas for years now, it has done its job, and I have had no issues with it, but going into the future the greater "power" freenas and ZFS provide would be much appreciated. Problem is, ZFS is a huge difference coming from a much more standard computer mentality, lots of terms I have not fully digested and then the statistics of proper vdev and pool setup to support the redundancy I want, fun stuff for sure.
My current questions are based around harddrive setup and the chassis required to make it all work in an economical way.
I currently have 11 3 TB drives I will want to use, I already own them, so they are "locked in" to this build. I will want to add more storage space to this immediately, and possibly more in the future and my plan to do this is to buy another 2-3 3 TB drives now to total 13 or 14, and run these in a RAIDZ3 configuration.
First, is this a sufficiently redundant way to do this? Should I instead use two 7 vdev arrays with RAID Z2? (I hope that is the proper use of vdev, I think it goes vdev<Pool?)
But then, going into the future, I will need to expand to a larger amount of storage. So, would it be smarter to just buy say 5 3 TB drives today for a total of 16 3 TB's, set up a single vdev with RAID Z3 for a usable pool size of of 39TB? Or 2 vdev's with Z2 for a total of 36 TB usable? Or, just chill with my 13 or 14 drive pool now (in whatever vdev/Z* I decide) and in a year add in 5 4TB drives in RAID Z2 for an additional 12 TB of usable pool space?
I am just not sure what the best way to go about this is, and how to properly plan for it today. Obviously I will want to plan on utilizing the hardware I buy today properly, so I would want to buy a chassis either with a SAS backplane or a barebone chassis and a HBA card that will support the total amount of drives I plan to have in the future.
Another question that I suppose should be asked in this same thought process, how much RAM is required for such a setup? I know I know, 1 GB per 1 TB, but does that scale 100%?
And on the topic of chassis, any suggestions? At the 16+ drive option, I think I am fully into a server rack type of case, I don't see much way around that which is fine. I just need to figure out the way to best spend my money. I don't mind buying a "nice" 4U chassis with a backplane which eliminates the need for an HBA card since I plan on using a X10SL7-F motherboard which I can use reverse breakout cables with to get 2 mini SAS connectors out of. So whatever chassis I use would need to be setup so I can use 2 SAS connectors and plug in all of my potential drives, or, have a plan to get an HBA card if required. I am just not sure how many drives I can use per SAS connector, maybe that depends how the backplane is setup? I am 100% new to backplans and SAS in general, so I am trying to learn up on it all.
Also, if it matters, I am planning to run a XEON CPU in this guy, so CPU power shouldn't be a concern, at least for this thread.
Thanks for the advice guys. I am really trying to set this all up correctly from the get go, and have proper future expansion ability without spending an exuberant amount.
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