SOLVED How to create striped mirrors aka RAID10 in the GUI?

[Touche]

I have six 3 TB drives and I would like to create 3 striped mirrors with 2 drives in each mirror - RAID10. The wording in the manual and the GUI are confusing and not very detailed. Googling and searching the forum for the past couple of hours haven't helped me much.

What is the difference between these two methods and which should I use?

vs

What do the 1, 2, 3, 4... in the top row signify?

What does 2x1x3.0 TB mean? Shouldn't it be 1x2x3.0 as in "1 vdev with 2 drives of 3 TB each"?

 

[danb35]

What is the difference between these two methods and which should I use?

There is no difference; the two you've posted are identical--though the former doesn't take as many clicks to accomplish.

What do the 1, 2, 3, 4... in the top row signify?

The number of disks in each vdev.

What does 2x1x3.0 TB mean?

Two disks each x 1 vdev x 3 TB disks (compare with the first screen shot, two disks x 6 3 vdevs). Though I think the order you suggest is more straightforward.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yeah I hate this window, not clear at all and counter-intuitive. And the manual doesn't tell if vdevs are the rows or the columns.

The 1, 2, 3, ... are the drive # in the vdevs, not the vdev #. The vdevs are the rows.

Yes, 2x1x3.0 TB is the most counter-intuitive part of the window, you can read it as 2 drives in one vdev of 3.0 TB drives.

So, the two propositions you've posted are the same. The second one is just more flexible as you can mix vdev types (not that it's recommended).

NB: is it "counter-intuitive" or "counterintuitive"? (I'm french and I can't find a definitive answer...)

Edit: argh, beaten by half a fly's ass hair by danb35 :)

 

[Touche]

Thank you, guys! Yeah, I hate that window too. I've been preparing for this build on and off for a year, and I've never fully understood how this section works for RAID10. The documentation and the interface are really lacking regarding this.

Two disks each x 1 vdev x 3 TB disks (compare with the first screen shot, two disks x 6 vdevs).

You mean two disks x 3 vdevs?

And, yeah, that really seems like backwards ordering to a novice.

 

[danb35]

You mean two disks x 3 vdevs?

Yes, my mistake.

 

[userx]

i having the same understanding trouble at this point with the GUI. i having 4x 800GB SSDs and 4x 1000GB SSDs. i would like to realize Raid 10, or what for VM Virtualization the best is. How should i configure that in the GUI?

 

[adonesp]

In the new GUI (v11.2), just create an initial pool with 2 drives mirrored. After the pool is created, EXTEND the pool with another 2 drives (again mirrored). Freenas will automatically add each pair of mirrored drives as striped array.

 

[danb35]

just create an initial pool with 2 drives mirrored. After the pool is created, EXTEND the pool with another 2 drives

Why not create it in one step? The GUI will let you do that, you know.

 

[adonesp]

@danb35 because I'm a newbie. Show us how to do that so we know.

 

[l@e]

Why not create it in one step? The GUI will let you do that, you know.

Didnt see that in the new UI, i went on legacy to accomplish that last week. (Maybe i just mised)

 

[danb35]

@danb35 because I'm a newbie. Show us how to do that so we know.

 

[userx]

thanks for clarifying adonesp! That was it