How would you configure this TrueNAS Core disk topology?

[jenksdrummer]

My storage needs are fulfilled with practically any layout that could be used with the disks outlined below. My curiosity leans towards performance and efficiency; which sometimes are at odds. Workload is mixed; but mostly static data; I have dual 10G networking between server and client box. I use SMB as well as iSCSI with ZVOL.

So, here's an excercise:

8x 4TB Western Digital Red SATA SSD
2x 1.92TB Samsung PM9A3 U.2 NVME SSD
1x 2TB Samsun 980 Pro M.2

Boot is via a pair of 128GB SATA modules; so no need to worry about a boot pool ;)

How would you configure it? Pool layout, optional VDEVS, pool options; tuneables? Curious on what comes back ;)

Thank you!

 

[NugentS]

8*4TB - Z2
2*U.2 Mirror for VM's
M.2 No use unless you can add another one.

No L2ARC needed, No SLOG (drives not suitable)

 

[Davvo]

Pretty much as NugentS wrote, with a bonus reading:

Resource - High Speed Networking Tuning to maximize your 10G, 25G, 40G networks

Both FreeBSD and Linux come by default highly optimized for classic 1Gbps ethernet. This is by far the most commonly deployed networking for both clients and servers, and a lot of research has been done to tune performance especially for local...

www.truenas.com

 

[jenksdrummer]

8*4TB - Z2
2*U.2 Mirror for VM's
M.2 No use unless you can add another one.

No L2ARC needed, No SLOG (drives not suitable)

While VMs are in play (VMWare ESX), but, by far not a high-level workload; a few DNS servers, a Windows 11 VM I use as a jumpbox/remote access, an SMTP server, and a vCenter Appliance; until I need to lab up something, but I also have other storage for that.

TBH, the highest IO loads are backups and my Steam library. I have a lot more data at rest than just that, but...it's at rest.

I was considering:
4x Mirrors for SSDs
Mirror Metadata for NVMe
I was using the M.2 for L2ARC, but; reconsidering.

I did some testing using the U.2 disks for SLOG and sync writes enabled on the pool, no noticable drop in performance with SMB transfers, but was also watching ulization flexing around 0-4GB consumed for that mirrored LOG VDEV; most often at around 1.2GB, during an aggregate 9-14gbps file transfer.