Intel Optane as SLOG for SSD ZFS Pool

[NugentS]

That looks like a LSI 9300-8i apparently.
Do you have one, or are you planning on buying one
How about you put together a list of what hardware you are considering - those USCS-SAS12GHBA look as though they are custom fit (from the picture I have seen) which means that unless you have the right server - they won't be of any use.

The right HBA (generally) is an SAS Card from LSI, flashed to IT Mode.
This card from Ebay would do you nicely. Its a second hand M1215 HBA in IT mode already (I think - but if not it can be flashed). Given its from an IT dismantler it likely the genuine article

 

[alebeta]

Hi @NugentS

Yes at the moment is planning, and I opened this thread so I could depurate the hardware I have so far.

Here is the list of components

Cisco UCS C240 M4 12 Bay LFF 2U Rackmount Server Processors: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2683 V4 2.1GHz16 Cores 40MB Cache 120W Processor Memory: 128GB DDR4 ECC Registered Memory (8 x 16GB) HBA Controller: Cisco 12Gbps Modular SAS UCSC-SAS12GHBA SATA HBA JBOD SDS PCIe Storage Controller Hard Drives: 8x 3.84TB SAS 12Gbps 2.5 SSDs + 1x 1TB 7.2K SAS 6Gbps 3.5 Hard Drive (Rest Blanks) SLOG: Intel Optane P9Series 280GB SD Card Reader: 1x 64GB SD Card Module Networking: Intel XL710-QDA2 40GB QSFP+ Dual Port NIC Management: Cisco Integrated Management Controller Power Supplies: 2x Redundant 650W Power Supplies

The main idea would be to have 2 storage servers like this running TrueNAS to provide the datastore where VM disks will be stored. I decided to go with NFS as a NAS protocol, I had the idea to use iSCSI but after reading some articles in the forum I realized it is not such a good idea. The servers will be connected to the Cisco Fabric Interconnect where the UCS Blade Center is connected too.

In my investigation, I still need to get into the part on how to create a HA configuration of TrueNAS with this hardware.

Thanks for all the help

 

[jgreco]

High availability configurations are available for TrueNAS hardware systems sold by iXsystems.

The free version of FreeNAS/TrueNAS does not include HA capabilities.

If you require HA capabilities, please do consider helping to fund the development of this fine NASware by buying fully supported, fully-featured TrueNAS systems from iXsystems.

 

[NugentS]

OK - so you have proper kit.
The Cisco HBA looks like the right kit but I have no idea about the HBA
Some trolling through TN:

Firmware Flashing for Cisco HBA Card

First off the specs on the system: CISCO UCS C240 M4SX Storage Controller : UCSC-SAS12GHBA Which AFAIK is an LSI 9300-8i (http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9300-8i#downloads) After installing the latest Stable Version (FreeNAS-9.10.1 (d989edd)) I am...

www.truenas.com

They don't seem to be used much - but they appear to be a 9300-8i so they have potential

However as @jgreco says - HA is not included in TN Core for the free version

 

[alebeta]

Yes, I went through that thread already and read about the experience of the user flashing to IT mode that HBA controller.

At the moment am planning to use TrueNAS Scale. But at the moment I want to focus on this hardware thing :) the HA I will address in the near future and if HA is not possible I will be happy with another failover plan.

Don't know if maybe TrueCommand offers a replication or something similar that can be used. But I will check that in the next weeks.

Thanks a lot for all the help. It seems that the hardware is a little bit decent. But if you have a recommendation to improve the setup is very much appreciated.

At the moment knowing that mirror disks and SLOG are necessary I think we are going in a good way. And having a lot of memory

 

[NugentS]

Replication from one to the other is easy, and you don't need TC

 

[alebeta]

Replication from one to the other is easy, and you don't need TC

Yes I believe I can go with this https://www.truenas.com/docs/core/tasks/replicationtasks/
It won't be so great as a HA setup, but it would be better than just relying on and praying to one storage server to never break :)
But I will be thinking about what to do and how to do it TrueNAS offer many possibilities