Ok, so I've been doing a little reading into FreeNAS after deciding I want to eventually build a dedicated NAS box/server and do away with the old D-Link ShareCenter I've currently got (which will probably get demoted to Time Machine backup).
A little background first; I've been using the D-Link solely for media storage (films/TV) who's folders are mounted on my XBMC box (Acer Revo running OpenELEC). Also running on the Revo is SabNZBD/SB/CP/Transmission handling all of my TV/Movie automation. As space is starting to run low and upgrading the ShareCenter isn't as simple as just popping in another drive, I've started looking at building my own to host the data, as well as run all of the download/automation apps currently running on the XBMC box. This means I can actually shut off the XBMC box when I'm not using it as it currently runs 24/7.
I'm a Mac guy at home, Windows guy at work and because of OpenELEC I have a little bit of knowledge of the Linux CLI and am comfortable using it. I'm not totally au fait with it, but can follow instructions (my old set up involved getting a Raspberry Pi up and running with Sab/SB/CP and I managed that ok).
Now, as the title of this topic suggests I need a little guidance with this FreeNAS malarky to determine whether or not it'll do what I want it to. First and foremost (as already mentioned) I'll be wanting it to run Sab/SB/CP/Transmission which, judging by the FreeNAS homepage, shouldn't be an issue. I'm also debating setting up a simple MySQL dbase so I can sync XBMC libraries across multiple machines - does FreeNAS/BSD have MySQL capabilities?
My real question though is in regard to RAID types and what would best suit my requirements. I've done a bit of a search here but couldn't find an answer. Basically, I'd be wanting to start small with the option of upgrading later. Maybe a couple drives to begin with but have the option to add to the space later on. From what I've been reading, RAIDz1/2/3 doesn't allow this type of upgrading, which would be a problem for me. My initial thought was to set up, for example, x2 3TB drives in a RAID1 (mirrored) vdev which then gives me the option to add more vdevs to the pool at a later date. E.g. when storage starts getting low I could pick up another pair of drives, create another vdev and add this to the pool to increase the storage. Because of my lack of knowledge on RAID/FreeNAS/pools etc I'm not entirely sure how this all works from the client side of things. In the above setup with x2 3TB drives, my laptop would see this as a single 3TB volume. What happens when I add another couple of drives to the pool? Does my laptop now see a single 6TB volume, or will it show up as x2 3TB volumes? If it's the former, how exactly is data spread across the drives? I would hope that the original vdev gets written to until full, at which point the system then automatically starts writing data to the 2nd vdev and so on.
I know RAID1 maybe isn't the best solution due to the cost involved and the fact that you lose 50% of the storage space available, but I assumed this is the only option in terms of adding space later. Plus, from what I've read on RAIDz/z2/z3 there's still a high chance of data loss anyway if a 2nd/3rd/4th drive packs up during a rebuild. Is RAID1 safer in this regard? 1 drive failure would just be a simple case of replacing the drive and waiting for the data to mirror itself, right? What if 2 drives failed (in the same vdev)? Does that still mean total loss of all data, or just the data contained on those 2 disks? Not that this data is of utmost importance - if I lose it it's not the end of the world, just a pain in the *** to 're-acquire' the media.
Sorry for the massive first post and please forgive any mistakes I've made with the terminology - I am what they call a 'total noob'! Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
M
A little background first; I've been using the D-Link solely for media storage (films/TV) who's folders are mounted on my XBMC box (Acer Revo running OpenELEC). Also running on the Revo is SabNZBD/SB/CP/Transmission handling all of my TV/Movie automation. As space is starting to run low and upgrading the ShareCenter isn't as simple as just popping in another drive, I've started looking at building my own to host the data, as well as run all of the download/automation apps currently running on the XBMC box. This means I can actually shut off the XBMC box when I'm not using it as it currently runs 24/7.
I'm a Mac guy at home, Windows guy at work and because of OpenELEC I have a little bit of knowledge of the Linux CLI and am comfortable using it. I'm not totally au fait with it, but can follow instructions (my old set up involved getting a Raspberry Pi up and running with Sab/SB/CP and I managed that ok).
Now, as the title of this topic suggests I need a little guidance with this FreeNAS malarky to determine whether or not it'll do what I want it to. First and foremost (as already mentioned) I'll be wanting it to run Sab/SB/CP/Transmission which, judging by the FreeNAS homepage, shouldn't be an issue. I'm also debating setting up a simple MySQL dbase so I can sync XBMC libraries across multiple machines - does FreeNAS/BSD have MySQL capabilities?
My real question though is in regard to RAID types and what would best suit my requirements. I've done a bit of a search here but couldn't find an answer. Basically, I'd be wanting to start small with the option of upgrading later. Maybe a couple drives to begin with but have the option to add to the space later on. From what I've been reading, RAIDz1/2/3 doesn't allow this type of upgrading, which would be a problem for me. My initial thought was to set up, for example, x2 3TB drives in a RAID1 (mirrored) vdev which then gives me the option to add more vdevs to the pool at a later date. E.g. when storage starts getting low I could pick up another pair of drives, create another vdev and add this to the pool to increase the storage. Because of my lack of knowledge on RAID/FreeNAS/pools etc I'm not entirely sure how this all works from the client side of things. In the above setup with x2 3TB drives, my laptop would see this as a single 3TB volume. What happens when I add another couple of drives to the pool? Does my laptop now see a single 6TB volume, or will it show up as x2 3TB volumes? If it's the former, how exactly is data spread across the drives? I would hope that the original vdev gets written to until full, at which point the system then automatically starts writing data to the 2nd vdev and so on.
I know RAID1 maybe isn't the best solution due to the cost involved and the fact that you lose 50% of the storage space available, but I assumed this is the only option in terms of adding space later. Plus, from what I've read on RAIDz/z2/z3 there's still a high chance of data loss anyway if a 2nd/3rd/4th drive packs up during a rebuild. Is RAID1 safer in this regard? 1 drive failure would just be a simple case of replacing the drive and waiting for the data to mirror itself, right? What if 2 drives failed (in the same vdev)? Does that still mean total loss of all data, or just the data contained on those 2 disks? Not that this data is of utmost importance - if I lose it it's not the end of the world, just a pain in the *** to 're-acquire' the media.
Sorry for the massive first post and please forgive any mistakes I've made with the terminology - I am what they call a 'total noob'! Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
M
