Making a TrueNAS SCALE server as a first IT project

[TheGeekn°72]

@TheGeekn°72 : Good to hear! Your system should work as intended.

As a note, you bought the data drives at the same time, they'll see the same workload, and they'll die at the same time (unless one kicks off early). If one starts dying of old age, statistically there's a 10% chance you'll lose your data before the Z1 array is rebuilt. If you had a Z2 array it's 10% of 10%, or a 1% chance. When you consider there's a statistical probability your (untested?) backup is corrupt (the % depending on many variables), you may lose some data. I've lost data intermittently over the years despite reasonable efforts to the contrary, so run Z3. (Most members here run Z2.)

I bought the three drives in two different orders so if one dies, there's a 50% chance of a second one dying shortly after lel (if they are, as I hope they should be, from two different production lots)
I was planning to do RAID-6/RAID-Z2 but, eh, budget constraints, drives are about 25% pricier in the EU than in the US...
I mean, maybe I could have got them from the US, thus got one for the same price and paid a premium on delivery I guess but I'd have had to spend more on a bigger motherboard for the subsequent higher SATA ports count requirement and I really didn't want to do that either since it'd have cascaded down on my parts' list compatibility (bigger case and non proprietary PSU, maybe different RAM, most likely a new CPU as well) and the goal really was to just make a learning platform (on which I could dump low value content I wouldn't care much about if I lost it, such as video game captures and files that I could ultimately redownload from their sources but save me the trouble of waiting hours on end to save locally because of the sources' terrible upload speeds) so Z1 is probably more than good enough for this as a start off

The other note is ZFS heavily uses RAM for caching, RAM has a lot of errors (Zebras All the Way Down), so ECC RAM is highly suggested. Note I'm not telling you to use it, though I use it and Xenon processors for 4-bit ECC.

I have a few RAM sticks, I'll check them out to see if they're ECC'd (though I highly doubt it tbh) and if I do have some that are ECC then I'll use them, if not then too bad
From the ones I have, I can put together a 4x8GB kit of 2x2 similar stick kits, hopefully that should run well enough-ish ?

One final note, if you lose your OS drive your data array *might* get trashed--though I don't know how accurate that assessment is. efs3 and efs4 have tools to recover a wrecked array under LVM, I'm not so sure how ZFS will handle it. It's something to look into.

I knew about that possibility and was fully intending on backing up the boot drive's content at a reasonable frequency (still thinking about how often that should be zo that'll make it relevant without being too much either)

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

@TheGeekn°72 : As long as the Config file is backed up via the GUI there's no real need to back up the boot drive, and that's only needed when you make configuration changes.

The sticky thing I'm hearing (I think) is if the OS drive dies it *might* corrupt the ZFS data array(s) and without tools to recover them the arrays are candidates for reformat. If you have low-value data on the drives it's of no real consequence.

The rest of it...eh, you'll probably be mostly fine. A good backup tends to help the balance between price and affordability. Welcome aboard!

WI_Hedgehog seems to be a bit cynical about life!!

Not that he's 100% wrong though (not even close)

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[TheGeekn°72]

@TheGeekn°72 : As long as the Config file is backed up via the GUI there's no real need to back up the boot drive, and that's only needed when you make configuration changes.

Hmmmm, just in case, I'll still image the boot drive at least every once in a while, you never know when it might come in handy

The sticky thing I'm hearing (I think) is if the OS drive dies it *might* corrupt the ZFS data array(s) and without tools to recover them the arrays are candidates for reformat. If you have low-value data on the drives it's of no real consequence.

Boot drive is also brand new, didn't have any at hand anyway so I got an MX500 250GB so that I'll have way more than enough space on something that'll be plenty fast for whatever operations I'll run on it
I might have higher value data in the RAID drives too but that's only because it'll be there in the optic of having one more back up of that, the important stuff I'll have one copy on my laptop, one on my daily drive exHDD and since I'll have the capacity to do so, one on that NAS, might as well eh

The rest of it...eh, you'll probably be mostly fine. A good backup tends to help the balance between price and affordability. Welcome aboard!

Haha thanks ! I wanted IT to be a hobby I'd be practicing on the side but life happened and it ended up being what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future, definitely not complaining tho !

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

@TheGeekn°72 : With your system the one thing I'd suggest is: Consider trying to adhere to #4 in that your project will morph into a Production Server you can rely on for file storage so your investment bears fruit in both the short and long terms.

That and give thought to investing in a good UPS like an APC or whatever you can get your hands on. Line noise and voltage dips can undo a lot of your work silently, a UPS is definitely worth the investment. I look for ones that all use the same batteries so a "dead" UPS is easily salvaged. From a college student perspective, at some point the UPS internal circuitry will either give out or be too small for a particular system, though if you stick to ones with universal batteries any investment you put into replacement batteries isn't wasted, they just go into another system (that perhaps you resell for cash).

Common: CSB HR1234WF2 12V 9Ah 36W Replacement High Rate Battery

Lower power output batteries for emergency exit lights are far less expensive, but they don't work in a high-wattage application like a UPS.

 

[TheGeekn°72]

@TheGeekn°72 : With your system the one thing I'd suggest is: Consider trying to adhere to #4 in that your project will morph into a Production Server you can rely on for file storage so your investment bears fruit in both the short and long terms.

Oh was definitely planning on having services running on it, this is a multipurpose server project, not just a NAS, it just so happens that it's the first thing that comes out of it and one thing I've needed for a while too
By production server, what did you have in mind that it could "produce" ?

That and give thought to investing in a good UPS like an APC or whatever you can get your hands on. Line noise and voltage dips can undo a lot of your work silently, a UPS is definitely worth the investment. I look for ones that all use the same batteries so a "dead" UPS is easily salvaged. From a college student perspective, at some point the UPS internal circuitry will either give out or be too small for a particular system, though if you stick to ones with universal batteries any investment you put into replacement batteries isn't wasted, they just go into another system (that perhaps you resell for cash).

Common: CSB HR1234WF2 12V 9Ah 36W Replacement High Rate Battery

Lower power output batteries for emergency exit lights are far less expensive, but they don't work in a high-wattage application like a UPS.

Oh I really can't afford a new UPS install, new, refurbished, second hand, it is just not possible so the one I have at home will have to suffice, it's definitely not something grand but it's PC/NAS rated so that should be plenty enough and the batteries have been replaced a few years ago anyway

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

@TheGeekn°72 : Production Environment vs. Test Environment. In other words once it tests out as "good" you put it to use (which seems to be your purpose from your latest comments).

If you have a UPS that's far better than not having a UPS, so at least you have one. Excellent.