Newbie here looking for some help setting up my Truenas

[Gravy72]

Hello everybody, I hope I am posting this in the correct forum. I have built an i5 based server, on which I would like to run Zoneminder and Plex.

System is an i5-3330 on an Asus P8H77-V MoBo and 16gb of ram. 2x250GB SSD's, 1 for OS, and another for Jails, Plugins etc.
Storage is 8x3tb SAS connected to a IBM ServeRAID M5110 HBA controller, and all is working.

It's an old spec system I know, but I would like to better my knowledge of how TrueNAS works, before I start upgrading.

I understand how to create Jails, install plugins etc, and have installed ZM and Plex and have them working, to a point.

Where I am struggling is,
1) what would be the reccomended file system to set up my HDDs, do I use 1 pool or multiple, and
2) how do I point ZM to use this / these pools for storage.

I dont mind uninstalling what I have and starting again, as my media is currently on a Qnap NAS, and I have no use for existing CCTV footage.

I hope there is somebody on here who can guide me.

 

[Arwen]

Might want to read up on HBAs verses RAID controllers. I don't know if the IBM ServeRAID M5110 is a real HBA, but it appear not to be.

What's all the noise about HBA's, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

This is relevant to FreeNAS and TrueNAS CORE. Some parts of it might also be relevant to Scale, but I don't really know how reliable the Linux drivers are. 1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with...

www.truenas.com

If you don't know ZFS, you may want to read up. Lots of potential optimizations that you do.

Introduction to ZFS

This is a short introduction to ZFS. It is really only intended to convey the bare minimum knowledge needed to start diving into ZFS and is in no way meant to cut Michael W. Lucas' and Allan Jude's book income. It is a bit of a spiritual...

www.truenas.com

And a bit more useful information:

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer

We realize that new users have a lot to learn when they come to FreeNAS. There's a certain amount of confusion added to discussions when users pick random/approximate terms to describe things. I've spent a lot of time quietly trying to...

www.truenas.com

As for advice:
- A 250GB SSD is way over kill for the OS, though larger SSDs are getting cheap and finding smaller ones harder
- If their is no plan for iSCSI / external VMs, then single RAID-Z2 pool would be appropriate for 8 disks.
- Create separate datasets, (aka ZFS file systems), for different uses.

I can't advise for Plex or ZM, I don't use either.

 

[Redcoat]

if the IBM ServeRAID M5110 is a real HBA, but it appear not to be

To extend @Arwen's advice, the following https://lazymocha.com/blog/2020/06/05/cross-flash-ibm-servraid-m5110-and-h1110-to-it-hba-mode/ gives instructions to flash the card to IT mode.

 

[Gravy72]

Thanks for your responses.
Yeah, the SSD's are just two that I had laying around.
The servraid card is already flashed, in IT mode, and is working perfectly. I am able to build a pool without any issues. I just want to make sure that I am doing it correctly for how I want to use it. I currently have a 4 disk Z1 pool, so I will redo it as the full 8 disk in Z2 as you suggest, and take it from there.
Am I doing the right thing in using the second SSD for jails and plugins, or should I just put the jails on the z2 pool?

 

[sretalla]

You might also want to consider the NIC... seems the onboard one is Qualcomm/Atheros, so not necessarily great driver reliability.

An Intel NIC is recommended due to the good driver stability in FreeBSD.

Make sure you have your zoneminder data going somewhere off the HDD pool or you will be thrashing a lot. I think there are a few points around the forum on the shared memory thing and even consider adding RAM to allow for a RAMdisk to do the temp files for that jail (maybe also for Plex if you plan to transcode a lot, depends on your media as the largest file you have in Plex needs to fit entirely in the temp location or it's no good).

 

[Gravy72]

I do have a spare 4 port GB Intel NIC laying about, so I can install that no problem. As for the Zoneminder data going somewhere off the pool, do you suggest that I use a seperate HDD for ZM data storage. I admit that I am a complete noob at this, I tend to get so far, scratch my head, and leave it for a week or so.

 

[sretalla]

I forget if it was in these forums or on the zoneminder ones (I'm sure you will find it if you search), but there was talk about zoneminder burning out SSDs very quickly because of how it does the temporary storage of incoming video, hence the mention of a RAMdrive.

If having a spinning disk doing a lot of writing (so maybe noisy and using more power than SSD) isn't an issue for you, a dedicated disk for that is probably OK (maybe a limiting factor for how many cameras you can support).