This will probably be the first of many posts here, so "Hi" :)
I'm new to FreeNAS, although have been running servers and networks at home for many years, previously always using COTS NAS's (typically QNAP). I'm now looking at building a FreeNAS box to start to consolidate a lot of the other systems I have in my house into a single box (Web server, Wordpress site, Plex server, Storage etc). I'm still in the process of putting together the hardware list, but given a significant cost for any build is always the drives, I've a query about the best configuration to use for the setup I have.
My main chassis is a LogicCase SC4136S (4U, short depth, 16-bay hot swap), and I am looking for some advice on how best to configure the array. I'm looking for resilience, and I'm not overly bothered about overall capacity of the array (I know I can always buy larger drives). However, I've had drive failures in arrays before and I'd like to reduce the inherent risk of a failure during a drive rebuild.
Note I have some drives already (2Tb, 3Tb and 4Tb), so going for a single vdev, 16 drive RAIDz2(or 3) setup doesn't really give me the best capacity/drive configuration from the outset (I know it would if I just bought all of the same, but I don't wish to dump all my old drives just yet)
Reading the documentation, I believe I have two main options to give me the highest resilience, a reasonable sized pool, and the flexibility to not need all the drives to be the same size.
So, ignoring cost for a second, is it better to run
Option1
vdev1 = 8 drives in RAIDz2
vdev2 = 8 drives in RAIDz2
Option2
vdev1 = 6 drives in RAIDz2 with 1 hot swap
vdev2 = 8 drives in RAIDz2 with 1 hot swap
Option3
Something completely different from the above (I know I can go RAIDz3, but can't see the inherent advantage in that give the other resilience options available to me)
Option 1 obviously maximises the storage pool, whilst the advantage I see in Option2 is that if there is an issue whilst I am away from home and unable to perform a drive swap, the hot spare will automatically take over from the failed drive. I obviously lose storage capacity, but this could be ameliorated by using larger drives in the first vdev.
Am I on the right track or should I be completely rethinking this ?
Comments/thoughts appreciated.
Thank You
I'm new to FreeNAS, although have been running servers and networks at home for many years, previously always using COTS NAS's (typically QNAP). I'm now looking at building a FreeNAS box to start to consolidate a lot of the other systems I have in my house into a single box (Web server, Wordpress site, Plex server, Storage etc). I'm still in the process of putting together the hardware list, but given a significant cost for any build is always the drives, I've a query about the best configuration to use for the setup I have.
My main chassis is a LogicCase SC4136S (4U, short depth, 16-bay hot swap), and I am looking for some advice on how best to configure the array. I'm looking for resilience, and I'm not overly bothered about overall capacity of the array (I know I can always buy larger drives). However, I've had drive failures in arrays before and I'd like to reduce the inherent risk of a failure during a drive rebuild.
Note I have some drives already (2Tb, 3Tb and 4Tb), so going for a single vdev, 16 drive RAIDz2(or 3) setup doesn't really give me the best capacity/drive configuration from the outset (I know it would if I just bought all of the same, but I don't wish to dump all my old drives just yet)
Reading the documentation, I believe I have two main options to give me the highest resilience, a reasonable sized pool, and the flexibility to not need all the drives to be the same size.
So, ignoring cost for a second, is it better to run
Option1
vdev1 = 8 drives in RAIDz2
vdev2 = 8 drives in RAIDz2
Option2
vdev1 = 6 drives in RAIDz2 with 1 hot swap
vdev2 = 8 drives in RAIDz2 with 1 hot swap
Option3
Something completely different from the above (I know I can go RAIDz3, but can't see the inherent advantage in that give the other resilience options available to me)
Option 1 obviously maximises the storage pool, whilst the advantage I see in Option2 is that if there is an issue whilst I am away from home and unable to perform a drive swap, the hot spare will automatically take over from the failed drive. I obviously lose storage capacity, but this could be ameliorated by using larger drives in the first vdev.
Am I on the right track or should I be completely rethinking this ?
Comments/thoughts appreciated.
Thank You