Some getting started storage questions

[MKenyon2]

I've been reading a few of the articles on here and the web, but getting a bit lost. This is a hobby project, so not too urgent.

The FreeNas system I'm playing with has 2 disks, 120Gb SSD that I boot off of, and a 1Tb drive for data. (Planning to upgrade that at some point.)
So far I've set up a storage pool on the 1Tb with an SMB share. The dataset is set to use the full pool size. (May be my first mistake?)
I'd like to throw an Ubuntu VM on here and run into 2 questions:
1) I'd like a specific spot to store ISOs on this. Perhaps in the SMB share, perhaps in it's own space. Could I setup a pool on the 120Gb boot drive for things like ISOs?
2) What would be the best way to setup storage for the VM (or other VMs if I keep playing). I specifically want to set up an Ubuntu VM to host a Minecraft Bedrock server. (I have a Mincraft Java server running via the MineOs plugin on this server already.)

I know these could be quite ambiguous, I'm just not sure where to start, so feel free to ask me to refine my questions. :)

FYI, I've been programming for ~20 years, and I've played with various flavors of linux, but never got down into the nitty-gritty of server design.

 

[sretalla]

It sounds like you just want another (child) dataset in that same pool with a quota of 120GB for ISOs. No need to have a second pool.

2) What would be the best way to setup storage for the VM (or other VMs if I keep playing). I specifically want to set up an Ubuntu VM to host a Minecraft Bedrock server.

I have seen people talk about hosting minecraft in a jail (far preferable to a VM from a resource consumption perspective), so maybe look into that instead.

I wouldn't recommend storing the ZVOL for a VM on the same (single) disk as your storage pool if you want any kind of reasonable performance from it. A saparate SSD would probably be best if you can work out a way to have one.

 

[Chris Moore]

May be my first mistake?

No. Having only a single disk (no redundancy) for the storage pool was the first mistake.

Could I setup a pool on the 120Gb boot drive for things like ISOs?

No. The boot pool is ONLY for the operating system. You can move the system dataset to the boot pool, done from the GUI, but nothing else. This is a feature as it allows for the boot pool to fail without affecting any of your data.

FYI, I've been programming for ~20 years, and I've played with various flavors of linux, but never got down into the nitty-gritty of server design.

I am sure you could re-make FreeNAS / TrueNAS to work differently since it is open-source but it would probably be more supportable (updates) if you learn how it is intended to work and stick within the framework.

Take some time to read some of these links to get a better understanding:

/core/gettingstarted/corehardwareguide/

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If you want to have stable storage with ZFS (the filesystem that is used) you need to have a mirrored pair of disks at the minimum.
Many ZFS features do not work without redundancy.

 

[MKenyon2]

No. Having only a single disk (no redundancy) for the storage pool was the first mistake.

Since this is an experimental system, for me to learn, play, and well... mess up if that be the case, I'm just using what I have lying around for now. I do understand that having more than one drive is the design of many of the technologies used by FreeNas.

No. The boot pool is ONLY for the operating system.

Good to know, thank you. Perhaps I could have used a smaller disk. Seems a shame to have so much space just sitting there.

I am sure you could re-make FreeNAS / TrueNAS to work differently since it is open-source but it would probably be more supportable (updates) if you learn how it is intended to work and stick within the framework.

I did not mean to imply I knew better than anybody else. I was just trying to give a frame of reference for my background. As I said, the server space is not where I've focused, and I am here to learn the existing 'framework' in an areas that is quite new to me.

Take some time to read some of these links to get a better understanding:

Thank you for the links. I have been trying to read through posts, links, articles and such, but for a Newb like me sometimes it's hard to know where to start. Sorry for taking up your time.

 

[Arwen]

One thing I like to say to new people, is that FreeNAS / TrueNAS Core seems to be top of the free NAS software. But, it's not necessarily the easiest to use for non-Unix people.

However, it's file system technology, OpenZFS, is the best their is for data integrity, (in my opinion). Only a few other free NAS products use OpenZFS, some others are paid products,

 

[rvassar]

Good to know, thank you. Perhaps I could have used a smaller disk. Seems a shame to have so much space just sitting there.

You can actually use a USB thumb drive for the boot device, but I don't think you'll find anyone here that still recommends this for anything other than experimentation. But that is what you are doing, no? They tend to wear out and/or fail suddenly, with little warning. Oddly enough this doesn't usually cause too much trouble. Most people configure them in mirrored pairs, and just keep a bunch of cheap replacements on-hand. I got sick of the churn, and spent $40 on a pair of 60Gb SATA SSD's on sale/EOL/clearance, and setup a mirrored boot pool. It's been completely problem free for a couple years now.

You can backup your existing config using the Web UI and re-install on a smaller disk or USB thumb drive, and then restore the config, keeping your data intact on the 1Tb drive, and free up the 120Gb SSD for a fast VM pool, or what ever other purpose you choose. That's actually a good learning exercise in and of itself...