Storage Upgrade Process

[Guinea]

I will do my best to be concise on this topic, but my question is a bit long winded. I built a custom SuperMicro based FreeNAS system with a 24 bay chassis. I started off with 8 drives in and built a ZFS storage solution. The primary goal of this was to run Plex Media Server and store my blu-ray collection digitally in a 1-to-1 lossless MKV Passthrough format. I built my system about a year ago and moved a bunch, so I need to do some digging to figure out the specifics I used (configuration and hardware). I am using Plex in a jail. Everything is working fine so far and I love the setup. My question(s) involve upgrades and reliability. I have 16 extra drives unused. I still have a good amount of storage left, but my collection is growing quickly. I would like to figure out how to add in more storage and also create stronger protection against failure. I want to be able to add more storage to store more media content, but I also am getting nervous about the potential of failure down the road. Considering the time spent building this collection, I truly do not want anything to happen to it. So is there a logical way to utilize my remaining 16 drives to increase my storage capabilities and also create a complete backup in order to prevent any data loss? If you need more information, let me know what you need to know to make the best suggestions. Also, if there is a way to provide my configuration settings or information directly from FreeNAS, instead of trying to remember how I set it up, that would also be helpful. Thank you!

 

[raidflex]

I would expand your existing pool with another RaidZ2 array of 8 drives and then even later down the road you could even add another 8 drives for more storage.

As far as backup personally I would have a separate system for backup and also a 3rd offsite is even better. Its generally not a good idea to put the backup in the same system in case of a failure or a power surge.

 

[Guinea]

That setup sounds very familiar. I believe that is the reason I went with the 8 drive ZFS setup. Is there a setup blog or tutorial on how to properly add additional storage to the same pool, but keeping the drives in a separate configuration? Hopefully those are the correct terms, haha. I am basically wanting to make sure that if I add 8 drives and eventually 16 more....it is simply adding to my existing pool and drive.

In terms of a backup. That actually makes sense. Do you have recommendations for on site backups? Would it be as simple as a secondary NAS sitting somewhere else that just does a 1-1 backup of the entire pool? This is sort of uncharted territory for me.

 

[Jailer]

Is there a setup blog or tutorial on how to properly add additional storage to the same pool, but keeping the drives in a separate configuration?

The documentation would be a good place to start.

 

[raidflex]

That setup sounds very familiar. I believe that is the reason I went with the 8 drive ZFS setup. Is there a setup blog or tutorial on how to properly add additional storage to the same pool, but keeping the drives in a separate configuration? Hopefully those are the correct terms, haha. I am basically wanting to make sure that if I add 8 drives and eventually 16 more....it is simply adding to my existing pool and drive.

You would be adding a new RaidZ2 vdev to your existing pool, these new drives would not be added to your existing vdev RaidZ2. Both vdev would then be combined into 1 single pool for data storage.

Fault tolerance is also not combined with both vdevs. If for example you have 2 vdevs that are both RAIDZ2 then if either vdev has 2 disk failures your entire pool would be at risk for data corruption/loss.

In terms of a backup. That actually makes sense. Do you have recommendations for on site backups? Would it be as simple as a secondary NAS sitting somewhere else that just does a 1-1 backup of the entire pool? This is sort of uncharted territory for me.

1-1 backup on a secondary NAS/Freenas server is the most ideal, but you also could just backup your important files and maybe leave out media that can be replaced.