TrueNAS Scale installation custom partition zpool size, availability in storage web interface?

[narandr]

Hello TrueNAS Developers,

Can you please integrate in TrueNAS Scale Installation Process the possibility to change zpool partition size for TrueNAS like in Proxmox. I think it is not a big deal.
I am hoping that TrueNAS Scale getting more user friendly and usable Hypervisor.
And Also why the zpool for TrueNAS is not available in TrueNAS Storage Pool like in Proxmox?

Regards
Narek

 

[jgreco]

Can you please integrate in TrueNAS Scale Installation Process the possibility to change zpool partition size for TrueNAS like in Proxmox. I think it is not a big deal.
I am hoping that TrueNAS Scale getting more user friendly and usable Hypervisor.
And Also why the zpool for TrueNAS is not available in TrueNAS Storage Pool like in Proxmox?

Presumably you mean the boot pool. The boot pool is not available for purposes other than holding the system dataset, because TrueNAS is designed primarily as a storage appliance. Partitioning for partial use of the drives raises a number of design challenges which have previously been discussed to death on the forums. Since the storage appliance design is a different goal from the hypervisor design goal of Proxmox, it is implemented differently. You are quite welcome to add another pool for storage of virtual machines in addition to whatever your main storage pool is.

 

[narandr]

Presumably you mean the boot pool. The boot pool is not available for purposes other than holding the system dataset, because TrueNAS is designed primarily as a storage appliance. Partitioning for partial use of the drives raises a number of design challenges which have previously been discussed to death on the forums. Since the storage appliance design is a different goal from the hypervisor design goal of Proxmox, it is implemented differently. You are quite welcome to add another pool for storage of virtual machines in addition to whatever your main storage pool is.

I have a Hardware Raid 1 800NVME SSD, and it takes all the space, it is just wasting space. At least custom partition should be possible.
Can you please reference some discussion about this?

 

[jgreco]

I have a Hardware Raid 1 800NVME SSD,

You should not be using hardware RAID controllers with TrueNAS. Please see

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

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, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

and it takes all the space, it is just wasting space. At least custom partition should be possible.

There is no need for an NVMe boot device. A SATA SSD is more than adequate, and can be right-sized for the task.

Can you please reference some discussion about this?

You are free to search for any of the dozens of other discussions already on the forums that explain this. TrueNAS Core and Scale are freely distributed versions of an operating system that iXsystems sells installed on their TrueNAS Enterprise storage servers. It is designed for that hardware, which includes a dedicated boot drive. The developers have consistently avoided getting involved in the convoluted possibilities of what *could* *maybe* be done with partitioning, etc., in favor of a straightforward design that doesn't include any of the resulting gotcha issues.

 

[narandr]

You should not be using hardware RAID controllers with TrueNAS. Please see

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

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, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

Thanks you for advice. And what about Hardware Raid Controllers for storage, for installing virtual machines let's say on zpool NVME bootable Hardware RAID 1 and for using data for home directories in operating systems in those virtual machines to have zpool on Hardware RAID 6.

 

[WN1X]

Did you actually read the information in the link that @jgreco provided? You absolutely should not be using a raid controller unless it has been flashed to use IT mode.

 

[narandr]

Did you actually read the information in the link that @jgreco provided? You absolutely should not be using a raid controller unless it has been flashed to use IT mode.

yes, I thought that it was only for TrueNAS root installation, but it seems to be for all storage. In that case, I am going to use Proxmox with Hardware RAID installing it on zfs RAID0. And Virtual machine use TrueNAS Core.
I have 3000usd Raid Controllers, one for NVME one for SAS, so When I will use HBA or IT-mode, then the benefits of hardware raid I am ignoring, which makes no sense.

 

[WN1X]

Well, the benefit for HBA mode is zfs can talk directly to the drives.

 

[narandr]

yes, but, it is going to use CPU resources and a lot of ram to realize zfs raids, RAID1, RAID6.

 

[WN1X]

The CPU load is not enough to matter...the performance of your disks will be the first bottleneck you hit.

 

[narandr]

Yes, but why not use Hardware RAID, when all the stuff can do for you without using additional resources. Why there should be any bottlenecks?
When you install and organize everything correctly.

 

[WN1X]

Have you read: What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

 

[danb35]

yes, but, it is going to use CPU resources and a lot of ram to realize zfs raids, RAID1, RAID6.

Yes, it is. And that's the design of the system. If you don't want to use ZFS, there is other NAS software better suited to your use case.

 

[narandr]

TrueNAS Scale, should give possibility that user can choose how to format his disks and customize storage installations. Then in that case it would make sense to use it in high end servers about 30000$ for production.

 

[danb35]

TrueNAS Scale, should give possibility that user can choose how to format his disks and customize storage installations.

Your opinion is noted. If you want the devs to pay attention to it, open a ticket. Or you could take a little bit of time and read the dozens, if not hundreds, of prior threads on the subject and understand the reasons that this is a deliberate design decision and highly unlikely to change.

 

[jgreco]

Thanks you for advice. And what about Hardware Raid Controllers for storage, for installing virtual machines let's say on zpool NVME bootable Hardware RAID 1 and for using data for home directories in operating systems in those virtual machines to have zpool on Hardware RAID 6.

ZFS pools do not belong on hardware RAID controllers.