Advice for fresh install | RSTe2 RAID1 or Proxmox zRAID1 ?

[NinthWave]

I currently have an E3-1230V3 with 16 GB RAM, upgradable to a max of 32 GB. The board comes with an RSTe2 controller (LSI).
The Proxmox is used primarily to run a Linux VM and few docker containers above linux.
I have a TrueNAS unit for data storage.

I have done a quick install on a single 256 GB SSD but afterward, I got my hand on a second SSD.

For peace of mind, I would be more comfortable having the system run on a mirror. Given my 16GB RAM, should I go the HW RAID way (Raid1) or select a RAIDZ1 at the install menu?

Do the RSTe2 controller pass SMART info to the proxmox host and inform the owner of failed drive ?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006578/server-products.html

Thanks for your comments.

 

[NinthWave]

Anyone please, I'd like to proceed.

 

[mr44er]

I would always prefer ZFS if possible. raid5 is raidz1 (min. 3disks) in zfs-speak, its simply called mirror (min. 2disks).
But pls never ever use ZFS with a pure HW RAID controller (the combination is a risky data toaster), watch out if you can crossflash the controller to "IT-Mode", to show the disks transparent to the OS without any layer of HW RAID.

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/ZFS_on_Linux

Do not use ZFS on top of a hardware RAID controller which has its own cache management. ZFS needs to communicate directly with the disks. An HBA adapter or something like an LSI controller flashed in “IT” mode is more appropriate.

Some more readings: https://www.truenas.com/community/r...9300-9305-9311-9400-94xx-hba-and-variants.54/

In your case it could just be easier to not use ZFS and use the HW RAID, if spending money on another controller that can use IT Mode is not an option (if for your controller doesn't exist IT-firmware).

 

[spirit]

you don't have too much for zfs, and if you use ssd, you need datacenter grade ssd with fast fsync for the zfs journal.

if you don't need zfs feature like replication or scrubing, just use hardware raid1.

 

[NinthWave]

I would always prefer ZFS if possible. raid5 is raidz1 (min. 3disks) in zfs-speak, its simply called mirror (min. 2disks).
But pls never ever use ZFS with a pure HW RAID controller (the combination is a risky data toaster), watch out if you can crossflash the controller to "IT-Mode", to show the disks transparent to the OS without any layer of HW RAID.

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/ZFS_on_Linux


Some more readings: https://www.truenas.com/community/r...9300-9305-9311-9400-94xx-hba-and-variants.54/

In your case it could just be easier to not use ZFS and use the HW RAID, if spending money on another controller that can use IT Mode is not an option (if for your controller doesn't exist IT-firmware).

Thanks, that's exactly what I as looking for.

The important part is ZFS is better than HW RAID especially with the management tools it provides like snapshot.

No need for another controller. The board is an Intel serverboard and it has two embeded controllers. The C222 chipset controller and an LSI called eSRT2 capable of RAID 0,1 natively and RAID5 with an optionnal key.
Thanks again.

 

[NinthWave]

you don't have too much for zfs, and if you use ssd, you need datacenter grade ssd with fast fsync for the zfs journal.

if you don't need zfs feature like replication or scrubing, just use hardware raid1.

Damn. Just the opposite of the guy that answered before you.
That's disturbing.
I have a Samsung 860 EVO, I'll check the specs

 

[mr44er]

The important part is ZFS is better

I always want to be able to plug a surviving disk (bad things happen) into any pc and import it. That's only guaranteed with software raid and ZFS is my longtime trusty workhorse.

If your two SSDs are SATA, then you can just plug them to the C222 (I guess these are the native SATA ports) and use ZFS.

Just the opposite of the guy that answered before you.

What he meant was ZFS for two disks is little bit of overkill and that consumer SSDs are faster worned out, when using for vm storage. This is true, but you said, that you will have only a 'few' vms and so it should be okay.
I expect that they live one year, maybe longer, with a moderate write rate of your vms.
Always backup and always look at smartctl!

 

[alexskysilk]

For peace of mind, I would be more comfortable having the system run on a mirror. Given my 16GB RAM, should I go the HW RAID way (Raid1) or select a RAIDZ1 at the install menu?

Do the RSTe2 controller pass SMART info to the proxmox host and inform the owner of failed drive ?

The general rule of thumb is not to have your virtual disks share the storage with your OS disk. If you have seperate storage for your virtual assets it doesnt really matter. If you are comingling your OS and virtual storage, its hard to beat what ZFS brings to the table (snapshots, checksums, zfs-send, etc, etc) BUT it does want ram to perform.

Lastly, be aware that RSTe is NOT hardware raid, its so called "softraid". I would never advocate using it for anything.