Best boot drive setup

[ksullivan86]

I am wondering what is the best way to install proxmox with mirrored storage. I have a 4 nvme board 2x pcie5 and 2x pcie4 that I was planning on running the proxmox with a few windows vms and maybe a docker vm or lxc. I was planning on installing proxmox on the 2 pcie4 nvmes with raid1 and then use the pcie5 nvmes for individual windows vms but I recently read someone mentioned to install proxmox on smaller mirrored storage and then use a separate storage pool for to use as lxc/vm storage.

I am now thinking maybe it would be good to run proxmox raid1 with 2 smaller maybe 256gig(not sure what size would be best) sata ssds and use the pcie4 nvme for the lxc/vm storage pool. I guess having proxmox with the lxc/vm storage separate made it easier to backup the host.

I am thinking running the lxc/vm storage separately there will be reduced read and writes on the boot drive putting less wear and tear on the drives hopefully allowing them to last longer reducing TBW. IDK if this is really helping or not as it is another thing that can break in the system but I guess its segmentation that will only take down part of the system as long as its not the boot drive.

IDK currently have the system installed on a nvme with xfs but after using proxmox I realized I wanted OS redundancy and ordered another nvme drive and planned on installing proxmox on the mirred nvme drives with with zfs raid1 but now I am not sure if I should change my plans and install proxmox on 2 smaller sata drives and use the nvme drives as lxc/vm storage

 

[UdoB]

I would go "simple": just install PVE on a ZFS-Mirror on two of them. If you choose -4 or -5 is probably not relevant. You can measure the difference, but during normal usage you won't feel a difference. This initial Zfs pool will also get the usual storage "local" (a directory) and "local-zfs" (a pool). For me this is usually fine.

On larger systems (read: my dayjob, not in my homelab) I make sure to separate "the OS" from "the data". But in these very small Mini-PCs it does not make sense - in my opinion.

PS: you should have put this follow-up information in your initial thread... https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-boot-on-pce4-or-pce5.151800/

 

[Hemps40]

I'll be installing Proxmox on 2x 480GB SSD in raid 1 soon, in Bios 1 drive is setup as main boot drive , what procedure would I need to make sure drive 2 can boot if drive 1 fails?
Someone mentioned i'd need to dd some partition from drive 1 to drive 2 manually?

 

[UdoB]

what procedure would I need to make sure drive 2 can boot if drive 1 fails?

Use the normal PVE installer ISO and select ZFS Mirror with these two drives. Both (actually all selected drives) will be bootable at the end.

To actually boot from a specific drive you need to tell the BIOS the sequence to try - or select it pre boot in the usual Boot-menu, if your system can offer one.

Someone mentioned i'd need to dd some partition from drive 1 to drive 2 manually?

No. The Installer will do everything what's necessary.

Manual intervention is necessary if you want to create this capability after the fact or when exchanging one of these drives later on.

 

[Hemps40]

I saw mention that I should install Debian first then Proxmox on top of that?
Whats the benefit?

 

[UdoB]

I saw mention that I should install Debian first then Proxmox on top of that?
Whats the benefit?

Yes, that is possible. I've never done that.

It may be helpful/necessary if you want a different disk setup or another filesystem than the PVE installer offers. Keep in mind that then your installation is "special" and it may be more difficult to get help than on a vanilla PVE installation.

(( Sidenote/anecdote: the PVE installer offers installation on ZFS while pure Debian does not. So... I have done it (once) the other way around: installed a Debian desktop on a stripped down PVE/ZFS setup ))