Best setup for use case

[KingPrawn22]

Hi all,

Have been using Proxmox for a couple years now, and it's safe to say I love it. I'm most definitely not a pro when it comes to configuring it, so was looking for advice on how to best setup my system, taking into account the use case and the hardware I have.

Right now, I have a Dell PowerEdge T30 that has 2 x 1TB WD Blue drive that I have in a Raid-1. I used this as a web server, containing a VM that has a basic website (Dokuwiki), as well as a Nextcloud instance. I'm hoping to roll out services to friends and family at some point in the future, and want to make sure I'm doing things right for this case. I'll be adding additional VMs with more parts to the website, or other web apps too.

Now, from what I understand, the WD Blue drives I have are not ideal for a server, so I've gone and purchased 2 x HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 4TB drives which seem to be better suited for a server. I'm restricted to 8GB or RAM just now, but plan on doubling this before I consider the server in 'production'.

It would be great if I could configure this setup to be as fast as possible, while retaining total stability. I'm thinking that it's best to get another 2 of the 4TB drives I purchased and then setup a Raid-10. Is that sensible? It seems it would improve read & write times while still allowing up to 2 disks to fail (one from each mirrored array). Also, I have a good few other drives hanging around, so could always introduce one of these to hold something that would again improve performance. I've seen some folk suggest to put logs etc on another drive, but I've never been sure if that would suit this setup. I have a 240GB SSD and a 256GB M.2 that I can use if it would make any difference.

Is there anything else that could improve speed in this setup? I'm not looking for speed over anything else, just want to be sure I'm doing things most efficiently, which can save me time re-configuring potentially after I've moved the server into production.

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

 

[James Crook]

I'm hoping to roll out services to friends and family at some point in the future, and want to make sure I'm doing things right for this case. I'll be adding additional VMs with more parts to the website, or other web apps too.

This will be the death of you. I for a very short time hosted backups for my mum, from her laptop, but quickly found another solution as i was beng hammered for support.

 

[guletz]

I'm thinking that it's best to get another 2 of the 4TB drives I purchased and then setup a Raid-10.

Yes a raid10 (using 4 x hgst ultrastar) is a better option. I also use hgst for many years. As a side note I think that I have 2 old hgst in service who are very oldest (10/ten years as hour function).

Yes your storage part will be ok. The problem will be the RAM. 16 GB is a very low (I have used pmx with only 16 GB), but you will need to do many tuning on pmx for a decent speed. Because of that any logs/cache with ssd will not be a option because it will eat more RAM.

In your situation, I will not buy another 2 hdd, I will buy more RAM(32/64 GB)

So in the end it will be:

2 x 4 TB mirror
32 GB Ram
1 x SSD for l2arc and maybe also for log

Then in the future, when you have money, you can buy another 2 hgst and convert your mirror in a raid10.

Good luck!

 

[KingPrawn22]

This will be the death of you. I for a very short time hosted backups for my mum, from her laptop, but quickly found another solution as i was beng hammered for support.

Yes, I can see this happening. It's a tough one, since I'm a privacy and security advocate, so this is my way to ensure that what is provided can be trusted (if you want something done, do it yourself). The main point of the website will be to provide detailed tutorials on how to set up a server for your own friends and family so people can start taking their privacy into their own hands.

Yes a raid10 (using 4 x hgst ultrastar) is a better option. I also use hgst for many years. As a side note I think that I have 2 old hgst in service who are very oldest (10/ten years as hour function).

Yes your storage part will be ok. The problem will be the RAM. 16 GB is a very low (I have used pmx with only 16 GB), but you will need to do many tuning on pmx for a decent speed. Because of that any logs/cache with ssd will not be a option because it will eat more RAM.

In your situation, I will not buy another 2 hdd, I will buy more RAM(32/64 GB)

So in the end it will be:

2 x 4 TB mirror
32 GB Ram
1 x SSD for l2arc and maybe also for log

Then in the future, when you have money, you can buy another 2 hgst and convert your mirror in a raid10.

Good luck!

Really appreciate this! The 8GB I have install at the moment has actually done me really well. Saying that, only a few people and I are using it at the moment, and the website is under construction so no visitors. I'd def look to upgrade RAM, though you've encouraged me to change my priorities. If I don't quite have the budget to get 2 more of those 4TB drives, I'll leave it in a Raid-1 and can make sure I upgrade my RAM more.. 32GB sounds like a good point, which then allows me to start up more VMs if needed. Thanks again for the detailed reply - puts things into perspective.