Hardware Raid VS ZFS

[JohnD]

Hello everybody,

i am building a new server and i am not sure if i want to use a hardware Raid controller (Dell Perc H730P).

One big advantage would be the hotswap capabilities but i am unsure about performance and snapshot features.

Option 1)
A ZFS Mirror with 4*1,92 TB SSDs and the snapshot features of ZFS.
I can theoretically use NVMe with better performance here.

Option 2)
A hardware Raid 10 with 4*1,92 TB SSDs with LVM on top get COW snapshots.

Option 3)
Raid controller in HBA mode just to get hotswap and ZFS a mirror on top. I think i would lose S.M.A.R.T here?!?

What would you prefer for what reasons?
Does NVMe hotswap exist?

Thank you.

 

[Dunuin]

Raid controller in HBA mode just to get hotswap and ZFS a mirror on top. I think i would lose S.M.A.R.T here?!?

ZFS is killing SDDs really fast if it is not a datacenter/enterprise SSD and it is hard to find a enterpise M.2 SSD. Most of them just don't offer powerloss protection or MLC flash. But I think qcow2 shouldn't be much better if you want snapshot capabilities.
I use a Dell PERC in HBA/IT mode for my ZFS pool and SMART works fine.
For ZFS your HBA should be as stupid as possible. I only would use them if need more ports the mainboard is offering.

 

[apoc]

That's would be a no-brainer to me: ZFS by all means!
The Perc Controllers are good, but ZFS is more flexible in general and most important: provides integrated data integrity features.
HTH

 

[biggen]

If you want max speed with NVMe, then you will have to dump the hardware RAID and go ZFS/LVM.

I'd probably not choose hardware RAID unless I really needed blind swap. Use option 1 and choose either SAS/SATA (to save money) or NVMe. If the server comes with the Perc then I'd do hardware RAID with LVM backed storage.

 

[JohnD]

The server comes with the Dell Perc and either enterprise nvme SSDs or enterprise sata SSDs.
Obviously no hardware raid with NVMe.
So I guess ZFS Mirror on NVMe would be your favorite?

 

[biggen]

The server comes with the Dell Perc and either enterprise nvme SSDs or enterprise sata SSDs.
Obviously no hardware raid with NVMe.
So I guess ZFS Mirror on NVMe would be your favorite?

NVMe on a simple 2 or 4 way mirror would be screaming fast.