Hello! I finally decided to undertake a complete overhaul of my hodgepodge home network centered around an aging readynas and its backups. The separate pfsense box build is up and running and I am ready to finalize the star of the new show, the proxmox hypervisor, with the exception of the final storage configuration. As this is my first build of this kind on several fronts (zfs, snapraid and linux hypervisor) I was hoping for any and all advice about which way I go with my storage configuration for this server.
Server specs: Supermicro X10SAE-O mobo (6 free SATA ports), Xeon E3-1275 v3, 32GB eec ram, onsite backup to usb drive and separate offsite cloud backup
For the hypervisor and VMs (just the VM, not their storage) I have 2 500gb ssds in a zfs mirror.
This leaves me 6 sata ports for creating storage for my readynas replacement (7-8 TB) and new VM storage in a zfs configuration of some sort (mirrored or raidz1 with at least 2 TB leaning towards 4 TB).
My first idea was...ok it was probably an epic disaster waiting to happen, lol. My second approach was to use a 5 disk raidz1 of 2TB drives. I realized how cumbersome it would be to ever upgrade that set up.
As the majority of my readynas storage is media, it could make a lot of sense to use a separate snapraid storage for media (I could make a 7 TB volume with 1 disk parity from drives I have on hand, and not having to buy any new drives is ideal) and a raidz1 for my VMs and learning about zfs in general.
The issue I keep hitting is only having the 6 sata connections. The snapraid would require 3 disks (2 4TB and 1 3TB) and the raidz1 would require 3 disks (3 2TB). With this setup I have no ability to add any new disks in the future (not thrilled with that fact!) and I honestly think I would rather use mirroring with my zfs as opposed to a raidz1 which would require more sata ports to utilize another 2TB drive. I know I could also get a raid controller of some sort to put in the pcie 2.0 16x or 8x slot and have the ability to give the snap raid its own external HDD enclosure cage. Or should I buy 2 4 TB drives to use as my zfs mirror (leaves a single free sata port for the future)? Or do I scrap the snapraid angle all together and buy more 4TB drives to set up a 4 4TB mirror which would leave me 2 empty sata ports for the future. At this point I feel like my lack of experience with zfs is overshadowing my ability to make a good decision at this point, so I would very much appreciate any help with how to proceed at this point.
Server specs: Supermicro X10SAE-O mobo (6 free SATA ports), Xeon E3-1275 v3, 32GB eec ram, onsite backup to usb drive and separate offsite cloud backup
For the hypervisor and VMs (just the VM, not their storage) I have 2 500gb ssds in a zfs mirror.
This leaves me 6 sata ports for creating storage for my readynas replacement (7-8 TB) and new VM storage in a zfs configuration of some sort (mirrored or raidz1 with at least 2 TB leaning towards 4 TB).
My first idea was...ok it was probably an epic disaster waiting to happen, lol. My second approach was to use a 5 disk raidz1 of 2TB drives. I realized how cumbersome it would be to ever upgrade that set up.
As the majority of my readynas storage is media, it could make a lot of sense to use a separate snapraid storage for media (I could make a 7 TB volume with 1 disk parity from drives I have on hand, and not having to buy any new drives is ideal) and a raidz1 for my VMs and learning about zfs in general.
The issue I keep hitting is only having the 6 sata connections. The snapraid would require 3 disks (2 4TB and 1 3TB) and the raidz1 would require 3 disks (3 2TB). With this setup I have no ability to add any new disks in the future (not thrilled with that fact!) and I honestly think I would rather use mirroring with my zfs as opposed to a raidz1 which would require more sata ports to utilize another 2TB drive. I know I could also get a raid controller of some sort to put in the pcie 2.0 16x or 8x slot and have the ability to give the snap raid its own external HDD enclosure cage. Or should I buy 2 4 TB drives to use as my zfs mirror (leaves a single free sata port for the future)? Or do I scrap the snapraid angle all together and buy more 4TB drives to set up a 4 4TB mirror which would leave me 2 empty sata ports for the future. At this point I feel like my lack of experience with zfs is overshadowing my ability to make a good decision at this point, so I would very much appreciate any help with how to proceed at this point.
You think to upgrade adding a ne hdd, or what case do you have in mind?