Hi all, firstly I know this is going to be an essay to read but I figured better off answering as many questions as possible upfront. I wanted to get some feedback and suggestions on how to make best use of my setup. I'll list my setup information and what I'm trying to achieve below. I do have a general idea of how I could achieve this but I'd love to hear others point of view and perhaps experience with something like this to make sure I get it right the first time.
Server 1 HP DL380 Gen 9
2x xeon e5-2667v4, 256GB ram, 4x1.8tb huawei 12g sas ssds, 2x256gb consumer sata 3 ssds.
Intention is to run proxmox and use this as a gaming server using pelican primarily but also hosting the vm/lxc for a nas/backup to take advantage of the better storage installed. (This has 12gb sas compatible p440ar installed)
Server 2 HP DL360p Gen 8
2x xeon e5-2650, 256gb ram, 2x900gb 12g sas hdds, 2x1.8tb enterprise sata 3 ssds, 2x256gb consumer grade sata 3 ssds.
Plan is to run my virtualised firewall, additional synced copy of the nas storage, self hosted web server, pelican management panel and whatever other vm/lxcs I end up playing with. (This has a 6g sas compatible p420i installed).
Dedicated Nas Drobo 5n2
My original backup solution that I'd like to integrate as a failover in case both servers are out of action. Also houses all of our media which is served to our devices via a simple smb share.
Both servers currently boot from a endurance model sd card to take full advantage of the disks and the raid controllers are in hba mode. I do plan on setting up network booting and failing over to the sd if the network boot is unavailable to decrease chance of sd failure. I've also currently got them in a cluster configuration witha 256gb hard drive setup for cephfs & cephrbd so that in the even one needs to goes offline I can easily migrate between them and keep everything up and running.
The "clients" using the nad would be my childrens and my own PC's, I run all of their setups with windows and any installed programs on a 256gb boot ssd. I then have an additional 500gb ssd that houses their gaming storage and personal folders (pictures, music, videos etc) this is so should something go wrong I can reinstall windows, link the folders and they don't lose anything. I run a similar setup on my pc except I have an additional 1tb nvme game storage drive and then dual 1.8tb enterprise ssds mirrored storing all my important data (work stuff, personal folders etc). All of them currently backup to the drobo and my important work stuff also backs up to google drive.
The children and all devices are connected via a 2.5gb network with dual switches which have a 10g sfp+ uplink between eachother and round robin configuration to each server. There is also a wifi6e ap for wifi devices and as a backup for the 2.5gb network. My pc is connected via 40gb connectx-3pro card to each server and the servers both have the same card with a 40gb link to eachother.
So now that the available setup is out of the way, what I primarily want to know is how could I best implement a backup strategy using the hardware I've got that would not only be fast and seamless, but provide failover in the event of hardware failures or me needing to take down a node.
My ideas are either a truenas vm on each server that is set up as a cluster and then making use of something within truenas to then sync that to the drobo. Or to take advantage of ceph within proxmox somehow and then also syncing that to the drobo. I want to aim for simplicity for long term usage but dont mind a complicated setup if it gives me ease of use long term. I would like to stick with free open source software solutions because I want to avoid being locked down to a certain manufacturer or proprietary setup (learnt my lesson with the drobo). I'm also considering using using one of the enterprise ssds from my pc to throw in server 2 so both servers have equal amount of storage and instead relying on the additional 4 backup copies (each nas, drobo, google drive) should shit hit the fan.
I am also considering using the 4 additional 500gb gaming ssds to add to the storage setup and setting up some form of gaming cache storage for the kids to use but unsure if that's a great idea because of the potential lag and stutters that might affect fps games etc. I do plan on running some form of local cache for steam downloads, windows updates etc which will be managed via my firewall. But was considering going 1 step further and pooling the storage between them and deduplicating our storage usage. I know that's possible but unsure if it will work effectively if all 3 of them are for example playing fortnite together and accessing the same data split between the 3 of them. I'd like to take full advantage of the current technology that's available but will prioritise practical usage at the same time if that makes sense.
So how would you do it? What vms, lxcs, apps or integrations would you run and why, what are the pros and cons. What potential issues do you guys see or have experience with in any part of this setup?
Server 1 HP DL380 Gen 9
2x xeon e5-2667v4, 256GB ram, 4x1.8tb huawei 12g sas ssds, 2x256gb consumer sata 3 ssds.
Intention is to run proxmox and use this as a gaming server using pelican primarily but also hosting the vm/lxc for a nas/backup to take advantage of the better storage installed. (This has 12gb sas compatible p440ar installed)
Server 2 HP DL360p Gen 8
2x xeon e5-2650, 256gb ram, 2x900gb 12g sas hdds, 2x1.8tb enterprise sata 3 ssds, 2x256gb consumer grade sata 3 ssds.
Plan is to run my virtualised firewall, additional synced copy of the nas storage, self hosted web server, pelican management panel and whatever other vm/lxcs I end up playing with. (This has a 6g sas compatible p420i installed).
Dedicated Nas Drobo 5n2
My original backup solution that I'd like to integrate as a failover in case both servers are out of action. Also houses all of our media which is served to our devices via a simple smb share.
Both servers currently boot from a endurance model sd card to take full advantage of the disks and the raid controllers are in hba mode. I do plan on setting up network booting and failing over to the sd if the network boot is unavailable to decrease chance of sd failure. I've also currently got them in a cluster configuration witha 256gb hard drive setup for cephfs & cephrbd so that in the even one needs to goes offline I can easily migrate between them and keep everything up and running.
The "clients" using the nad would be my childrens and my own PC's, I run all of their setups with windows and any installed programs on a 256gb boot ssd. I then have an additional 500gb ssd that houses their gaming storage and personal folders (pictures, music, videos etc) this is so should something go wrong I can reinstall windows, link the folders and they don't lose anything. I run a similar setup on my pc except I have an additional 1tb nvme game storage drive and then dual 1.8tb enterprise ssds mirrored storing all my important data (work stuff, personal folders etc). All of them currently backup to the drobo and my important work stuff also backs up to google drive.
The children and all devices are connected via a 2.5gb network with dual switches which have a 10g sfp+ uplink between eachother and round robin configuration to each server. There is also a wifi6e ap for wifi devices and as a backup for the 2.5gb network. My pc is connected via 40gb connectx-3pro card to each server and the servers both have the same card with a 40gb link to eachother.
So now that the available setup is out of the way, what I primarily want to know is how could I best implement a backup strategy using the hardware I've got that would not only be fast and seamless, but provide failover in the event of hardware failures or me needing to take down a node.
My ideas are either a truenas vm on each server that is set up as a cluster and then making use of something within truenas to then sync that to the drobo. Or to take advantage of ceph within proxmox somehow and then also syncing that to the drobo. I want to aim for simplicity for long term usage but dont mind a complicated setup if it gives me ease of use long term. I would like to stick with free open source software solutions because I want to avoid being locked down to a certain manufacturer or proprietary setup (learnt my lesson with the drobo). I'm also considering using using one of the enterprise ssds from my pc to throw in server 2 so both servers have equal amount of storage and instead relying on the additional 4 backup copies (each nas, drobo, google drive) should shit hit the fan.
I am also considering using the 4 additional 500gb gaming ssds to add to the storage setup and setting up some form of gaming cache storage for the kids to use but unsure if that's a great idea because of the potential lag and stutters that might affect fps games etc. I do plan on running some form of local cache for steam downloads, windows updates etc which will be managed via my firewall. But was considering going 1 step further and pooling the storage between them and deduplicating our storage usage. I know that's possible but unsure if it will work effectively if all 3 of them are for example playing fortnite together and accessing the same data split between the 3 of them. I'd like to take full advantage of the current technology that's available but will prioritise practical usage at the same time if that makes sense.
So how would you do it? What vms, lxcs, apps or integrations would you run and why, what are the pros and cons. What potential issues do you guys see or have experience with in any part of this setup?