New PVE Server to SSD or Not to

[Double Jz]

First off sorry for another SSD thread, I see a bunch of topics on this but some seem to contradict each other.

I obtained a new to me Dell R710, tossed in a H310 controller, cross flashed it and put it in IT mode with BIOS so I can boot from the drives. Now that I've been reading for hours trying to determine if I should SDD the new PVE or use spinning drives. I was originally going to just buy large spinning drives and not worry about wearout but I know my IO is going to severely suffer and that isn't going to be acceptable.

Now comes to my issue which I've been reading and reading and reading on for like 2 weeks now.

Is it the installation drive(s) that have all the repeating writes performed or is it the drives that house the VMs?

I currently have just the PVE server running with no VMs/CTs on it using 2x 1TB Seagate 7200 rpm drives in a zfs raid 1 pool and its fluctuating but hitting 1.6% IO delay....

I've been reading up on the Kingston DC500M SSDs and was thinking about going with 2x DC500M 480 GB (1139 TBW) drives for the OS, Templates, etc. These drives would be a zfs RAID1 setup provisioned to 400GB during the install/setup but didn't know if I would be better off running spinning drives for the OS/install and putting the DC500M drives for the VMs.

For a little more info, this server will take over the existing PVE server and run multiple VMs for snmp/health monitoring tools and other Windows/Linux hosts for testing.
IE. SmokePing, LibreNMS, OpenNMS, Xymon, Syslog Server, Pi-hole, Apache Intranet Webserver, Windows 10 Test box, possibly a Minecraft server for some on the side fun (this would be on its own SSD).

R710
2x - Xeon E5645 (Hex Core)
96 GB Ram
H310 Raid Controller (IT mode)
Temporarily 2x - 1TB Seagate 7200 rpm zfs Pool RAID1

 

[wolfgang]

Hi,

general the OS disk doesn't have to be fast.
If you have an IO delay from the logging this is not a problem for your environment and can be ignored.

 

[SamirD]

I'm researching proxmox and have the same question as the OP--does the pve or vm storage have the most io? I was initially thinking of putting pve on the ssd, but now maybe it seems the vm would benefit more. However, the vm(s) I plan to run have a sort of virtualization themselves so they have very light io to begin with, so I'm not sure where to put the ssd's io power.

 

[Kevin Myers]

nowdays i prefer ssds for system drives, and overprovision them to 50%, spinning disks also inevitably fail, while a ssd at 50% overprovisioned for an os drive will outlive the server most the time

 

[SamirD]

nowdays i prefer ssds for system drives, and overprovision them to 50%, spinning disks also inevitably fail, while a ssd at 50% overprovisioned for an os drive will outlive the server most the time

Good idea. Thank you for the data point. One question though--how do you overprovision them to 50%? Do you have to use some sort of proprietary manufacturer's tool or is there a command that can be run?

 

[Double Jz]

Good idea. Thank you for the data point. One question though--how do you overprovision them to 50%? Do you have to use some sort of proprietary manufacturer's tool or is there a command that can be run?

During the PVR install if you have say a 480GB hard drive, only use 240GB of it and the rest will just be wasted so to speak. That would be a 50% over provisioned drive.

 

[SamirD]

During the PVR install if you have say a 480GB hard drive, only use 240GB of it and the rest will just be wasted so to speak. That would be a 50% over provisioned drive.

Interesting. Are the drives smart enough to automatically know those are then 'spare' sectors?