Hello to all!
My setup is as follows:
* HP DL310e Gen 1 as server
* 14x4TB WD Red HDDs, spanned in two LSi 9208-08i HBA adapters flashed in IT mode
* Disks are housed in standard PC cases (without the mainboard and other components installed), having independent PSUs (the one that comes with each PC case)
* Disks are connected to HBAs with SAS-SATA breakout cables (the distance is small, ~ 1m)
The setup works flawlessly without any issues for quite a long of time now.
Recently, we moved from a Windows installation on the server to Proxmox. The 14 disks have been allocated (PCIe passthrough of HBA adapters) to an OMV VM and we are currently in the process of migrating the data, from NTFS to EXT4 file system.
As Proxmox allows for multiple VMs/LXC containers to run simultaneously on the same hardware, we do not need OMV to be switched on at all times, while the server is operating but serving other VMs/Containers.
Up until now, while the server was running Windows, we had developed a system with an external wireless plug, in order to power up and power down the disks located at the two external cases, while the server is operating.
By using this system, we programmed the plug attached to the external storage boxes to power on 5 seconds after the server is powered on. In reverse, when the server was turned off, the plug turned off the external storage 5 seconds afterwards.
We do not know whether a similar system/flow can be used in the new Proxmox setup, similar to the following:
* Proxmox server powers up without OMV running and the external HDD enclosures powered up
* If OMV is to be started, before it starts booting (through a hook? Manually?), a command is sent to the plug to turn on the power of the external disks.
* OMV (Debian) boots up and recognizes the HDDs as normally attached.
* If OMV is shut down aftewards at some point or stops running for X seconds, then the plug receives a command to power down the external disks (we can handle that)
Someone might ask: "Why don't you keep them on at all times?" - The answer is simple: (a) wear and tear while they are practically used 20% of the time of the server total running time, (b) electric power consumption
The questions raised among us are the following and we'd appreaciate any relevant feedback/pointers from you:
* Will something similar to the above flow work in our case or we endager data integrity at every power up/power down?
* Should Proxmox recognize all the external disks as attached during power up or it is OK (as it is Linux) to recognize them during the server operation?
* Is a hot-plug backplane a requirement for the external HDDs, albeit no HDD switching will take place, while the server is in operational state?
Thank you in advance!
My setup is as follows:
* HP DL310e Gen 1 as server
* 14x4TB WD Red HDDs, spanned in two LSi 9208-08i HBA adapters flashed in IT mode
* Disks are housed in standard PC cases (without the mainboard and other components installed), having independent PSUs (the one that comes with each PC case)
* Disks are connected to HBAs with SAS-SATA breakout cables (the distance is small, ~ 1m)
The setup works flawlessly without any issues for quite a long of time now.
Recently, we moved from a Windows installation on the server to Proxmox. The 14 disks have been allocated (PCIe passthrough of HBA adapters) to an OMV VM and we are currently in the process of migrating the data, from NTFS to EXT4 file system.
As Proxmox allows for multiple VMs/LXC containers to run simultaneously on the same hardware, we do not need OMV to be switched on at all times, while the server is operating but serving other VMs/Containers.
Up until now, while the server was running Windows, we had developed a system with an external wireless plug, in order to power up and power down the disks located at the two external cases, while the server is operating.
By using this system, we programmed the plug attached to the external storage boxes to power on 5 seconds after the server is powered on. In reverse, when the server was turned off, the plug turned off the external storage 5 seconds afterwards.
We do not know whether a similar system/flow can be used in the new Proxmox setup, similar to the following:
* Proxmox server powers up without OMV running and the external HDD enclosures powered up
* If OMV is to be started, before it starts booting (through a hook? Manually?), a command is sent to the plug to turn on the power of the external disks.
* OMV (Debian) boots up and recognizes the HDDs as normally attached.
* If OMV is shut down aftewards at some point or stops running for X seconds, then the plug receives a command to power down the external disks (we can handle that)
Someone might ask: "Why don't you keep them on at all times?" - The answer is simple: (a) wear and tear while they are practically used 20% of the time of the server total running time, (b) electric power consumption
The questions raised among us are the following and we'd appreaciate any relevant feedback/pointers from you:
* Will something similar to the above flow work in our case or we endager data integrity at every power up/power down?
* Should Proxmox recognize all the external disks as attached during power up or it is OK (as it is Linux) to recognize them during the server operation?
* Is a hot-plug backplane a requirement for the external HDDs, albeit no HDD switching will take place, while the server is in operational state?
Thank you in advance!