Proxmox with 1SSD + 2HDDs

[lnxme]

Hello all!

I have been toying with proxmox VE for on a test server for a while no. Installation was straightforward, everything was stored on a single 2TB disk.

Today I acquired the definitive server, I chose a mini PC for its low power requirement. Ryzen 4800u, 64GB ram.
As for storage I have
512GB Nvme SSD drivr
2x 1TB fairly slow HDDS. Those are spares and since there is 2 empty slots in the mini PC, I figured, why not put them to use.

I would like your advice on how to set everything up.

For now, I thought of using the Nvme drive for vms that needs fast disk access ie desktop installation etc.
I wanted use the 2 HDDs in a mirror, and install proxmox on it and all other VMs.

Any advice?

 

[floh8]

Good idea. Think of missing mirror for the NVME! To prevent this you could use the NVMe as L2ARC.

 

[Dunuin]

Verify that the HDDs CMR and not SMR. Otherwise they will be way slower than you expect and can cause a lot of problems when using ZFS for mirroring.

 

[lnxme]

Verify that the HDDs CMR and not SMR. Otherwise they will be way slower than you expect and can cause a lot of problems when using ZFS for mirroring.

They are 1Tb each, do SMR drives even exist for such small HDDs?

Anyway they do are slow drives, so I’ll take your warning into account.

Are there any ways to benchmark my ZFS mirror? If yes, how?

 

[Dunuin]

Depends on the HDDs. Most of the 1TB 2,5" HDDs are SMR today.

Best to benchmark would be fio. How to do that depends on what you want to benchmark...guest or host, filesystem or block device, read/write/mixed, sync/async, throughput/latency/IOPS, ...