Replacing VMWare with Proxmox running a TrueNAS VM

[chb]

Hi All,

I am new to Proxmox and need some help with what I’m trying to accomplish. I have watched many videos, but still unsure if what I’m trying to do is reasonable or makes sense. It is my hope this setup will last me for the next 5 to 10 years.

• Replace my VMWare workstation ver 16.
• Currently running a mix of windows and Linux.
• Run TrueNAS as a VM providing managed storage for VMs and Backups.
• TrueNAS is a backup server for my aging Synology NAS currently with 20TB of video, pictures, and music (it is now approaching 6+ years old). My Synology is currently doing backups to an old pc running a rsync server on Ubuntu 22.04.
• My goal is to provide ZFS storage to the VMs in Proxmox.
• I’m looking to use 3X2TB SSDs in a RAIDZ for ISOs and VM storage. I plan on connecting the SSDs to the PCIe sata ports on the MOB.
• I have an LSI HBA in IT mode with two ports supporting up to 8 sata drives. I plan on using five 16TB Seagate EXOS drive in RAIDZ for my Synology and personnel workstation backups using the rsync server on TrueNAS.
• Hardware:
  • Ryzen 7 5700G
  • 64GB ddr4 3200 ECC memory
  • Asus X570 MOB
  • LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode

I would greatly appreciate any constructive suggestions or help from the forum.

 

[noel.]

Currently running a mix of windows and Linux.

exporting those to a usable format should not be too difficult, you can use qemu-img convert to convert from vmdk to qcow2/raw

Run TrueNAS as a VM providing managed storage for VMs and Backups.

Proxmox also provides proxmox backup server as a means to scedule and make bakups (you could also run it in a vm, just like TrueNas). And, what a coincidence, it works well with proxmox ve^^

Also, I don't know your setup, but you should really make backups on a different machine as well, for redundancy.

I’m looking to use 3X2TB SSDs in a RAIDZ for ISOs and VM storage. I plan on connecting the SSDs to the PCIe sata ports on the MOB.

you might want to look into getting enterprise SSDs, depending on how valuable your data is/how much reading/writing those disks will be doing.


All in all, this seems like a good setup, imo.

 

[Dunuin]

I’m looking to use 3X2TB SSDs in a RAIDZ for ISOs and VM storage. I plan on connecting the SSDs to the PCIe sata ports on the MOB.

Are you running any postgresql DBs or other workloads that do a lot 4K/8K reads/writes?
Because with a 3 disk raidz1 and 4k sector disks you will need to increase the blocksize to atleast 16K if you don't want to waste capacity due to paddiing overhead,
A 4 disk raid10 would work with a 8K blocksize.

 

[chb]

exporting those to a usable format should not be too difficult, you can use qemu-img convert to convert from vmdk to qcow2/raw

One of my concerns was how or if I could move my windows and Linux VMs to proxmox ve so, thanks for the tip on using qemu-img, more research to do.

Proxmox also provides proxmox backup server as a means to scedule and make bakups (you could also run it in a vm, just like TrueNas). And, what a coincidence, it works well with proxmox ve^^

As for backups, I'm looking at using TrueNAS to back up my Synology NAS via rsync. Currently, I back up my Synology to a bunch of external USB drives, which is challenging to manage.

Also, I don't know your setup, but you should really make backups on a different machine as well, for redundancy.

So, my plan is if/when my Synology dies all my data will be on the new Proxmox/TrueNAS server, it is my redundancy for my current environment.
I would replace the Synology NAS with a smaller and less expensive model than the current one. There are several apps that I use and like on Synology.

you might want to look into getting enterprise SSDs, depending on how valuable your data is/how much reading/writing those disks will be doing.

The budget won't allow enterprise SSDs. I'm using Samsung 870 EVO. They have a 5-year warranty 2000TB write.
The videos, pictures, and music will be stored on Seagate EXOS 16TD HDD.

All in all, this seems like a good setup, imo.

Noel thanks for the reply and suggestions.

 

[chb]

Are you running any postgresql DBs or other workloads that do a lot 4K/8K reads/writes?
Because with a 3 disk raidz1 and 4k sector disks you will need to increase the blocksize to atleast 16K if you don't want to waste capacity due to paddiing overhead,

Not much anymore. Very little, mostly tinkering (I'm a retired software developer ).

A 4 disk raid10 would work with a 8K blocksize.

 

[_gabriel]

you'll be fired : zfs eat consumer ssd