[ale] NAS recommendations

Derek Atkins derek at ihtfp.com
Thu Jun 15 15:52:07 EDT 2017


I've got a single FreeNAS system in my rack with 6 4TB HGST drives in
RaidZ2 mode (so 16TB usable space).  I'm currently using about 60%. 
Granted, this isn't a desktop NAS.

In terms of needing 26 hours to mirror 4TB -- was that a background sync
or a full-bore copy?  background sync certainly takes longer, but
shouldn't take 26 hours unless you have really bad I/O issues.  If you're
doing a full-bore copy or doing something like dd then most likely you
have bad buffer settings.  You didn't say how you were mirroring, so hard
to guess why it would take so long.

-derek

On Thu, June 15, 2017 3:39 pm, Chuck Payne wrote:
> I like and bought two iXSystem. I love ZFS so that I can make copies for
> the developers to play with destroy once they were done.
>
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 2:09 PM, DJ-Pfulio <djpfulio at jdpfu.com> wrote:
>
>> "Under load" - think that is the diff.
>>
>> Took my cheap-ass system 26 hrs to mirror 4TB to a new 4TB 7200rpm disk
>> a
>> few
>> weeks ago. No RAID. Onboard SATA only. Zero load.
>>
>> Look for the SELF videos when they are posted to get passed my summary.
>>
>> BTW, I'm loving all the different, thoughtful, opinions on this subject
>> shared.
>> Very nice community!
>>
>>
>> On 06/15/2017 01:16 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
>> > Wow! A six month recovery time! I've not had any of my RAID6 systems
>> take longer
>> > than 10 days with pretty heavy use. These are 4TB SAS drives with 28
>> drives per
>> > array.
>> >
>> > On Jun 15, 2017 5:08 PM, "DJ-Pfulio" <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com
>> > <mailto:DJPfulio at jdpfu.com>> wrote:
>> >
>> >     On 06/15/2017 09:29 AM, Ken Cochran wrote:
>> >     > Any ALEr Words of Wisdom wrt desktop NAS?
>> >     > Looking for something appropriate for, but not limited to,
>> photography.
>> >     > Some years ago Drobo demoed at (I think) AUUG.  (Might've been
>> ALE.)
>> >     > Was kinda nifty for the time but I'm sure things have improved
>> since.
>> >     > Synology?  QNAP?
>> >     > Build something myself?  JBOD?
>> >     > Looks like they all running Linux inside these days.
>> >     > Rackmount ones look lots more expensive.
>> >     > Ideas?  What to look for?  Stay away from?  Thanks, Ken
>> >
>> >     Every time I look at the pre-built NAS devices, I think - that's
>> $400
>> >     too much and not very flexible. These devices are certified with
>> >     specific models of HDDs. Can you live with a specific list of
>> supported
>> >     HDDs and limited, specific, software?
>> >
>> >     Typical trade off - time/convenience vs money.  At least
>> initially.
>> >     Nothing you don't already know.
>> >
>> >     My NAS is a $100 x86 box built from parts.  Bought a new $50 intel
>> G3258
>> >     CPU and $50 MB. Reused stuff left over from prior systems for
>> everything
>> >     else, at least initially.
>> >     Reused:
>> >     * 8G of DDR3 RAM
>> >     * Case
>> >     * PSU
>> >     * 4TB HDD
>> >     * assorted cabled to connect to a KVM and network.  That was 3 yrs
>> ago.
>> >
>> >     Most of the RAM is used for disk buffering.
>> >
>> >     That box has 4 internal HDDs and 4 external in a cheap $99 array
>> >     connected via USB3. Internal is primary, external is the rsync
>> mirror
>> >     for media files.
>> >
>> >     It runs Plex MS, Calibre, and 5 other services. The CPU is
>> powerful
>> >     enough to transcode 2 HiDef streams for players that need it
>> concurrently.
>> >     All the primary storage is LVM managed. I don't span HDDs for LVs.
>> >     Backups are not LVM'd and a simple rsync is used for media files.
>> OS
>> >     application and non-media content gets backed up with 60 versions
>> using
>> >     rdiff-backup to a different server over the network.
>> >
>> >     That original 4TB disk failed a few weeks ago. It was a minor
>> >     inconvenience.  Just sayin'.
>> >
>> >     If I were starting over, the only thing I'd do different would be
>> to
>> >     more strongly consider ZFS. Don't know that I'd use it, but it
>> would
>> be
>> >     considered for more than 15 minutes for the non-OS storage.
>> Bitrot
>> is
>> >     real, IMHO.
>> >
>> >     I use RAID elsewhere on the network, but not for this box.  It is
>> just a
>> >     media server (mainly), so HA just isn't needed.
>> >
>> >     At SELF last weekend, there was a talk about using RAID5/6 on HDDs
>> over
>> >     2TB in size by a guy in the storage biz.  The short answer was -
>> don't.
>> >
>> >     The rebuild time after a failure in their testing was measured in
>> >     months. They were using quality servers, disks and HBAs for the
>> test. A
>> >     5x8TB RAID5 rebuild was predicted to finish in over 6 months under
>> load.
>> >
>> >     There was also discussions about whether using RAID with SSDs was
>> smart
>> >     or not.  RAID10 was considered fine. RAID0 if you needed
>> performance,
>> >     but not for long term. The failure rate on enterprise SSDs is so
>> low
>> to
>> >     make it a huge waste of time except for the most critical
>> applications.
>> >     They also suggested avoiding SAS and SATA interfaces on those SSDs
>> to
>> >     avoid the limited performance.
>> >
>> >     Didn't mean to write a book. Sorry.
>>
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>
>
>
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> Terror PUP a.k.a
> Chuck "PUP" Payne
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-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant



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