[nmglug] Trunas scale exp?

[ABQLUG Events]

I use a LSI 9211-8i (in IT mode) in my home media server. However, if I 
were to build another home media server today, this is what I would use.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144349058469

Any LSI HBA flashed to IT mode for direct disk passthru would work. 
Since you are wanting to use TrueNAS Scale, the options for HBA are a 
little more lax. But for FreeBSD based TrueNAS Core, you will want to 
stick with LSI. Just don't make sure you don't do hardware RAID, ZFS 
wants/needs to directly "talk" to each disk...

I know people that use the onboard SATA ports on their motherboard as 
well, but for that many disks, you will typically need a PCIe card.

As for performance, what model of drives are you using? In general, you 
will want to stick to using the same model of drive. Also, avoid SMR 
disks LIKE THE PLAGUE. You will basically need to stick to CMR disks 
(also known as PMR). Also, you will notice performance degradation when 
you use more than 80% capacity...

https://www.wundertech.net/cmr-vs-smr-what-is-the-best-hard-drive/

Now, there are some issues with random 4K writes on TrueNAS Scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoiHHnBDg0E&t=220s

But they are working on it...

https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/performance-testing-core-12-vs-13-vs-scale.101326/

So basically, if you need ZFS but don't need to use docker. Then I 
recommend sticking with TrueNAS Core. If you need docker, then I would 
use TrueNAS Scale.

For RAM, throw as much RAM as you can possible throw at it. ZFS caches 
it's data and metadata in RAM, though you can always tune this if you 
need some to save some RAM for containers or VMs. ECC is generally 
better, but it's not 100% necessary. What IS 100% necessary is to have 
multiple backups of your data!

I would also recommend sticking with newer hardware, mostly for the 
power efficiency and higher performance with containers. Especially if 
TrueNAS is left powered on 24/7...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmfZHn2wLs

As for the boot drive and USB support. The old recommendation is to use 
fast USB drives. However, that isn't true anymore. Especially for 
TrueNAS Scale since you most likely are going to use containers.

https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/gettingstarted/scalehardwareguide/#minimum-hardware-requirements

Hope this helps!

~ Jared


On 8/14/22 21:11, Wesley Robbins wrote:
> Thanks.  Ended up getting new hardware and did a total rebuild.  But 
> this time built the root disk on two usb disks.   Now I have a 9+2 zfs 
> raid.  :).
> 
> If you are interested, bought two asm1166 Sata  cards that are 4xpcie 
> 3.0.  The 1x pcie Sata card seemed to be the biggest issue.  It was 
> really old.
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 1:43 PM Jonathan Haack 
> <jonathan at jonathanhaack.com <mailto:jonathan at jonathanhaack.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Gbps*
> 
>     On Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 1:22 PM Jonathan Haack
>     <jonathan at jonathanhaack.com <mailto:jonathan at jonathanhaack.com>> wrote:
> 
>         Are you booting off a flash drive instance of TruNAS
>         (recommended setup afaik)? If so, is it USB 3 on both ends?
> 
>         Other than that, just make sure the drives are 7200rpm and
>         latest SATA spec should be fine. I don't use TruNAS itself, but
>         use zfs pools on two physical hosts, which is what TruNAS is
>         using "under the hood"
> 
>         So, I would check your boot media to begin with, then check
>         which SATA implementation you have 1.5, 3, or 6 ... Mbps, and
>         rpms of hard drive.
> 
>         Good luck.
> 
>         JMH
> 
>         On 8/10/22 3:39 PM, Wesley Robbins wrote:
>>         Does anyone know the best hardware or software setup for
>>         TruNAS? I setup trunas a few months ago, and really like it.
>>          minus really poor performance. Which might be my hardware.
>>         The internet has just confused me more.    Searching and
>>         reading speeds of Sata, SSD, and pcie is not straight. . .  I
>>         am not sure where to even look to make changes for the better.
>>
>>         Right now I have a AMD phenom II 6x with 16gig and 1 gig
>>         Ethernet.  With seven Sata drives 2 of which are hot spares.
>>
>>         My thoughts now. Are as follows.
>>         Pcie Sata card? Better nic?  More ram?  Bad settings?
>>
>>         Any help would be wonderful.
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
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>         -- 
>         *Jonathan Haack*
>         Haack's Networking
>         phone: 505-310-6638
>         nextcloud: Haack's Networking
>         <https://nextcloud.haacksnetworking.org>
>         email: jonathan at haacksnetworking.org
>         <mailto:jonathan at haacksnetworking.org>
>         Haack's Networking <https://haacksnetworking.org/>
> 
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