Server rebuild with 4k drives

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.
W

wookienz

Member
Apr 2, 2012
98
4
8
I built this:
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/take-my-money-and-build-it.569/

A quick overview being a norco 4224 box with esxi, nappit running on openindiana vm. 2 x m1015 HBA's with 24 WD Green drives. 4 x z2 6 disk vdevs.

I have run out of space/drives are failing. 3 out of vdevs were created with ashift 9. trying to replace ahsift 9 vdevs with new 4k drives doesnt work.

I have decided to rebuild the box from scratch with WD Red 3tb EARX HDD's. I knew nothing about ashift when i built the first one, so i am wondering what else i have failed to understand before i rebuild it again with ashift 12.
While not ideal i am going to build 2 x z2 6 disks vdevs initially and then add another 2 later on.
The main job for this VM and fileserver in general is media streaming.
So...I plan to replace the 120GB intel SSD with a samsung 840 Pro at the same time, this hol;ds all the VM's.
I presently dont have any ZIL or L2ARC. Considering the job of this box would you recommend one or the other or both?

What else do i need to consider before the laborious process of transferring TB's of data back on it?

Cheers.
 
G

gea

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2010
3,163
1,195
113
DE
Nothing special to care about. Newer disks are 4k/ashift 12 per default.
L2ARC readcache can help but check arcstat if needed and max out RAM first.

A dedicated ZIL is needed for the VM datastore where a crash can lead to a corrupted guest filesystem. The ZIL should have a powercap, ultra low latency and high write IOPS. 10-15 GB is enough.

A good ZIL is for example the Intel S3700-100/200. You should overprovision all (new or secure erased) SSDs example with a HPA to keep writes values high. In case of the Samsung this can be 10-15%, with a ZIL much more. For home use, you may use the Intel, optionally create an additional HPA by 20-40% and two partitions (15GB ZIL, rest for L2ARC).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom