I installed my first TrueNAS Scale system (current version 24.04.2).
I need to have my disks spun down both to save power but also to have the system run quietly whenever possible - the system runs in the living room.
To allow the disks to spin down I need to move the system dataset to an SSD based device and not on my RAIDZ2 data pool.
However I do not see an option anywhere to move the system dataset. Under Advanced Settings only the boot and RAIDZ2 data pools are listed, and there the only thing I can do is set the swap space size.
Can you help me?
Please provide step-by-step instructions how to move the dataset.
Information on my system:
Current W680 Alder Lake generation system with ECC support.
Main OS is Proxmox 8.2.4 and TrueNAS Scale 24.04.2 as a VM with virtual system disk and the SATA controller passed through.
I have 4x Seagate IronWolf Pro 14TB (ST14000NE0008) configured as RAIDZ2 (/dev/sda is the system disk, sdb to sde are HDDs).
(- In the future I plan to back up both Proxmox and Truenas system on a secondary system - my older smaller NAS).
After a very basic setup the system runs fine and a SAMBA and NFS share is setup and seems to work properly.
I used the boot pool. Im on core but i think Is the same for Scale. Maybe wait other suggestion.
About spin down… I tried this script some time ago: if you don’t be careful on prevent high spin down - spin up cycle every day disks can degrade fast, and if you don’t spin up them somehow you will not able to perform scheduled smart test
If your boot pool is spinning rust then you’re out of luck (unless you change that to SSD). Can’t change syslog location in Scale away from your boot pool - cough consider voting on my feature request below cough
The boot boot is of course an SSD.
The Problem Is- as metionrd - I see no Option anywhere to move it to the boot Pool.
The menu structure between core and scale is different and I need instructions specifically for scale.
I understand the options to move a data set is somewhere in System → Advanced.
But it does not even mention the system pool. Just the boot and raidz2 pool. And the only thing it let’s me do there is change the swap size.
Please provide descriptions where exactly the option to move the pool Is found and how to navigate to it?
If that does not work:
Is it possible to start over and when setting up the system to have it store the system pool on the ssd where truenas resides on?
It should default to the boot pool on scale. If for some random reason it is somewhere then there won’t be a GUI option to move it to boot because after some version of Scale that was removed.
You can 100% re-install Scale - just make a backup of your config & after the fresh install you can import your config. (Settings > General > Manage Config > Download File… then after the fresh install Settings > General > Manage Config > Upload File)
This is why I made a feature request to bring this option back to us Power back to the people to decide where it should be!
There is no such thing.
There is a System dataset, that resides on the boot-pool and is moved to the first pool you create after install.
You can manually move the System dataset to a pool of your choice by going to System Settings → Advanced → Storage, click Configure and you should see a dropdown menu and the ability to set Swap (Which is weird since swap is disabled…). Anyway, if you don’t see the dropdown menu, try force reloading the webpage or try a different browser.
Just a final question to doublecheck, do you actually have a third pool ready to receive it? Aside from the boot-pool you mention a RAIDZ2, your system info makes no mention of hardware that could comprise a third pool to which you would be able to move the System dataset to. If the provided information is incomplete, please supply the full hardware details.
Fleshmauler Says there is no option to move the pool.
neofusion Seems to indicate there should be but I’m not clear at where exactly. Btw, I am sorry if e messed up system pool and system dataset. I meant system dataset of course.
Currently I don’t have a third pool to move it too, I just thought it might be better to do so since somewhere else someone said it is a bad idea to put the system dataset on the boot pool.
If you think a separate (virtual) disk is best to put the system dataset then I’ll do that. If you think it’s OK to put it on the boot pool I’ll do that.
Anyway this is what it looks like:
I think I figured it out however. The whole section is just called Storage. This is misleading. At least it made me think you configure general stuff about storage.
Instead it is the location of the System Dataset.
It should however be named something like “Storage Location of the System Dataset”. So by changing the drop down to boot-pool you move the System Dataset to the boot-pool.
I am aware that spinning the disks up and down all the time/too often is not a good idea. I think in situations where a NAS very regular access and thus spin-ups and downs are thus frequent it should not be used.
However in my case the NAS Storage will only be used by Me, My partner and very sparingly a friend.
I think that is another scenario.
I will see however if I can create logs of spin-ups and downs and see how often it happens. If it is too frequent I will increase the time until the spin-down happens or seek other solutions.
Make sure you implement @joeschmuck 's Multi-Report script so that you get the system configuration emailed to you weekly in case the boot drive fails.
P.S. I don’t know why you want Proxmox, but IMO (and without knowing the details) you would be better off using TrueNAS virtualisation unless your virtualisation is extensive or TrueNAS virtualisation doesn’t meet your needs.
Agree, that for those of us who run a small home truenas system that is accessed only a couple of times a week by one or two users spin down of HDs is appropriate. Moved my system dataset to the boot-pool over a year ago without any issues and scrubs on that pool happen regularly.
If you want spin down of the HD pool, then advise you not to run any truenas apps on it–not even the app catalog because those services will keep them active.
There is a spin down script to run at the shell prompt but I’ve had success using the drop down menus on the GUI’s storage/disks screen. Strangely the Seagate drives require different values than the WD drives. But then that’s my system.
Can check the spin down status of each HD by going to the shell prompt and typing:
“sudo hdparm -C /dev/[truenas name of the HD]”
HD names are found on storage/disks screen.
Despite can be easy handle the spin up/down cycle in some use case (was the same for me some time ago)… How do you handle periodic smart test?
If disks are spin down they don’t start. And if you spin up them for a short time, they don’t finish either. Have you encounter same problemi i have had?
Well, I run monthly auto-scrub and auto-snapshots on the spin down HD pool so periodic smart tests I run manually every few months or whenever. Also keep a total backup of the pool data on offline detached storage which I update quarterly.
Was thinking back over this & trying to think of a way to how the System Dataset Pool in case it is stuck somewhere other than the Boot Pool… I think the easiest way would be to boot back into Core or an old version of Scale, change the location via the GUI, and then boot back into current version of Scale.
The issue in this thread was, as I understood it, that it wasn’t clear where you would change the location of the System Dataset in the GUI, but that was explained and the OP successfully changed it, AFAICT.
So there should be no need to revert to CORE or an older version of SCALE to do so, unless I misunderstand your post.
That’s correct. There is no need to use core to change system dataset path. When TrueNAS is first installed the system dataset is set up on the boot pool, then once the first data pool is created, it is moved to that location. If needed for some reason the admin can then change it back to the boot pool.
Power back to the people to decide where it should be!
