I’m setting up a new NAS and having some questions before i finalize the build:
Can I have one pool, yet different datasets and shares? If yes, would it affect the data integrity?
What’s a better approach? Single Pool, single dataset, single share and multiple directories for storing different kind of files and things or Single Pool, different datasets and different shares?
I need to store some of the VMs data. What kind of storage drives are recommended for such use case? Of course, I know, not HDD. I’m bit confused what should I use as I’m having couple of these drives laying: (i) Intel D3-S4610 3.84TB, (ii) Intel D7-P5520 3.84TB, (iii) WD SN850X 2TB. Which of these would be a better choice in terms of speed, IOPS and reliability? The VM will mostly run homelab services like adguard, Torrenting and a few other services.
Other than VM data, the HBA I plan to use is LSI 9400-16i which was bought a few years ago for storage pools. I’m so much confused about the lanes for this HBA. Regardless of the Gen3 or Gen4, the NVMe typically requires X4 lanes for a full speed operation. The LSI 9400-16i is a X8 lane card. So, technically, it should be capable of supporting 2xNVMe at max, but the data sheet says it supports 4 NVMe drives. 4 NVMe means 4NVMeX4=16 lanes whereas, the HBA only has X8 interface. Can someone explain me this?
Also, would TrueNAS will be a better choice or should I shift to Proxmox or Ubuntu bare metal? The only requirement for running these services are high availability, performance focused and some redundancy.
@Fastline Not trying to be a jerk but I’m going to come off as sounding like one… You have been a member here for a year, you have asked many questions over that period of time about builds and what to choose/use. I even thought you had built a system already. Maybe I’m wrong and you have not built a system?
I’m saying this because the first three questions you asked is so very basic. The fourth question I would have to say I don’t think you have asked before.
The fifth question you asked has topics all over the TrueNAS forum about using Type 1 Hypervisors (ESXi and Proxmox) or bare metal.
If I have this all wrong, just tell me and I will recant. If I’m wrong, I can admit it, and I don’t want to chase off any members just because I like to do things differently.
Again, not trying to sound like a jerk. I’m curious if you have built a system yet, if you have tried to locate answers on your own, or just do it the simple way and ask a question and just wait on people to give you the answer. I’m old man, set in my ways. I don’t mean to offend you and you may have very good and valid reasons for asking these questions. But I would request that you do a little research on your own. I like to use Google and when I’m looking for something I will enter “truenas” and add the topic or key words to look for. For example “truenas proxmox” and you will find a lot where people post experiences and the good, bad, and ugly of things.
I will say, do not use ESXi unless you have a “supported” platform. While my system seems rock solid, after weeks it may not be so rock solid and as I can tell, ESXi is the problem. Likely a driver issue. Since I don’t pay for ESXi, I can’t complain.
Yes, that’s right. Unfortunately, i’ve been sourcing the parts. I’m done with all the parts and need to get switches and cables and would be ready to deploy. I had to wait and save little money each month to get the parts ;(
Yeah, i understand. You’ve been a member here for long and know so many things over the years. Whereas, i’m just a newbie who is just getting to know things so the question that may seem basic to you, isn’t the case with me ;(
Regarding the fourth question, i’m so much confused and waiting on someone to explain clearly. Once again, i’m here because do know that first i do Google search, check on sites and forums and even check datasheets and things but when its not clear or say i’m not able to understand, i seek help here
The fifth question was not exactly about using TrueNAS or ESXi or Promox or Ubuntu bare metal in General. My question was i’ll be needing to run a couple of services (such as Postgres SQL) for DaVinci Resolve. So, the Postgres can be also installed in a Docker container on TrueNAS, ESXi or Proxmox or Ubuntu bare metal. Like the Postgres, there will be other services like Adguard, and things and my requirement was to have the high availability, performance focused with some redundancy. So, what should i go for. Of course, TrueNAS will be used for my main active and archival data storage purposes.
Its alright
I totally understand my friend and its alright
Yes, yes. I have used ESXi in past and since Broadcom acquired it, download was way too difficult. xD
Wow, sorry to hear how long this is taking. I understand being short on money, I just retired and my income dropped to less than 1/6th what I use to bring home. Buying new play toys will take me a bit longer when they are expensive.
I will try to explain it as simple as possible.
First off, forget about the LSI card lanes. It should be plugged into a proper x8 PCIe port. That is all you need to know about PCIe lanes with respect to this card. Everything is handled internally.
Second, I’m not an HBA expert but what I found online is the card should be able to be configured to connect up to 24 NVMe (U.2) drives, and up to 1024 SAS/SATA drives. I’m certain there is additional hardware required to handle all that, without that and just using cables, it looks like you can connect 8 SAS/SATA drives and 2 NVMe drives. The data I found online may not be for your exact card so you should ensure that whatever data you are reading is for your specific card.
You should also know that the card will need to be flashed into IT mode, as I recall.
There are two kinds of NVMe drives, well the physical format… M.2 (the nice tiny cards you see everywhere online) and U.2 (the ones that look like a 2.5" SSD). If there is a third kind, I’m just not aware of it.
I guess I didn’t read it that way.
Do you have TrueNAS installed in VirtualBox or something so you can play around with it? You may be able to test a few things out, get things running, learn a lot in the process. That is how I started until I could afford to build my first system (the cost of a hard drives was almost $400 for a 2TB drive and I needed 6 of them, but I started with 4 and rebuilt my pool when the last two arrived, many months later).
If you still have a license key, it is easy to grab the updates, but they do not come out often. I run ESXi 7 and ESXi 8 and both work great and I update them every few months, well about 1 month after an update is released. I’m not is a rush if the system is working fine.
