Will this setup work?

[DaneeL]

Hi All,

 

I'm trying out Unraid for the very first time and I'd like to ask for some advice.

The HW is a HP Microserver Gen8 with 3x3TB HDD and 1x250 SSD.

 

The setup I had in mind:

2 HDD in array (1 data and 1 parity - but if I understand correctly this will be a mirror in reality)

1 SSD in a separate pool for docker

1 HDD in another separate pool for backup. I'd like to rsync data onto this drive from the others.

 

How feasible is this setup in Unraid? Does it make sense to do this way or are there better solutions/suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[JonathanM]

This will work, but it would be better if your backup drive wasn't connected to the same box. Less chance of whatever might kill your array also zapping your backup.

[TimTheSettler]

Jonathan is assuming that your backup is used to back up the 2 HDD you mention.  Is that your intention here?  One HDD to back up the other two HDD?  We can help with the right setup if we know what your concern is.

 

Possible failure scenarios and solutions:

• HDD fails --> Use parity.  If a HDD fails you replace it with a new one without data loss.
• Hardware fails --> Build a new machine and plug in the OS USB and the HDD into the new system.
• Location compromised (fire or theft) --> Have an offsite duplicate machine.  Use syncthing to duplicate data between machines.
• Data compromised (accidental deletion or Ransomware) --> Back up data to a separate machine (Duplicati or Borg) using snapshots.
• Computer or HDD stolen --> Use encrypted drives (see compromised location above so that the system can be replaced).

[MrGrey]

Make sure you have a backup. Parity is only to make sure things keep running.

 

MrGrey.

[DaneeL]

Yes, the intention is to use the 3rd HDD to backup the array (first 2 HDD).

After reading your replies my plan for the longer term is to move the 3rd HDD to another box (which is in another physical location) and continue to rsync data to it via SSH.

 

Thank you all for the help to me get started with Unraid!

 

[TimTheSettler]

16 hours ago, DaneeL said:

Yes, the intention is to use the 3rd HDD to backup the array (first 2 HDD).

After reading your replies my plan for the longer term is to move the 3rd HDD to another box (which is in another physical location) and continue to rsync data to it via SSH.

 

As I mention above, a backup only makes sense if it's an offsite backup (replication) or to be used as a snapshot.  In either case the backup should be a separate machine (even better if it's off-site).

 

Back in the day I would have a Windows machine with a hard drive (C drive) and then when that got full I would buy another hard drive (D drive).  Eventually the machine would have three or four hard drives (or more) but each drive was independent and could fail.  The screenshot below is an example of this machine that I still have (it's an old machine as you can see from the number of hours that the C drive has been active).  You shouldn't do it this way anymore.  Now, with unRAID, all those hard drives are seen as one big drive (from a file system point of view).  If one drive fails then you can buy a new drive and replace it without losing the data on that drive.

 

Here's what you should do at the very least.

• Put all three hard drives into the one computer.
  • The biggest and fastest hard drive would be the parity drive.
  • The other two are just regular drives.  This all becomes your "array".
• Create a folder/share on your array.  This is where your data will reside.
• Create another folder called "Archive".
• Install the Vorta docker and create an archive using Vorta.  The source of the archive will be your data share and the target will be your Archive folder.  Alternately you can point the backup target to a cloud location.

 

 

 

 

[MrGrey]

On 1/4/2023 at 2:32 AM, DaneeL said:

How feasible is this setup in Unraid?

As good as anyone here.

 

Ignore the thread rippers.

 

MrGrey.