February 2, 20233 yr I'm trying to plan out a small Unraid system which is both powerful and efficient. Initailly i wanted a small nas utilising SSDs but since reading that ssds are not recommended to be IN an unraid array i'm wondering what the next best option is? I already have three storage arrays which i intended to use to service this smaller, leaner array which was going to be mini-itx with all ssds/nvme m2 from the get go. This was to be the workhorse frontend to the 'arrs, plex, dockers and further down the line VMs as i understand whats best needed. But now, without ssds as that backbone what are my options. This smaller nas was to have 10Gb/e (just because it can and as possible future proofing) coupled with a 13th gen intel cpu utilising quicksync capabilities. A lot of this is MY wishlist and, i understand, not necessary in order to transcode plex/emby. I understand this. Now, left without an ssd based objective, how do i proceed? Maybe i just stick with the xeon based storage i have, maybe consolodate the lot into one larger case and forget the 'efficiency' angle altogether. I cant help thinking this is not the way i saw my use of ssds progressing in the longer term. Will Unraid ever sanction an ssd based array i wonder and If not then what are others using as a good alternative to run a 'lean mean Unraid' system. Edited February 2, 20233 yr by superloopy1
February 2, 20233 yr 8 minutes ago, superloopy1 said: i'm wondering what the next best option is? Using them in a pool, if it's a raid1/10 pool you can use btrfs, if you prefer raid5/6 better to wait for v6.12 and use zfs raidz
February 2, 20233 yr Author Wow, quick, thanks! Can i run this past you then ... 8 disk nas, all ssds, how do i configure an Unraid system? No parity i assume, not needed as all content to be shipped asap to a 'suitable' array for storage. This lean nas is purely to do all the donkey work and allow the running of dockers, within Unraid? all post processing, unpacking etc to be done and then short term stored on an ssd structured cache pool, yes? Am i understanding or not? Would 10GBe be of use in shipping out no longer required filestore to the slower spinning disk array? Tell me if i'm talking bilge here ....
February 2, 20233 yr 2 minutes ago, superloopy1 said: No parity i assume, not needed as all content to be shipped asap to a 'suitable' array for storage. Do you mean the SSD pool is the final storage or it will moved to another array/server?
February 2, 20233 yr Author The ssd pool will be short term storage, once processed, hopefully a lot quicker thn at present, then it will be moved off to one of three longer term storage arrays. So this small, efficient nas is only there as a frontend. The data WILL be held on the ssd pool but not long term. Cronjob will ship off on a regular interval. I gather this on/off writes to the ssd pool is the reason why unraid wont allow to be used in a full array as spinning disks are. My unraid array wlll therefore only be a couple of cache pools of ssds with no spinners to be seen. NVME slots are available but i'm guesing they'll be for metadata. once working, its all to be shipped off via 10Gb/e to a final resting place. I'm sure this is being used by others but cant find a decent writeup of the whole process .... thanks for the help!
February 2, 20233 yr The SSDs would be in a pool, NOT in the array. There must be at least one data disk assigned to the array, parity not required. You don't have to use that array disk for anything but it is required to start everything. USB flash drive could be used. The reason SSDs are not recommended in the array is because they cannot be trimmed without invalidating parity.
February 2, 20233 yr Author Could a 'gash' ssd serving no useful purpose be used IN the array to satisfy this requirement and if so would it need to be comparable in speed to the pool ssds. I'm reading a lot about unraid operating at only the speed of the lowest drive in the array? Is this only when you ARE actually writing to data disks themselves. In my case i'll be writing to pooled cached drives, probably cache10. Seems a bit messy in order to run up a working Unraid system when just wanting to get as much processing control and minimal power out of the hardware.
February 2, 20233 yr 4 minutes ago, superloopy1 said: Could a 'gash' ssd serving no useful purpose be used IN the array to satisfy this requirement and if so would it need to be comparable in speed to the pool ssds. Yes, speed would be the same as a single pool SSD, but since it cannot be trimmed write performance might degrade over time.
February 2, 20233 yr Author 3 minutes ago, JorgeB said: Yes, speed would be the same as a single pool SSD, but since it cannot be trimmed write performance might degrade over time. Presumably if not being written to then trim wouldnt be necessary? Any way to trim the pooled ssds? The more i learn the less convinced i am that this is a good idea ...
February 2, 20233 yr 44 minutes ago, superloopy1 said: Presumably if not being written to then trim wouldnt be necessary? Correct. 44 minutes ago, superloopy1 said: Any way to trim the pooled ssds? Yes, trim for pools is supported.
February 2, 20233 yr Author Many thanks, i'll continue on then. Mobo supports 4 x nvme2 and 8 sata so i'll try and populate these out as best possible then install unraid and dockers.
February 2, 20233 yr You could even exclude that array disk from user shares in Global Share Settings, then just proceed to use user shares normally, except they would all be cache:only
February 2, 20233 yr Author That sounds promising. So if i exclude in global share settings all activity will only be to cache pool shares and will run at the speed of the slowest ssd in the system? No parity drive needed anywhere? Really need to understand cache pools now before i drop an awful lot of cash on hardware. Thanks!
February 3, 20233 yr Author 23 hours ago, trurl said: The SSDs would be in a pool, NOT in the array. There must be at least one data disk assigned to the array, parity not required. You don't have to use that array disk for anything but it is required to start everything. USB flash drive could be used. The reason SSDs are not recommended in the array is because they cannot be trimmed without invalidating parity. Is TRIM available within the array if parity is NOT being used?
February 3, 20233 yr Author Ah, so there's the catch then. I'll need to raid10 the ssds outside of the array which to all intents and purposes is just a front to enable my dockers to run. Trim CAN be used against those cache pools external to the array. I'm learning i think .... thanks again, very prompt!
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.