neuronflow Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) I am currently playing around with my mini server based on a Zotac CI1337: https://www.zotac.com/de/product/mini_pcs/zbox-ci337-nano-barebone-0 My current unraid configuration looks like this: I am using the 512GB NVME SSD as as a cache to reduce write operations on my bigger 8TB SSD: In addition I have such a zigbee dongle connected: https://sonoff.tech/product/gateway-and-sensors/sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus-p/ My unraid server serves as a small NAS / home server, running home assistant and jdownloader and sometimes a debian: I measure power consumption with a Shelly Plug S. Out of the box my "low-load energy consumption" (arguably the system never really idles with HA and JD running?) was around 14W. I am a bit disappointed with that, given that the N100 has a TDP of 6W I somehow expected to arrive under 10W, currently the system needs 3-4times the enegy than the Raspberry Pi4 it replaced. So I am now trying to reduce the energy consumption and optimize system settings. I managed to reduce consumption by around 1W following recommendations here: Not bad. To my pleasant surprise this also lowered SSD temperatures by 2-3 degrees K. I am wondering whether my high power consumption happens because the SSDs never reach their "low-power-state? related: To my surprise unraid presents a "spindown" option for both of my SSD drives (even though SSDs cannot spindown): To my even bigger surprise this setting actually affects the SSDs, the green light in the main menu switches to grey if the SSD "spinsdown" and no temperature is reported anymore?! Is it actually advisable to run my SSD in an array or should I switch it to a pool? Can I still use my cache "in front off the 8TB" in case it is a pool? What else I could do? If I understand this post correctly TRIM is disabled for my 8TB SSD as it is part of an Array, even if there is no parity like in my case: Also which file system is advisable for my use case? From my naive understanding BTRFS also has native trim features? I've been using BTRFS for years now so I did not think much when I set it up. But I realize most unraid users seem to use ZFS. E.g. posts like this seem to be centered-around ZFS @JorgeB? I also see a trim feature in the settings of my pool, but not in the array. How can i check whether my SSD drives actually reach their low power state? Could I save energy by using an SSD card for permanent small activities like home assistant, only waking up the SSDs, when their speed is actually required (e.g. NAS usage)? Thanks for your help! PS: more questions: In the settings of the array I also found a compression feature, is there a way to compress files already written on it? If I move my SSD from the array to a second pool, will it wipe all the data on the drive? Edited January 21 by neuronflow more questions Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: To my even bigger surprise this setting actually affects the SSDs, the green light in the main menu switches to grey if the SSD "spinsdown" and no temperature is reported anymore?! When that happens SSDs enter a low power state. 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: Is it actually advisable to run my SSD in an array or should I switch it to a pool? Pool would allow you to TRIM it, but you would also lose the ability to use the other SSD as cache, since currently there's no option to use two pools as primary and secondary storage, there should be in the near future. 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: Also which file system is advisable for my use case? Btrfs and zfs are very similar in features, and for single device use I have no problem recommending both, though zfs is still considered more robust, but at the moment I would avoid it using it in the array, as there's an issue that can affect write speeds, this does not affect pools. 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: How can i check whether my SSD drives actually reach their low power state? Gray ball indicates that. 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: In the settings of the array I also found a compression feature, is there a way to compress files already written on it? Only by rewritting them. 20 hours ago, neuronflow said: If I move my SSD from the array to a second pool, will it wipe all the data on the drive? No. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 @JorgeB thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. So if I understand you correctly even the native TRIM features of BTRFS are turned off if I use my SSD in an array? Will there be an option to use TRIM in the array in the future? On 1/22/2024 at 11:36 AM, JorgeB said: since currently there's no option to use two pools as primary and secondary storage, there should be in the near future. is there an ETA for this feature? On 1/22/2024 at 11:36 AM, JorgeB said: Only by rewritting them. is there a command to rewrite the whole drive, this time with compression? Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 33 minutes ago, neuronflow said: So if I understand you correctly even the native TRIM features of BTRFS are turned off if I use my SSD in an array? Correct. 33 minutes ago, neuronflow said: Will there be an option to use TRIM in the array in the future? I expect so, but no ETA. 33 minutes ago, neuronflow said: is there an ETA for this feature? Hopefully for v6.13 34 minutes ago, neuronflow said: is there a command to rewrite the whole drive, this time with compression? You can use cp to copy the data, move to a temp folder first, then copy back. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Thanks for the quick responses. I am currently experimenting with an SD card in an effort to further lower energy consumption (not sure whether it is even worth it to try): Why are only 10mb on my sd card used? Is there a way to trigger moving files from cache so sdcard (cache previously contained system and appdata): Is there a way I can send my drives to lower power mode? pressing the spindown button on the bottom seems to have no effect. I also tried via terminal: ``` root@neon:~# sudo hdparm -B 1 /dev/nvme0n1p1 . /dev/nvme0n1p1: setting Advanced Power Management level to 0x01 (1) HDIO_DRIVE_CMD failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device root@neon:~# sudo hdparm -B 1 /dev/nvme0n1p1 ``` Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 13 minutes ago, neuronflow said: Why are only 10mb on my sd card used? Is there a way to trigger moving files from cache so sdcard (cache previously contained system and appdata): Did you delete any existing partitions so that Unraid could partition and format it? Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 27 minutes ago, neuronflow said: Is there a way to trigger moving files from cache so sdcard Not with the mover for now, you can do it manually, or use the mover to move to the array device, then from the array device to the new pool. Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 37 minutes ago, neuronflow said: Is there a way to trigger moving files from cache so sdcard (cache previously contained system and appdata): This is effectively a pool->pool move which is not yet supported. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 (edited) 9 minutes ago, itimpi said: This is effectively a pool->pool move which is not yet supported. I agree. I found an application called unbalance which seems to support this. Now I just wonder how to send my ssds to sleep. Edited January 23 by neuronflow Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Just now, neuronflow said: I agree. I found an application called unbalance which seems to support what I am after Note that ‘unbalance’ is now deprecated on the 6.12.x releases and is superseded by ‘unbalanced’ (note the extra ‘d’) which is what should be used going forward. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Settings - Disk settings - Default spin down delay Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 sorry, I meant unbalanced (typo). spindown delay is set is set to 15minutes, but my drives remain active. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 PS: I would argue that lower limits here should be possible for SSDs? As far as I know setting SSDs to idle state has no real disadvantages? Maybe there should be an option to define `spindown` for HDDs and a `low power mode delay` (or similar) for SSDs? Plus a button to send them to idle. This way users who have both SSD and HDD drives have more fine-grained control. Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 It occurs to me that I nice little GUI enhancement might be to make the green/grey icon indicating spindown status clickable to switch just that drive to the opposite state? Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, itimpi said: It occurs to me that I nice little GUI enhancement might be to make the green/grey icon indicating spindown status clickable to switch just that drive to the opposite state? I think it already is? Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Even though the GUI suggests that functionality nothing happens if I click on these buttons for both SSDs. Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 59 minutes ago, JorgeB said: I think it already is? I had to click on it a couple of times before it responded. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 How is the SSD connected, SATA or USB? For the NVMe device it never "spins down", but it will change to lower power states automatically, depending on the usage. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 I have this barebone: https://www.zotac.com/de/product/mini_pcs/zbox-ci337-nano-barebone-0 The M2 is connected via NVME the 8TB via SATA. 39 minutes ago, JorgeB said: For the NVMe device it never "spins down", but it will change to lower power states automatically, depending on the usage. That's what I mean the current wording is confusing for SSDs. My SSDs do not reach a lower power state, even if I try to manually set them to it by clicking on the green light or clicking the `spindown` button at the bottom. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Like mentioned the NVMe won't show anything other than green on the GUI, but it will automatically change power states, this is an NVMe feature, I believe in a future Unraid release it will be possible to see what state it is in. The SATA SSD should "spin down" if you click on the green ball, if there's nothing using it, but don't expect a huge power difference vs idle, it will be like 0.5w Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Ah okay, thanks I misunderstood your previous comment. After a reboot I am able to "spindown" the SATA ssd as it should be. Unfortunately you are right and there is no noticeable effect on energy consumption of this operation. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 I tried migrating my 8TB QVO to a Pool now. But I am presenting with this message when trying to configure my shares: "Array must be Started to view Shares." Without any disks the array cannot be started. Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 7 minutes ago, neuronflow said: Without any disks the array cannot be started. You can always put in a small flash drive that you do not intend to use for storing anything to satisfy the current requirement of having at least one array drive. Quote Link to comment
neuronflow Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Will this requirement be lifted with 6.13? Quote Link to comment
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