If you were rebuilding what would you do?

[SavellM]

So if you happened to be starting again totally from fresh, how would you setup unraid?

I'm talking encryption yes or no?, XFS or BTRFS, what about XFS/BTRFS for CACHE? and other general setup?

 

I'm about to embark on a new build and wondering about best way to setup and drive formats to use for the future of unraid.

What would be the best settings now for future and longevity of unraid.

 

My setup will be:

20x 8tb Drives (Dual Parity)

2x 1tb SSD (Cache) 

2x 250gb SSD (Plex/Emby transcode/library) (Maybe wait for rebuild until 6.9 is out with dual CACHE pools)

Dual 10gbe network so anything to make transfer and read/writes good.

 

So my Plex/Emby library was going to be just 1x unassigned device, but I have 2 identical drives to might as well use them as a pool incase one dies.

I guess this feature is coming in 6.9 so happy to wait for that.

 

I'm not asking about split level or setting up shares. But just general best use unraid.

Like is BTRFS going to become the main format in the future, then why not use it now. OR if XFS is going to be the best supported going forward and what not.

What about CoW or other features? 

 

Thanks all

 

[JonathanM]

50 minutes ago, SavellM said:

20x 8tb Drives (Dual Parity)

 

50 minutes ago, SavellM said:

general best use unraid.

Only add drives to the array as you need the capacity. Don't populate all 18 data drives, only put in what's needed to hold your current data load plus 1. So, if you have 50TB you are going to load, only put in 8 data drives, for a usable total of 64TB leaving 14TB free. When you get down to 8TB free, add another 8TB. Leave the rest on the shelf if you already bought them, or better yet leave them on the store shelf. ALWAYS keep one physical drive slot empty, if that means sizing up replacement drives, then do it. The number of times I've seen on this forum where it's been useful to have an empty slot for troubleshooting or recovery purposes is countless.

 

One of Unraid's great strengths is the ability to add drives as needed instead of trying to plan far into the future. Fewer drive slots in use equals fewer failure points, less power and heat, ability to pivot to newer technologies as they emerge, both hardware and software. When you land on a format and encryption decision, you can change your mind as you add new drives, if the tech or your needs shift. Each new drive can use a different format and still participate in the array as a whole, either in the parity array(s)*(7.X?) or cache pool(s)*(6.9.X).

 

You can use new drives as you add them to move data from older obsolete formats and strategy, keeping the ability to refresh your array as things progress.

 

 

You asked about what formats and such, but I'm giving you the answer to solve the long question, because information that is current will be old news soon enough. Good news is that Unraid has the long term solution, whatever that happens to be.

 

That's how I personally would set up a new build.

[SavellM]

Mate that is an awesome reply and made me rethink some things.

Unfortunately I have all the drives already as I was using ZFS so yeah, needed them all to save having to mess around later with ZFS.

I still have 2 slots free in my case/rack so can add another 2 drives in the future. I may disconnect a few and keep them as hot spares.

I only have around 40tb worth of stuff.

 

So @jonathanm as that's done, right now and for the current state of unraid and 6.9 looming, would you use XFS or BTRFS and to encrypt or not to?

 

If I encrypt but my shares are public and a computer gets ransomware then it will encrypt the files on the drives even tho they are already encrypted right? 

The encryption is just if a drive dies or I sell one, no one else can read the info on that drive as it's encrypted, am I right in thinking that?

 

Is there any benefit or drawback to using XFS or BTRFS in the CACHE pool or my main array?

[JonathanM]

22 minutes ago, SavellM said:

Unfortunately I have all the drives already as I was using ZFS so yeah, needed them all to save having to mess around later with ZFS.

I don't understand. I thought we were discussing the hardware you were planning on building an entirely new array from the ground up.

 

If all the 8TB are purchased and in use, then definitely DON'T buy more 8TB drives for the new build.

 

24 minutes ago, SavellM said:

I only have around 40tb worth of stuff.

 

So for the initial loadout of 40TB I personally would get either 6 10TB or 5 12TB drives, depending on the deals, leaning heavily towards the 12's, for all the reasons I outlined in my first post in the thread.

 

Encryption is what you make of it. You can set it up super secure, which can be a little bit of a pain to deal with on a daily basis, or you can set it up so the only protection it gives you is the individual drive is no longer readable out of context.

 

In ANY case, encryption DEMANDS full backup. Many of the standard easy recovery procedures are either much harder or impossible to do with encryption in place. You are adding much more complication, so the payoff better be worth the effort.

 

I personally use XFS, as the benefits of BTRFS came at too high a risk for me. Your risk profile is different than mine, so you do you.

[SavellM]

Sorry I meant I am moving and setting up a new unraid box, but coming from a ZFS setup so already own the drives.

I have the drives that will be repurposed for unraid.

 

I plan to make an offsite backup for my pics and important docs... 

How is the general consensus for XFS vs BTRFS? Will BTRFS become better for long term? 

Will XFS be better developed? Does it do CoW? 

[BRiT]

If I was rebuilding I would skip having as many data drives locally and simply use the RCLONE Plugin setup with Google TeamDrives to stream all my data from the cloud.

 

Regardless of that, I'd still avoid BTRFS like the plague.

[SavellM]

HAHA another interesting take. My upload is pretty pants tho.

 

Ok so 2 for XFS, think that decides it!

Is that for CACHE drives too? Aren't they normally BTRFS by default? 

[BRiT]

I have 1 drive large enough for my CACHE needs, so I don't ever have to bother with BTRFS directly.

[SavellM]

Ok but as i’ll be doing 2x 2 drive cache pools?

Guess i’ll need to use BTRFS right?

Dockers and all that stuff would need it right?

[BRiT]

Dockers do not need BTRFS. In the next beta you have options as to how to setup Docker, either with loopback mounted image or raw folder path. If you select loopback mounted image (docker.img style) you can select what format to use on that image BTRFS or XFS.

 

If you want to pool multiple drives together for cache, you will be forced down the path of BTRFS for the drives to be combined.

Edited July 25, 2020 by BRiT

[SavellM]

Cheers that makes sense. Appreciate all the help. You guys really are the best community

[ChatNoir]

9 hours ago, SavellM said:

Will XFS be better developed? Does it do CoW? 

It seems it might be possible on demand for the file system : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems

But from some articles it seems more of a "in developement" thing:

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=XFS-Linux-4.9-Shared-Extents

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=XFS-2019-Copy-On-Write-Better

 

Don't know if it is available in general and on unRAID in particular.

[binar]

SaveIIM,

Can you share details for the Dual 10gbe network card you purchased?  I'm thinking of getting one to install onto my SuperMicro Motherboard .  Would you say it is a lot faster compared to the Ethernet network connections that are built into a motherboard?