New to RaidZ and ZFS. Need Advice

Ultim8 · 26 Mar 2011 at 14:49

OK so im new to linux based raid.
Im building a custom freenas box and also have a hp microserver which i would also like as a NAS.

I want speed and redundancy so i know the custom box will easily be capable of running ZFS and raidz as its spec is as follows:

Zotac H55ITX-C-E
I3 530
2 x 2GB 7-7-7-20 1333Mhz OCZ
4 x 2TB 7200RPM Hitachi Deskstars
1 x 2.5" 7200RPM drive for Freenas
Chenbro ES34169

The HP Microserver is:

AMD Athlon II Model NEO N36L (2 core, 1.30 GHz, 1MB L2, 15W)
2 x 2GB
4 x 1TB Seagate 7200.12
1 x 2.5" 7200RPM Drive for Freenas

Now will the HP be able to run raidz and ZFS?

Also i want to lose as little as possible space (1 disk) but what raidz do i need to use to accomplish that?

Ultim8 · 27 Mar 2011 at 19:46

nobody know this?

Ultim8 · 28 Mar 2011 at 08:16

Thanks guys, Al Vallario whats your transfer rates like?

Ultim8 · 28 Mar 2011 at 12:42

also i hear that its better to run raidz on an odd number of drives, is this correct?

Ultim8 · 28 Mar 2011 at 16:49

thanks for that mate, so with 4gb of ram and 7200rpm drives i may be able to saturate my gigabit network as long as the raidz isnt too much for the CPU.

I want to turn the zotac box into a multitude of boxes using VM if possible you see. So if the HP can handle raids and ZFS and get me to saturate my network then i can do that.

Ultim8 · 1 Apr 2011 at 21:59

right guys i have got the HP microserver up and running tonight and upgraded it to 4GB.
Installed Freenas 8 RC4 onto a usb drive and have created a volume using 3 x 2tb drives as ZFS and raidz.....now what?

in volumes i see /mnt/HP NAS now but it seems i need to do something else to enable it.
I configured CIFS to my network but from my windows pc's i cant see the nas.

Please post responses in my new dedicated thread for this.