Advice needed - zfs based media server

[dev_null]

Goal: to take advantage of the benefits of zfs for media storage while still being able to use tools from other OSs. For instance, running Osol or some zfs based OS for storage while still being able to use handbrake and others for ripping/encoding and the like.

Hardware: core i7 940 + 6gb ram (upgradable to 12) + 3 1tb hard drives and a multitude of various sized SATA drives from 640gb to 160gb. + 1 dvd-rw.

My initial thoughts were to run opensolaris as the host OS in a 3 1tb raidz array for data storage and then ubuntu in virtualbox as the guest, possibly on its own hdd. Then I could use handbrake and other various utilities not available in osol for ripping/encoding and other tasks while still taking advantage of the benefits of zfs for data storage.

questions:
-Is this a good way to accomplish my goals? is there a better way?
-What are my options for setting up the transfer of the data from the guest OS to the host OS?
-Which is most efficient?
-Is it possible to rip/encode data directly to the zfs host?
-If not is there a solution that would allow me to take advantage of IO bandwidth (I have read up on shared folders, but it seems it uses samba, which seems like it would not be very efficient for transferring large volumes of data from guest to host for storage - is this the case?).
-what is raw disk access and can it be used as a solution for my goals including zfs data storage.

thanks!!

 

[dev_null]

sry for the delayed reply.
I think I see how barebone virtualization would make the process less resource intensive..but:

If I go with option 2 and virtualize the whole thing, how does this solve my issue of being able to rip directly to the zfs filesystem seeing as utilities such as handbrake dont exist for solaris based unix? If a zfs based vm has physical access to a disk, how does that help me when another ubuntu vm cant (i assume) access that disk as well.

That is the issue I have atm, I would like to be able to rip using specifically that utility (there are others I use as well) directly to zfs where it can be stored and accessed by units in the house.

Is ripping into one vm and xferring to another in a separate step my only option? If a separate step IS required, is there a way to set this xfer up to use at or near full IO bandwidth?

thanks!

 

[wkearney99]

Unless you're ripping media on a constant basis, just rip on a client machine and copy the files across the network. A network using gigabit ethernet would be ideal for this. It's very likely to be just as fast as would the IO from a hypervisor client running inside the same machine.

 

[wingfat]

I have found that all the zfs related os's are primarily suited for file servers. My suggestion is to run a ZFS "appliance" (napp-it with nexenta or Openindiana ; Mesa (under development) ; or even Nexentastor if your needs are below 12TB. Set up any of these with COMSTAR / iscsi and use the os of your choice to run handbrake or anything else. File transfers are almost twice a fast as using samba (in my experience) . For a new thread on the napp-it solution goto http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1551104

 

[novadude]

With Nexentastor and Nexenta I can max out gigabit ethernet with samba transfers to Windows 7. I was seeing sustained 110+MB/s (measured from connection percentage) in a chain that looks like this: Marvell Yukon 88E8053 onboard lan -> HP gigabit switch -> 100ft cat6 run to a DIR655 in the basment -> onboard intel lan on my supermicro board. Now that I pulled the 5805 from my workstation I'm source limited to ~105MB/s sustained from my WD green drive.

Until the fan board comes out for the 4224 the server is off unless I'm transferring more blurays to it, at which point I'll look into getting a schedule setup for it to turn on/off and power the drives down when not in use.

 

[dev_null]

thanks for the replies everyone