Storage Configurations For Diff. Usages

ToddW2

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
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I thought it would be interesting to see what storage people have and their usage.

IE:

/cloud/users/_family_member (Cloud/Sync for each family member)
4x 180gb Intel S3500 RAID10 (Or whatever raid you have)
Used: 200gb

/storage/ (General file storage)
8x 4TB RaidZ2 (Or whatever raid/etc you have)
Used: 200gb

/vms (ESXI VM Guest OS DataStore)
4x 120gb Intel S3700 RAID10

I'm always curious the different file system configuration options people use for storing various data.


Sure there are 'best practices' but what is everyone doing real world :D
 
Synology DS1815+ full of Kingston E100 drives for VMs.

Synology 3611xs with 10x3TB and 2x100GB SSD (caching) for media storage.

Synology DS1813+ full of 3TBs for general storage.
 
So you're saying like synology :)

Curious -- Why SSD Cache media storage? If it's just media, and just stored -- what does the cache do?
 
QNAP TS659 Pro II
6x1TB Seagate ST31000340NS drives
< 1TB used for VM lab (NFS only)
< 1TB used for ISOs

The above is backed up to an eSATA dock
for easy grab/go access.

Repurposing the following storage (FreeNAS 7x-8.x) box:
Dell PowerEdge T110
PERC H700 w/BBU + 8 x 2.5" 500GB drives in RAID10 + 4 x 3.5" 1TB drives
^^ was my lab storage until I got the QNAP ...never really looked back.

At some point I will make use of all the features the QNAP has to offer.
 
So you're saying like synology :)

Curious -- Why SSD Cache media storage? If it's just media, and just stored -- what does the cache do?

I had two spare SSDs and two open bays. :) That's seriously the reason. I suspect they provide zero help at all. I need to get a couple more 3TBs and put them in as hot spares in case something dies while I'm out of town.
 
-- Netwerkz101 --
I seriously have been looking at a QNAP.
Are you really happy? They seem to do EVERYTHING. (like a synology with MORE POWER!!)
It just upsets me they want $1k for a 4 Bay i3 version :( (new PRO version 10g ready)

If I'm spending $1k I can DIY a XeonD + much much more...features w/out the OS of the QNAP. But I could go FreeNAS, OMV Napp-It, XPEN, ETC.


So, I'm curious -- at what level do you get a "better" QNAP OS w/more features ? Is it PRO vs NO pro and all models of both have same OS or is it all the same OS with different features in the PRO version?

I'm looking for a "Backup" AIO NAS that can pull random duty, but isn't my primary storage by any stretch.
 
I'm in the midst of migrating my older:

NetGear ReadyNas DUO (2x1TB GREEN)
Synology DS1513+ (5x2TB RE)

To a new ESXI for VMs & OmniOS+Napp-IT Fileserver / NAS.
ESXI only host local GuestOS datastores the rest is on the fielserver/nas + mysql

Will retain old synology and netgear for other duties (iscsi, archive, etc).

I plan to have organization along these lines, much more refining to do as far as which disks for which, which for themselves, which to cache, etc.. Debating of putting "BIZ" entirely on a BIZ FileServer, more cold storage, so just drives spinning/ssd heating not needed most times. I have 99% parts already.

/GuestOS (VM Guest OS Data Store RAID10 or NVME Intel 750)
/GeneralStorage (General File Storage, Software, Games, ETC)
/isos (self explanatory)
/FamilyMedia (family pictures, videos, etc)
/TVMedia (TV Shows, TV Movies, Documentaries, ETC)
/SecurityMEDIA (Security Camera Videos/Pictures/Sound)
/users/userName (User Specific "Cloud" storage like DropBox)
/biz/Customers/CustomerName (Customer Files & Backuops)
/biz/Customers/CustomerName/Backups/ (Customer Files & Backuops)
/biz/General/
/biz/Archive/
/mysqlNVMERead (MySQL NVME Array Read Array) ~3TB P3600
/mysqlNVMEWrite (MySQL NVME Write Endurance Array) ~ 1.6TB P3700
/mysqlSSDLogs (MySQL RAID? for Log Files) Intel 200gb S3700 or 320gb Fusion-IO


The NVME driver support is poor, so I still have to test OmniOS or I may run the mysql server + mysql drives in another server entirely running Ubuntu 15. This would free up PCIE slots in the 'normal' file server but require extra power 24/7 for the mysql server which ESXI GuestOS would rely on.

File Server 1st Round Build Parts
-Intel Spicy 10 Core @ 3.1ghz (No HT, Turbos basically not there 2.99 to 3.11)
-SuperMicro Motherboard (w/IPMI of course)
- M1015 HBA / Onboard Raid / Ext. Raid for JBOD . ETC
-128gb DDR4-2133 (Runs slower) Looking at adding more or swapping motherboards for 2P (more 16gb I have already)
-Intel X540-T2 (2port 10Gig)
-Mellanox ConnectX-3 (2port 10gig)
-Intel 200gb S3700 (RAID10) OS/Main Disk or FusionIO or 4xHGST SAS SSD (likely as they're not in use elsewhere)
-ZeusRAM 8gb SLOG
-ZeusRam #2 8gb SLOG
- Intel P3700 NVME SSD
- Intel P3600 NVME SSD
-WD RE 4TB (a lot)
-WD RE 2TB (a lot)
-WD RED 5TB (8 or so)
-Intel S3700
-FusionIO 320gb MLC
-Running in a SC846 w/Platinum SQ Power Supplies.

I have a couple JBODs I'll attach to the file server too or ESXI box depending on room, and what I'm playing around with :)

Probably all go in file server, and s3700 or fusionIO for ESXI GuestOS data store.(RAID10 or RAID1)

It will be a rather massive beast :)
 
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-Intel 200gb S3700 OS/Main Disk or FusionIO
-Intel S3700
-FusionIO 320gb MLC

I know that this is [H] but I cringe every time when people put enterprise SSDs into their home labs / home setups (I know you wrote it's for business use, still, you aren't running Amazon on it). A cheap as dirt consumer grade Samsung 840 Pro will do just fine for years to come and you will literally not know the difference.
 
-- Netwerkz101 --
I seriously have been looking at a QNAP.
Are you really happy? They seem to do EVERYTHING. (like a synology with MORE POWER!!)
It just upsets me they want $1k for a 4 Bay i3 version :( (new PRO version 10g ready)

If I'm spending $1k I can DIY a XeonD + much much more...features w/out the OS of the QNAP. But I could go FreeNAS, OMV Napp-It, XPEN, ETC.


So, I'm curious -- at what level do you get a "better" QNAP OS w/more features ? Is it PRO vs NO pro and all models of both have same OS or is it all the same OS with different features in the PRO version?

I'm looking for a "Backup" AIO NAS that can pull random duty, but isn't my primary storage by any stretch.

I am very happy with my QNAP box, but I would not buy another (of any brand) - for
the very reason you mention. Price/Performance ratio = go DIY.
It has been "set it and forget it" which is why I got it.

As far as getting a "better" QNAP ..they all run the same GUI (QTS like Synology DSM), but each QNAP model has features that take advantage of it ..
like some of the newer models have HDMI ports and can do on the fly transcoding ...mine doesn't and can't but I run the same software.

Pro vs. Non-pro is just minor features/capabilities .. Pros will have better CPU, can add more RAM, more/faster ports (USB3/10Gb ready)...etc.

I am in the process of collapsing/rebuilding my home lab and will be using DIY NAS
with "Faster" not "Bigger" in mind..
The QNAP will be used for the "Big" slow stuff as it was intended - media storage and backup.

I think we are headed in a similar direction only my QNAP will be my "Big" while you are building out a data center storage solution :)
 
I know that this is [H] but I cringe every time when people put enterprise SSDs into their home labs / home setups (I know you wrote it's for business use, still, you aren't running Amazon on it). A cheap as dirt consumer grade Samsung 840 Pro will do just fine for years to come and you will literally not know the difference.

I cringe when people with 0 experience in MY BUSINESS give their opinion on matters they know not about. You have 0 clue what my business is or what we do.


This is not a "Home Lab" so I can go get a job doing administration or help-desk, it's so I'm on cutting edge technology for MY business, and can test some things we've only wished we had the budget for in the past years software-wisea with new faster, cheaper, better hardware.

Next time, please... just ask what my business does or what I use those drives for instead of ASSuming you know what you're talking about.


Just how will I plan to put this to the limits?

- Machine Learning Development & BETA Testing
- Marketing analysis (biggest/heaviest usage)
- Multiple MySQL hosts writing to DB server at once.
- MySQL env testing/tweaking

And the fact that I paid less comparably to that 840 ;) I'm in a much much better, and happier position.
I'd never pay $3k for a ZuesRam or $1+ gb... LOL!!!!
 
I am very happy with my QNAP box, but I would not buy another (of any brand) - for
the very reason you mention. Price/Performance ratio = go DIY.
It has been "set it and forget it" which is why I got it.

As far as getting a "better" QNAP ..they all run the same GUI (QTS like Synology DSM), but each QNAP model has features that take advantage of it ..
like some of the newer models have HDMI ports and can do on the fly transcoding ...mine doesn't and can't but I run the same software.

Pro vs. Non-pro is just minor features/capabilities .. Pros will have better CPU, can add more RAM, more/faster ports (USB3/10Gb ready)...etc.

I am in the process of collapsing/rebuilding my home lab and will be using DIY NAS
with "Faster" not "Bigger" in mind..
The QNAP will be used for the "Big" slow stuff as it was intended - media storage and backup.

I think we are headed in a similar direction only my QNAP will be my "Big" while you are building out a data center storage solution :)

Yep - pretty much same thought process. Even for 50% the money you get SO MUCH MORE power, and more options!! I hope the XeonD comes down/replacement/next-Gen is more friendly, but I don't know how afraidt hey're rape their E5 market on the low end :D
Actually building out the mini-10x14' data center today ;) Cleared the dirt...

New build pics coming soon!
 
I know that this is [H] but I cringe every time when people put enterprise SSDs into their home labs / home setups (I know you wrote it's for business use, still, you aren't running Amazon on it). A cheap as dirt consumer grade Samsung 840 Pro will do just fine for years to come and you will literally not know the difference.

My enterprise SSDs were free. My two 785GB FusionIO cards were $500 total. It pays to know people. ;)

I need to sell those FusionIOs. Never use them. Just took them out of my lab boxes. No need for PernixData when my 1815+ is full of enterprise SSDs.
 
My enterprise SSDs were free. My two 785GB FusionIO cards were $500 total. It pays to know people. ;)

I need to sell those FusionIOs. Never use them. Just took them out of my lab boxes. No need for PernixData when my 1815+ is full of enterprise SSDs.

Exactly :)

And.

After All.


This thread is about how people organize their file systems :)
 
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I cringe when people with 0 experience in MY BUSINESS give their opinion on matters they know not about. You have 0 clue what my business is or what we do.

Before you get all wrapped around the axle consider that you wrote that your business is running on a box that your personal stuff is running on as well. You told the Internet that you co-mingle personal and business. To me, as IT professional, that indicates that the business isn't serious, because I personally wouldn't mix my livelihood (prod) with my personal media library.

You are absolutely right that it's up to you how you run things in your own home, just as it's up to the reader to form an opinion based on the information you provided.
 
Before you get all wrapped around the axle consider that you wrote that your business is running on a box that your personal stuff is running on as well. You told the Internet that you co-mingle personal and business. To me, as IT professional, that indicates that the business isn't serious, because I personally wouldn't mix my livelihood (prod) with my personal media library.

You are absolutely right that it's up to you how you run things in your own home, just as it's up to the reader to form an opinion based on the information you provided.

LOL, :rolleyes: wow, give up.

Just to wrap this up...

- First my hardware wasn't to your liking and you thought it appropriate to ignorantly comment on that.

- I replied, and explained it... you didn't like that, so you had to find something else that you didn't like or could be twisted.

- Now you're not liking how I manage my files, and which servers manage them. (Once again you don't know me and are making ignorant assumptions.)

Does it also upset you dropbox stores personal and business files ? Or any other service "Mingle" their files on a file/storage server, oh man, they even mingle MULTIPLE CLIENTS!! You must warn them ;)


I see 0 problem keeping backup archives that are 4th or 5th copies on a separate backup array for business as I do my "media". NOT ONCE did I say they were on shared hard drives, or shared access. And any of the dev/testing stuff is on unique hardware for business anyway, the only thing that could possibly be considered mixed are testing guest OS for ESXI, which are backed up for business in their business location if used.
 
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This may seem like a foolish question but why do most seem to have such high storage capacities? I have about 2TB if I try hard. Then again I haven't ripped any of our discs to HDD yet.
 
In my home lab/media storage, I have an old Dell cloud storage server with a Arcea raid controller and 12x750GB Seagete ES's (got them cheap as in free) running Server 2012R2. 6.5TB usable in RAID50. Starwind iSCSI given 32GB RAM and NFS over 10GbE to ESXi host. I've pared my home lab down significantly for power savings.

Just shy of 3TB for media, and .75TB in VMs.

I'll also agree with peanuthead, If I drop the media (which REALLY doesn't matter. The world will still move on if I lose it), I've got MAYBE 1TB total in irreplaceable data in pix, docs, scans, etc)


I'll weigh in the QNAP vs. Synology debate as well. Until the last two rounds of products, Synology seemed to be edging QNAP out on sheer number of bells and whistles. But, especially the last round, QNAP has come back with a vengence. I've been watching the new pro units with integrated m.2 slots for onboard SSD caching and baked-in virtualiation. I'm not sure that I'd trust one for production-level virtualization, but as a home lab for learning? I'm sure it'd be fine.

That being said, each brand has a line of devices based upon ARM procs, and a higher-end line based on x86 procs. Typically the ARM products are good enough to basic tasks and features, but higher functions like iSCSI and transcoding will be limited by proc. The x86 units are MUCH more robust, and especially for transcoding, work much better.
 
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This may seem like a foolish question but why do most seem to have such high storage capacities? I have about 2TB if I try hard. Then again I haven't ripped any of our discs to HDD yet.

My experience:

Some people take a lot of videos and pictures of their activities, friends, family events, and more.

I know my mother has almost 500gb of pictures alone from the last couple years when she has gotten her better cameras, retired, and done much more activities than when she was working.

I know when I travel I load up on tons of videos and pictures, it starts to really add up.

General files, downloads, etc, are almost pointless to store now with the speed the internet for most users has become, but for myself I do store a lot of things I download in case I need to re-download because my internet isn't as fast as most others. I had around 1TB of "Todd Files" on my Synology which included numerous years of e-mail backups, and small website file/db backups.

For me, for personal use, I personally don't use too much for "My files" but when you add the near 1k DVD & BR physical copies I have we need a bit more space ;) add by keeping a few days of ~dozen security cameras and you need even more space. Add work stuff, and when I start working on some work dev projects at home, bigger data analysis, etc, and now between work and home I need a ton of storage needs.

The problem I've run into is not the actual storage requirement but configuring the file system to run optimally, organizing it all in the filesystem and physically between servers, hba, and chasis things can start to get big fast :) complicated, and eat time to get tih ow you wantit perfect :D
 
FreeNAS:

3x 2T 7200RPM for Plex (audio/video), single iSCSI lun for critical management workloads (vCenter, Backups, management VM)

Nexenta:
3x1T for VMs (NFS), 1x2T for backups.

LeftHand: 3x750G in VSA cluster for enterprise block storage.

Tintri:
... ;) ... For lab work/enterprise.
 
Sadly I just have a cheap D-Link with 2x 3 TB drives. Been considering getting a Synology so I can connect it to my ESXi hosts.
 
Synology 1813 with 5 bay expansion. 6x 600GB 10k raptor drives for VMs, 2 120GB SSD for cache, 5 3TB WD Red for static storage.
 
QNAP TS-431 - 4x3TB HGST NAS Drives - Media and Digital Photo Backup
skynet002\Media - 4x4TB HGST NAS Drives - Primary Media Storage
skynet006\H$\ - 2x3TB HGST NAS Drives - Primary Digital Photo Storage
skynet005\backup - 2x2TB External Drives - Non-Media Backup
 
I've got about 1TB of home videos/pictures/docs from the late 90s. and stacks of photos/videos that need to be scanned and digitized at some point...

Couple years back I consolidated my 5 x (4 x 1TB) drive NAS (Readynas, Promise, QNAP, some other cheap thing) and a Windows Home Server to a 20 drive Rackmounted ZFS solution. I've got another SAS enclosure to add another 16 drives.

Rackserver/videos 20TB - General Media storage
Rackserver/stuff 20TB - audio, music videos, documentaries, games, OS ISOs/files, Very Important Stuff (Original Photos, Videos, Docs)
Rackserver/morestuff 16x? - Backup/expansion
Qian Li Microserver 6x 3TB for Kpop music vids :-p
External 4 drive USB Enclosure backups VIS

The QNAP is now serving up VMs to an ESXi host via NFS and the rest slowly died..
I've been eyeing an 8 bay QNAP Pro for playing/testing with. We need another cheap storage solution for work and I think the QNAP meets the requirements..
 
I cringe when people with 0 experience in MY BUSINESS give their opinion on matters they know not about. You have 0 clue what my business is or what we do.

You did ask for what peoples opinions where.

I'm always curious the different file system configuration options people use for storing various data.


Sure there are 'best practices' but what is everyone doing real world

EMC Vmax or nothing in my world. ;)
 
Yes, but I've also installed vmax into the retail sector as well.
 
I thought it would be interesting to see what storage people have and their usage.

IE:

/cloud/users/_family_member (Cloud/Sync for each family member)
4x 180gb Intel S3500 RAID10 (Or whatever raid you have)
Used: 200gb

/storage/ (General file storage)
8x 4TB RaidZ2 (Or whatever raid/etc you have)
Used: 200gb

/vms (ESXI VM Guest OS DataStore)
4x 120gb Intel S3700 RAID10

I'm always curious the different file system configuration options people use for storing various data.


Sure there are 'best practices' but what is everyone doing real world :D

Funny enough, I have almost the same setup:

/virtenv/ (VM images)
4x 160gb Intel S3500 RAID10 (striped mirrors)
Used: 200GB

/tank/ (Bulk data)
8x 4TB raidz2
Used: 12TB
 
I run a zfs box with approx 60tb of storage. My VM box runs 13 drive raid 10 15k SAS, and one raid 10 sata array, approx 4tb there usable ATM. Waiting for ssd to drop more to retool :)
 
TS-251 2x3tb reds. It is little but pretty slick. Nothing compared to most of you but it works flawlessly. I really dig these little qnap devices. Media + Pix + file sharing + VM's ++++ So easy my wife can do it :)
 
Nutanix Lab and VMware storage in one:
3 x Supermicro SYS-1026T-6RFT+, each node 2 x 480GB Samsung 843T Data Center SSDs/6 x Seagate 1TB 2.5" Hybrid Drives

Supermicro FAT TWIN 6026TT-HDTRF (2 x VMware Nodes) access Storage via Nutanix Whitelist soon to be changing to All Flash Nexenta on Supermicro 24 bay 2.5" setup, just waiting on high cap SSD deal like that Crucial 960GB drive deal that I missed..:(

EMC/Lenovo PX4-300d 4 x 3TB Western Digital Reds for Home File Storage and Time Machine Backups

10Gb coming via new Dell x4012 switch ..working on getting Partner cost..so it's taking longer than expected...
 
Well, after a failed hard drive I'm in the middle of re-evaluating my home setup but currently..

Storage (General file storage + a datastore for large VMDKs like my Windows Essentials client backups)
6x 3TB striped-mirror (9TB)
Used: @7TB

ESXI VM Datastore (performance)
4x 240gb Sandisk Extreme SSDs in RAIDZ
Used: 400gb

ESXI VM Datastore (slower)
4x 320gb WD Black 2.5" drives in a striped-mirror
Used: 400gb

ESXI VM Datastore (local on host, in case I need to take down the storage server)
4x 250gb WD Black 2.5" drives in RAID-10

HP NL54 (backup of Storage)
5x 2TB drives (mixed) in RAID5
Used: @7TB
 
Synology DS1811+ (5x Samsung 500GB SSD's for VM storage)

Synology DS1812+ (Collecting Dust)

HP Microserver with XpEnology (4x Crucial 256GB SSD for VM storage)

OmniOS w/ 20x3TB Reds (Media Storage)

OmniOS w/ 20x2TB Reds (Media Storage)
 
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