cant get raid1 or raid5 to work

[GarytheGeek]

IDK if this should be on this form or the hard drives forms, let me know if i should move this there.

i am building a server running debian that will have multiple functions. one of them will be to hold my entire household's files as a NAS. this way my entire family can access their files from any computer. because multiple people will be accessing the hard drives at once, i decided to use multiple SSDs in RAID and a single big external HDD where it will backup to at night. i started of wanting to use 2 1TB SSD in RAID1. i thought my Motherboard (Asus TUF Gaming x570-PLUS running BIOS version 2607) was able to do RAID1 just fine, but when i tried i ran into multiple problems. it wanted to put all SADA hard drives in RAID, (including the 8TB HDD that is there for my steam cash). there is also no option for what kind of raid i want, (video) infact there are no options at all. so i decided to do software raid, and i added an extra hard drive so i can do RAID5. i used mdadm and tried to use this guide (except i used exFAT instead of ex4 so that my windows computers could still access the files on the hard drives). it again did not work. mdadm claimed that there was a raid, and it was working, but i saw 3 separate hard drives in my file explorer and i could not open any of the 3. i then looked into raid cards, but the cheap once seem to break fast (missing the point of doing raid in the first place) and the good once are way to expensive. what am i doing wrong? what other options are there? im fine with using either raid1 or raid5, i just want this to work.

[Eigenvektor]

If you're accessing the NAS drives over Samba or NFS, Windows shouldn't need to care which file system you use on the server. I'd try again with a file system that is native to Linux, e.g. ext4.

 

The guide you used is for Ubuntu 18.04, which is a bit old. Maybe try a more up-to-date one for e.g. Ubuntu 20.04:

https://kifarunix.com/setup-software-raid-on-ubuntu-20-04/

https://www.computernetworkingnotes.com/linux-tutorials/how-to-configure-raid-in-linux-step-by-step-guide.html

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, GarytheGeek said:

IDK if this should be on this form or the hard drives forms, let me know if i should move this there.

i am building a server running debian that will have multiple functions. one of them will be to hold my entire household's files as a NAS. this way my entire family can access their files from any computer. because multiple people will be accessing the hard drives at once, i decided to use multiple SSDs in RAID and a single big external HDD where it will backup to at night. i started of wanting to use 2 1TB SSD in RAID1. i thought my Motherboard (Asus TUF Gaming x570-PLUS running BIOS version 2607) was able to do RAID1 just fine, but when i tried i ran into multiple problems. it wanted to put all SADA hard drives in RAID, (including the 8TB HDD that is there for my steam cash). there is also no option for what kind of raid i want, (video) infact there are no options at all. so i decided to do software raid, and i added an extra hard drive so i can do RAID5. i used mdadm and tried to use this guide (except i used exFAT instead of ex4 so that my windows computers could still access the files on the hard drives). it again did not work. mdadm claimed that there was a raid, and it was working, but i saw 3 separate hard drives in my file explorer and i could not open any of the 3. i then looked into raid cards, but the cheap once seem to break fast (missing the point of doing raid in the first place) and the good once are way to expensive. what am i doing wrong? what other options are there? im fine with using either raid1 or raid5, i just want this to work.

What is the hardware your using? Are you comfortable using Debian? If so, I would possibly look into truenas or unraid to do this (if your comfortable using Debian, these will not be difficult to pick up and are more geared towards being a file server). Don’t use hardware RAID, specifically don’t use motherboard road. Use software RAID, which is what truenas (ZFS) and unraid provide.
 

Also are you trying to RAID SSD’s and HDD’s? I hood not, but I am a bit confused by your explanation. SSD’s in a file server are relatively pointless since harddrives can easily saturate gigabit ethernet anyways. Going forward I would recommend you get more storage for your money and get normal harddrives.

 

Again, what is your use case, what is the hardware you already have, and are you familiar with running headless systems already? 

[GarytheGeek]

4 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

What is the hardware your using? Are you comfortable using Debian? If so, I would possibly look into truenas or unraid to do this (if your comfortable using Debian, these will not be difficult to pick up and are more geared towards being a file server). Don’t use hardware RAID, specifically don’t use motherboard road. Use software RAID, which is what truenas (ZFS) and unraid provide.
 

Also are you trying to RAID SSD’s and HDD’s? I hood not, but I am a bit confused by your explanation. SSD’s in a file server are relatively pointless since harddrives can easily saturate gigabit ethernet anyways. Going forward I would recommend you get more storage for your money and get normal harddrives.

 

Again, what is your use case, what is the hardware you already have, and are you familiar with running headless systems already? 

i guess i need to go into more detail.

 

my dad is a linux fanboy so i grew up using linux. i have uses, slackware, Ubuntu, linuxmint, and Arch. but never debian. also though i have not used the terminal enough to be comfortable with it, i am able to follow instructions for terminal commands just fine. i have never used Debian untill now. i picked debian for the server because i wanted something rock solid stable. but truth to be told, i am actually using LMDE, not vanilla debian.

 

i am building a jack-of-all-trades server. when it is done it will have multiple tasks. (NAS, steam cash, backups, local minecraft server, video security system, PLEX, and more planed in the future) the task i am trying to get it to do is its NAS function: i want hold all my files and my wifes files (and my son, once he gets his own computer). the idea is that documents, pictures, music.. of any given computer will be stored on this server instead of the individual computers hard drive. that way we have access to all our files from any computer. as an example. lets say i was working on my resume on my desktop, running windows 10, but then want to continue outside. so i grab my laptop, running LinuxMint, go outside, and the file will be right away available on the server without me having to move it or use a USB. and because all files will be on the server, it will be super easy to back up all the files to one external hard drive every night. it will function like a NAS

 

the server specs.

cpu- Ryzen 5 3600x

GPU- AMD Radeon RX 560

motherboard - Asus TUF Gaming x570-PLUS running BIOS version 2607

16 GB ddr4 ram

hard drives (plural)

   500GB Nvme SSD - this is my boot drive. it will also host all programs this computer is running.

   3 1TB SSD from samsung- i want them in RAID5, and these hard drives will perform the computers NAS function. i am only trying to raid these 3 SSD, nothing else.

   1 8TB HDD (Toshiba), this will hold my Steam games i am not currently playing

   1 8TB HDD, (WD) this will hold my Plex videos

   1 4TB external HDD - this is where the 3 raid SSD will be backed-up to every night

more hard drives will be added in the future for future functions

 

let me know if this clears it up

[GarytheGeek]

36 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Are you comfortable using Debian? If so, I would possibly look into truenas or unraid to do this (if your comfortable using Debian, these will not be difficult to pick up and are more geared towards being a file server).

will i be able to run truenas or unraid on the computer along side other tasks? i always thought that they were their own OS, and thus all it can do is run a NAS.

[LIGISTX]

16 minutes ago, GarytheGeek said:

will i be able to run truenas or unraid on the computer along side other tasks? i always thought that they were their own OS, and thus all it can do is run a NAS.

Depending on how you want to do this, unraid would possibly be the best bet. Unraid is a file system but also a hypervisor, so you can virtualize other guest operating systems under it. So you could spin up a linux VM to handle Plex, could spin up another to do steam cache etc etc.

 

Depending on how want to do this… there is no need to have multiple different sets of drives to do different tasks. The homelab in my signature is an i3, some ECC RAM, 250 GB SSD for ESXi boot + the VM’s it hosts - Truenas for stowage server. Ubuntu for Plex, another Ubuntu for docker containers, vm for homeassistant, one for windows LTSC, and one for my UPS battery backup; all of these live under ESXi.

 

So with a hypervisor (you may also want to look into proxmox), you can do whatever you want, basically however you want to do it. If you need linux, spin up a linux VM. If you have used linux and can follow instructions for command line, you can set up a hypervisor and get this going. And once you have a proper file system (truenas or unraid) you just create your main storage array and you can have everything access that. ALL of my data (Plex content, windows backups, photography, documents, backups of my VM’s themselves) all live on the same 10x4TB array, then from there you assign permissions and create SMB shares as required.

 

I would suggest looking into some of these things, watch a bunch of videos on YouTube, and try and see what would be best for you   

[GarytheGeek]

 

5 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Depending on how you want to do this, unraid would possibly be the best bet. Unraid is a file system but also a hypervisor, so you can virtualize other guest operating systems under it. So you could spin up a linux VM to handle Plex, could spin up another to do steam cache etc etc.

 

Depending on how want to do this… there is no need to have multiple different sets of drives to do different tasks. The homelab in my signature is an i3, some ECC RAM, 250 GB SSD for ESXi boot + the VM’s it hosts - Truenas for stowage server. Ubuntu for Plex, another Ubuntu for docker containers, vm for homeassistant, one for windows LTSC, and one for my UPS battery backup; all of these live under ESXi.

 

So with a hypervisor (you may also want to look into proxmox), you can do whatever you want, basically however you want to do it. If you need linux, spin up a linux VM. If you have used linux and can follow instructions for command line, you can set up a hypervisor and get this going. And once you have a proper file system (truenas or unraid) you just create your main storage array and you can have everything access that. ALL of my data (Plex content, windows backups, photography, documents, backups of my VM’s themselves) all live on the same 10x4TB array, then from there you assign permissions and create SMB shares as required.

 

I would suggest looking into some of these things, watch a bunch of videos on YouTube, and try and see what would be best for you   

you are not the first person that heard what i was going to do and told me that i should use VNs. but to be honest, i have only once ever used a VN, and never really got the hang of it. also, i prefer to have everything on one system (both physically and virtually) just for convenience. that way if i need to do something to the system, i just have to remote into 1 system, instead of multiple. but then again, for all i know VNs will be more convenient to operate. i know very little about VNs.

 

as for multiple hard drives, thats just because i am lazy and cheap. i only bought the MOBO and CPU, the nvme SSD, and one of the Samsung SSD. all the other parts i used to build this server come from other computers/servers whose tasks i am combining. there are currently 3 old computers in the closet all doing server tasks. 1 running the minecraft server. one doing my video Surveillance (whos tasks i will merge with the new server in the future) and 1 computer with an 8TB HDD running plex. + the 8TB hard drive with the steam files came from my Gaming PC.

[LIGISTX]

6 hours ago, GarytheGeek said:

 

you are not the first person that heard what i was going to do and told me that i should use VNs. but to be honest, i have only once ever used a VN, and never really got the hang of it. also, i prefer to have everything on one system (both physically and virtually) just for convenience. that way if i need to do something to the system, i just have to remote into 1 system, instead of multiple. but then again, for all i know VNs will be more convenient to operate. i know very little about VNs.

 

as for multiple hard drives, thats just because i am lazy and cheap. i only bought the MOBO and CPU, the nvme SSD, and one of the Samsung SSD. all the other parts i used to build this server come from other computers/servers whose tasks i am combining. there are currently 3 old computers in the closet all doing server tasks. 1 running the minecraft server. one doing my video Surveillance (whos tasks i will merge with the new server in the future) and 1 computer with an 8TB HDD running plex. + the 8TB hard drive with the steam files came from my Gaming PC.

VM’s are “easier” the manage because each one has less going on. It’s almost like having many programs on one PC, but instead it’s many operating systems. If one thing stops working right and you have to start messing with things, only that 1 thing is interrupted, all the other VM’s can stay operational and doing their job. 
 

There is a little more work as far as set up goes goes you need to get many operating systems set up, but managing them is not hard. Plus, if you enjoy this type of things, it’s really fun to start diving into it and making it work how you want. 
 

I would say watch some videos on proxmox, ESXi, unraid and truenas (also search Freenas, they just changed their name so many old videos will still say Freenas, but it’s the same thing) and start to see what makes sense to you. If ultimately you decide to go single OS that’s totally fine as well, just don’t want you to make that choice without fully understanding what options are available. 
 

If you do go single OS, Ubuntu is not a bad option as there is A LOT of information and support for it. As far as setting up RAID, Ubuntu does have ZFS baked into it now (truenas uses ZFS, it’s a fantastic file system) but I think it would all have to be done via command line, at least with truenas you do it all via webUI.