Plans for Upgrading FreeNas

[newgeneral10]

So I recently built a FreeNas box for personal and educational use.  I currently have 5 1TB WD Red drives in a RaidZ2 for the main datasets (Media, Backups, Documents) and 1 ssd for the Jails Dataset.  My main Volume (RaidZ2) is now over halfway full so I am planning on upgrading, even though I may not need to implement the upgrade until further down the line.  

 

My goal is to install 6 New 1 or 2 TB hdds in an external enclosure (something like this: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3913UN3425&ignorebbr=1), create a new volume on those drives, copy my datasets over to the new volume, then move the 5 hdds I am currently using plus 1 more (to get a proper RaidZ2 array) into the enclosure add them to the volume.  

 

Basically, I want to get rid of my 1 RaidZ2 array of 5x1TB and get a new volume that is striped across 2 RaidZ2 arrays with 6x1TB, all while keeping my data.  This will leave room for more SSD caching in the main case.

 

Does this sound feasible?  Are there better options?  Also, I am confused if or how iSCSI plays into this whole deal.

 

I am open to any suggestions about any part of this process.

[dalekphalm]

Sounds good.

 

iSCSI is something totally different, and unrelated to what you are doing.

 

ZFS has limitations to expanding or growing a volume/pool, so what you've proposed is honestly the easiest way to deal with it. Get the new drives, create a new pool, migrate data, then retire the old pool.

 

Depending on what you can afford and what your data needs are, I would look at getting larger drives (2TB or bigger) and consider whether you actually need RAIDZ2 vs RAIDZ1. RAIDZ2 allows for 2 drive failures, but it does not take the place of a proper backup (Doesn't protect against viruses or accidental deletions, etc).

[newgeneral10]

4 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

iSCSI is something totally different, and unrelated to what you are doing.

Thank Goodness.  For whatever reason I cannot wrap my head around iSCSI...

 

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Depending on what you can afford and what your data needs are, I would look at getting larger drives (2TB or bigger) and consider whether you actually need RAIDZ2 vs RAIDZ1. RAIDZ2 allows for 2 drive failures, but it does not take the place of a proper backup (Doesn't protect against viruses or accidental deletions, etc).

You're right.  I will figure the drive sizes and stuff out later.  I was mainly worried about the process.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, newgeneral10 said:

Thank Goodness.  For whatever reason I cannot wrap my head around iSCSI...

 

You're right.  I will figure the drive sizes and stuff out later.  I was mainly worried about the process.

iSCSI is basically a remote drive that is treated like a local drive. FreeNAS can create iSCSI drives, but it's not really necessary unless you want another server to "think" that the ZFS pool is local storage (Useful for ESXi Datastores or hosting Databases, etc).

 

In 99% of cases though, creating normal Windows Shares (SMB) is way better and less complicated.

[newgeneral10]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

iSCSI is basically a remote drive that is treated like a local drive. FreeNAS can create iSCSI drives, but it's not really necessary unless you want another server to "think" that the ZFS pool is local storage (Useful for ESXi Datastores or hosting Databases, etc).

 

In 99% of cases though, creating normal Windows Shares (SMB) is way better and less complicated.

So basically, I won't need iSCSI because this is using the mini-SAS cables?  So the new enclosure will just look like local drives to the FreeNas?

[dalekphalm]

16 minutes ago, newgeneral10 said:

So basically, I won't need iSCSI because this is using the mini-SAS cables?  So the new enclosure will just look like local drives to the FreeNas?

Yes - the case you linked is a "SAS Expansion" case. Those connectors on the back of it are 3x regular 4-channel SAS connectors. You'll need the correct cable type, of course (There are 3 or 4 different SAS connector types) - those look like standard external SAS connectors (SFF-8088).

 

Ideally, you should use this with an external SAS HBA Card as well (You can tell the external versions because the number will end in an 'e' - eg: I have an LSI 9207-8e), and you'll just use a straight SFF-8088 to SFF-8088 cable.

[newgeneral10]

7 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Yes - the case you linked is a "SAS Expansion" case. Those connectors on the back of it are 3x regular 4-channel SAS connectors. You'll need the correct cable type, of course (There are 3 or 4 different SAS connector types) - those look like standard external SAS connectors (SFF-8088).

 

Ideally, you should use this with an external SAS HBA Card as well (You can tell the external versions because the number will end in an 'e' - eg: I have an LSI 9207-8e), and you'll just use a straight SFF-8088 to SFF-8088 cable.

Sweet! Thank you so much for all you help!