My new build with some old hardware, need some advice

  • So building a new NAS and would like some advice!
    Reason: Like a new project and challenge. But overall data storage is not very convenient in my old setup. Have HDD's with a total of about 10TB.
    Also have some issues, so I might need to make some new threads for that...


    * I'm a Linux novice, but with google being my friend I usually get my challenges fixed. And this great forum on OMV!!! (Have spent some hours reading sort of speak, also regarding the following "To look into" ...)


    I would like to use OMV5.x to be updated (and future proof?), if any strong arguments against I'd really like to know!
    First of all I know UEFI and GPT has it's benefits, don't know if that is the case for Linux at the moment. My data disks are GPT with (single) ext4 partition.
    Also I'm not a fan of RAID, but am considering it because a 2TB HDD can become full quick sometimes. Especially the 750GB HDD's.


    For now: Going to use 4 HDD's from old setup (2x2TB and 2x1,5TB) with SSD for boot. Installed OMV5.05 and updated it (clean install) in UEFI and SSD as GPT.


    Issues / advice would be appreciated:

    • For some reason WOL does not work, still need to check some settings (can this be Linux / kernel related?). Can try a quick Win10 install to make sure if needed.
    • RAID advice in my case.
    • Cold boot takes a long time (3+mins) for webgui to come up (502 Bad Gateway). When resume from standby (from usb at the moment) not this issue.
    • When shutting down / reboot (sometimes?) a stop job is running for Run anacron jobs (1,5min).

    Last two might be related, is it helpful to upload logs?


    Usage:

    • OMV-Extras >> Docker (haugene/transmission-openvpn and linuxserver/plex at the moment...) and some build-in extensions.
    • Goals/to look into:

      • Make files accessible from outside LAN
      • Remote access web-interface OMV and haugene/transmission-openvpn
      • Security wise: Most data is media and not that important, but don't like easy access LAN (and device's in it)
      • My modem does not support VPN and for now I don't want to invest in a good router
      • RAID or not (all disk, or a few in striping and separate backups for important data)
      • WOL from outside LAN by logging into modem/router (supported), but is it secure?"(Also setup DynDNS, and does it work together with Guide for Setting Remote Management)
      • Power management (HD-IDLE/auto-shutdown/advanced power management in storage->disks)


    Hardware:
    - ASUS F2A85-m LE
    - AMD A8 5600K
    - 80GB SSD (old Intel SATA-300) as system disk
    - 2 x 2GB RAM
    - 2 x 2TB HDD's
    - 2 x 1,5TB HDD's
    - 2 x 750GB HDD's
    - 2 x 750GB 2,5" HDD's
    - Be quit! Pure Power 11 500W CM (new)
    - Fractal Design Node 804 (new)


    Will do some testing for myself the next few days, but think I need some help...

    ODROID-HC2 running OMV4
    ASUS F2A85-M LE running OMV4

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von sm0ke ()

  • Update:


    Made my decision to go for OMV4 for now with Legacy and MBR SDD. When OMV5 is out of beta, maybe in a few months I'll do fresh install and try UEFI...
    Have been reading a few threats and most moderators and experts at the forum advice to stay with Legacy. crashtest mentions in this post that when UEFI boots, great... And UEFI installs seem to be most problematic...


    Decided to not use RAID for now (need to sort data first and think about it again, maybe in future). Some HDD's will be probably be a bottleneck when it comes to (network)speed, but for now that's what it is.


    As for (when testing OMV5) "a stop job is running for Run anacron jobs" on boot/reboot, I don't really understand what this is. Read somewhere that (in particular case? or in general, unless needed?) it's not needed. Might this be related to the webgui taking a long time to come up (unless when resuming from standby)? And I was thinking about it: Is anacron included in basic OMV5 iso and not in OMV4 iso? Just willing to learn and understand!



    WOL does work when set (no changes made in (EUFI) Bios) in software. I did have to do an omv-firstaid command and set network to get an IP-adres (static DHCP) with clean install OMV4 (Legacy). But it only works when resuming from standby, not when powered off. (This was also the case with OMV5). My old Atom did WOL from power down state, so this is Bios setting or hardware compatibility right?
    Correction: WOL does work with Win10, same BIOS settings but installed as UEFI.


    Very happy with my Fractal Design Node 804, very quit and practical! :)
    That't it for now. I'll make some new threats when my project needs some help.

    ODROID-HC2 running OMV4
    ASUS F2A85-M LE running OMV4

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von sm0ke ()

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    RAID advice in my case.

    I wouldn't do raid. I'm running a zmirror (ZFS, in a RAID1 like config) solely for bit-rot protection, not because it provides availability or the notion of redundancy.
    Actual backup, as in a second full copy of data on an independent disk, is far more important that RAID1.


    If today's disks are not large enough for your purposes, there are other ways to aggregate disks. If you're thinking about doing a RAID5 type array, I'd consider SNAPRAID to protect your disks and mergerfs (called UnionFS in OMV) if you want a common mount point.


    Some HDD's will be probably be a bottleneck when it comes to (network)speed, but for now that's what it is.

    Setting aside scenarios where your CPU may become busy with multitasking and the like, usually (at 1GB) the bottle neck is networking.


    As for (when testing OMV5) "a stop job is running for Run anacron jobs" on boot/reboot, I don't really understand what this is

    Cron job's run if the server is up at the time of scheduled execution. If the server is down and the time is missed, the job doesn't run. Anacron can be used to run a job "at this time" or "as soon as possible" after the next boot up, or other criteria.


    You seem to want to use WOL and Anacron which means your server (probably) won't be up 24x7? What is it that you're trying to do?

  • Thanks!


    I know RAID never is an backup. That's why I choose not to use it. I don't have the money right now for new bigger HDD's and have a bunch which I can use. Also data on it, that makes soft or hard RAID also tricky, As I would need a big disk for clearing all HDD's I have. BUT... I was considering RAID 5, but don't think that's an option with power management (don't want all 6 (or 8 ) drives running all the time). I can read up on ZFS, SNAPRAID and mergerfs. But think in all cases parity and power management don't work together very well?
    Conclusion: better not use RAID for now I guess? I Use Clonezilla to make image (when satisfied and before major updates) and fsarchiver...


    No Server won't be running 24/7.
    Mainly use it for streaming my media local and outgoing with plex and for downloading for now. But will look into remote access web-interface (video tutorial), remote file access and security soon. Want to learn...


    Which bring me to next problem: I use Docker for haugene/transmission-openvpn and linuxserver/plex. But I get an error when pulling most images in Docker.
    linuxserver/plex did pull after some retries. haugene/transmission didn't pull at all (just tried again).
    What I tried: different linux.io images: all fail (with exception of above one). Did a clean install, installed omv-extra's, made an user and share (before updating whole OMV), same issue. Also after updating whole OMV.


    Better make a new thread for this. Going to eat now and have an appointment, later this day I'll upload error details. (Failed to read file '/tmp/bgstatusejNM4v' (size=0)) is what I get.



    Thanks again!

    ODROID-HC2 running OMV4
    ASUS F2A85-M LE running OMV4

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    ZFS in raid1 gets you bit-rot protection and since I had that configuration, I continued to use it, but it results in a loss of 50% of disk real-estate. The price is high.


    I had SNAPRAID and mergerFS on one of my backup servers. It fixes bitrot, restores full disks, and has many additional benefits when compared to traditional software RAID. SNAPRAID comes at the cost of 1 disk. If 3 disks are protected, with one parity disk, that's a loss of 25%. The only requirement is that the parity disk be the largest disk. You can even mix and match odd disk sizes. (But I would recommend using EXT4 or XFS as the disk format.)


    You can add SNAPRAID any time, to drives with existing data, or remove it at any time without losing data. The same applies to mergerfs.


    Which bring me to next problem: I use Docker for haugene/transmission-openvpn and linuxserver/plex. But I get an error when pulling most images in Docker.
    linuxserver/plex did pull after some retries. haugene/transmission didn't pull at all (just tried again).

    Look at your DNS settings. If it's currently set to DHCP, you could try (1) statically addressing your OMV server, and (2) using a public DNS server for your OMV server, like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1

  • I'm going to look into SNAPRAID and mergerf, thanks!


    The way you describe it, it would be the best solution in my case. But will probably do that only for the 4 disks that still need to be added to the system, 2 x 750GB 3,5" and 2 x 750GB 2,5". Now I have 2x2TB (SATAIII), 2x1,5TB (SATAII) and one temporary 2,5" 1TB disk. Plus a old SSD (OS), 80GB SATAII; Which will be replaced by 128GB SATAIII in a week or 2. There is no rush there...
    2 Things I need to look in to in this matter, but you probably already know the answer ;)
    A. The 25% loss: Is this always the case, or depending on the total number of disks and/or there capacity?
    B. Which would be best SNAPRAID of mergerfs? (I saw something yesterday on OMV Dashboard about "SNAPRAID disaster" or something like that)



    Look at your DNS settings. If it's currently set to DHCP, you could try (1) statically addressing your OMV server, and (2) using a public DNS server for your OMV server, like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1

    I use DHCP with static IP to OMV. I tried setting DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 but no luck. Don't understand option 1 I think, or did you mean static IP from DHCP-server (on modem/router)?



    Going to create new thread now, because I think it's a Docker issue and provide more info about this. Will update this post with link to thread, when made (probably tomorrow).
    Edit: New thread


    Thanks!

    ODROID-HC2 running OMV4
    ASUS F2A85-M LE running OMV4

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von sm0ke ()

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Don't understand option 1 I think, or did you mean static IP from DHCP-server (on modem/router)?

    Pick a static IP address outside the DHCP server's range (but in the local network). But if you're using a static or reserved DHCP lease, that's roughly the same thing.

    A. The 25% loss: Is this always the case, or depending on the total number of disks and/or there capacity?

    Yes. With SNAPRAID, at least one parity disk is required and it's reserved for parity storage only. The percentage depends on the number of disks and capacities but the parity disk must be the same size, or the largest disk, of the disks to be protected.


    B. Which would be best SNAPRAID of mergerfs?

    SNAPRAID and megerfs are separate and independent. SNAPRAID does the parity function (recreation of drives, files, etc.)


    A second feature of traditional raid is, it creates a "common mount point". It combines drives and presents them to the OS as if they're all one big drive. mergerfs does this as well - it creates a common mount point. It's not really necessary, you can create shares on individual drives but a common mount point can be convenient. The mergerfs "storage policy", depending on the policy used, balances data storage among all merged drives.


    (I saw something yesterday on OMV Dashboard about "SNAPRAID disaster" or something like that)

    It's hard to say what happened there - if I remember right. It could be a hardware failure, the wrong recovery process, etc. I will say this, nothing is perfect. If you want to keep your data, 100% backup (of what you want to keep) is highly recommended. Hard drives last, typically, between 4 to 7 years but it's important to note that they all fail eventually. The same is true of power supplies, mother boards, etc.


    If you want to keep your data, one of the best low cost methods is a backup server using an SBC ($30) and a big drive (varies but a 4TB drive is around $100). In the bottom line, having your irreplaceable data on two fully independent devices is a real good idea.

  • Thanks, now I (roughly) understand SNAPRAID and mergerfs! Definitely going to use this for the 4x750GB disks to be added in near future.


    I've worked over 4 years, repairing, testing and assembling PC's... The question is not IF hardware will fail, but WHEN (even new products can fail or be DOA).
    So yeah, important data needs a proper backup, I know!


    Turns out my docker issue had nothing to do with DNS settings, but a bug in Docker, which is already fixed :)
    You can take a look here if you like.


    Really like OMV's Forum. Nice and helpful people here.


    Maybe tomorrow I'm going to close this thread. Need to check some things and think about it.
    Anyway BIG thanks again for your help!

    ODROID-HC2 running OMV4
    ASUS F2A85-M LE running OMV4

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