[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Server hardware advice.



Quoting Reco (2019-08-08 17:25:02)
>         Hi.
> 
> On Thu, Aug 08, 2019 at 04:54:17PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > > > Then Intel stopped making desktop boards and I wanted ZFS. ZFS 
> > > > > wants ECC memory.  It was time to migrate to server hardware.
> > > > 
> > > > My understanding is that ZFS's need / desire for ECC is 
> > > > something of a myth. It's certainly true that many ZFS / FreeNAS 
> > > > *users* have such a need, but the filesystem itself apparently 
> > > > doesn't:
> > > > 
> > > > https://jrs-s.net/2015/02/03/will-zfs-and-non-ecc-ram-kill-your-data/
> > > 
> > > To summarize: if you're running ZFS, it can protect you from lots 
> > > of sources of data corruption. It can't protect you from RAM 
> > > errors without ECC, so you should opt for ECC if integrity is your 
> > > goal.
> > > 
> > > None of the other filesystems protect you against RAM errors 
> > > either, so this is not a special requirement of ZFS.
> > 
> > ECC memory is rare among ARM SBCs, but Helios4 uses ECC memory!
> 
> ... with the only problem being the quantity of such RAM.
> 
> A typical Helios4 board has whopping 2Gb of RAM, which is about 4 
> times lower than needed for comfortable ZFS usage (assuming that zpool 
> size is measured in terabytes) and a user intends to run something 
> more than a OS kernel and sshd. That estimation deliberately excludes 
> all advanced ZFS features (such as compression, encryption and 
> deduplication).
> 
> IMO for such RAM sizes it's better to use old trusted MDRAID, LVM, 
> ext4 and a new kid on the block - dm-integrity (all the needed tools 
> are in buster, but some assembly is required).

For the record I did not recommend using ZFS on low-end hardware.

The OP asked for advice in buying low-end ARM-based hardware for use as 
server, and I pointed out that one ARM SBC (likely the only relatively 
cheap one) is known to use ECC memory - which (as the previous poster 
pointed out) is interesting _independently_ of choice of filesystem.

Personally I use ext4 with journaling enabled, on either conventional 
rotating disks, SSDs, or sdcards (no RAID involved).


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: signature


Reply to: