zfs discuss - Oct 2006 - Recommended Minimum Hardware for ZFS Fileserver?

I could use the list''s help.

My goal:  Build a cheap ZFS file server with OpenSolairs on UFS boot (for now)
10,000 rpm U320 SCSI drive while having a ZFS pool in the same machine.  The ZFS
pool will either be a mirror or raidz setup consisting of either two or three
500Gb 7,200 rpm SATA II drives.

I''ve been looking at building this setup in some cheap eBay rack-mount
servers that are generally single or dual 1.0GHz Pentium III, 1Gb PC133 RAM, and
I''d have to add the SATA II controller into a spare PCI slot.

For maximum file system performance of the ZFS pool, would anyone care to offer
hardware recommendations?  Is this enough CPU and memory bandwidth to handle
maximum realistic throughput of the SATA II drives with most of ZFS''s
features enabled?

Thanks for any insights before I spend and find out the hard way!!
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Hello Wes,

Monday, October 30, 2006, 3:28:19 PM, you wrote:

WW> I could use the list''s help.

WW> My goal:  Build a cheap ZFS file server with OpenSolairs on UFS
WW> boot (for now) 10,000 rpm U320 SCSI drive while having a ZFS pool
WW> in the same machine.  The ZFS pool will either be a mirror or
WW> raidz setup consisting of either two or three 500Gb 7,200 rpm SATA II
drives.

WW> I''ve been looking at building this setup in some cheap eBay
WW> rack-mount servers that are generally single or dual 1.0GHz
WW> Pentium III, 1Gb PC133 RAM, and I''d have to add the SATA II
WW> controller into a spare PCI slot.

WW> For maximum file system performance of the ZFS pool, would anyone
WW> care to offer hardware recommendations?  Is this enough CPU and
WW> memory bandwidth to handle maximum realistic throughput of the
WW> SATA II drives with most of ZFS''s features enabled?

WW> Thanks for any insights before I spend and find out the hard way!!

Notice that by default ZFS will use only about 512MB of memory for
caches on 32bit hardware. You plan 1GB which could be ok anyway (dnlc
caches, etc. so kernel will consume 300-500MB anyway).

However if you add more memory ZFS won''t use it.
Other than that it will work.

When it comes to performance it depends on actual workload.

-- 
Best regards,
 Robert                            mailto:rmilkowski at task.gda.pl
                                       http://milek.blogspot.com

> I''ve been looking at building this setup in some
> cheap eBay rack-mount servers that are generally
> single or dual 1.0GHz Pentium III, 1Gb PC133 RAM, and
> I''d have to add the SATA II controller into a spare
> PCI slot.
> 
> For maximum file system performance of the ZFS pool,
> would anyone care to offer hardware recommendations?
For maximum file system performance of the ZFS pool,
a 64-bit x86 cpu would be *much* better than a 32-bit x86 cpu.

The 32-bit cpu won''t use more than ~ 512Mb of RAM for
ZFS'' ARC cache (no matter how much is installed in the
machine); a 64-bit cpu is able to use all of the
available RAM for ZFS''s cache.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Wes Williams wrote:
> I could use the list''s help.
> 
> My goal:  Build a cheap ZFS file server with OpenSolairs on UFS boot (for
now)
> 10,000 rpm U320 SCSI drive while having a ZFS pool in the same machine. 
The ZFS
> pool will either be a mirror or raidz setup consisting of either two or
three
> 500Gb 7,200 rpm SATA II drives.
> 
> I''ve been looking at building this setup in some cheap eBay
rack-mount servers
> that are generally single or dual 1.0GHz Pentium III, 1Gb PC133 RAM, and
I''d have
> to add the SATA II controller into a spare PCI slot.
Buy the "cheap server" for $20 + $20 shipping, or don''t
bother.
Throw away the P-III mobo and buy a 64-bit CPU + mobo for $100 or so.
Many of these also include SATA controllers, so you won''t need to
purchase a separate SATA controller.  Add as much RAM as you can.
  -- richard

Thanks gents for  your replies.  I''ve used to a very large config
W2100z and ZFS for awhile but didn''t know "how low can you
go" for ZFS to shine, though a 64-bit CPU seems to be the minimum
performance threshold.

Now that Sun''s store is [sort of] working again, I can see some
X2100''s with the custom configure and a very low starting price of only
$450 sans CPU, drives, and memory.  Great!!

[b]If only we could get a basic X2100-ish designed, "custom build"
priced, server from Sun that could also hold 3-5 drives internally[/b], I could
see a bunch of those being used as ZFS file servers.  This would also be a good
price point for small office and home users since the X4100 is certainly
overkill in this application, though I''d wouldn''t refuse one
offered to me.  =)
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Wes Williams wrote:
> Thanks gents for  your replies.  I''ve used to a very large config
W2100z and ZFS
> for awhile but didn''t know "how low can you go" for ZFS
to shine, though a 64-bit
> CPU seems to be the minimum performance threshold.
> 
> Now that Sun''s store is [sort of] working again, I can see some
X2100''s with the
> custom configure and a very low starting price of only $450 sans CPU,
drives, and
> memory.  Great!!
> 
> [b]If only we could get a basic X2100-ish designed, "custom
build" priced, server
> from Sun that could also hold 3-5 drives internally[/b], I could see a
bunch of
> those being used as ZFS file servers.  This would also be a good price
point for
> small office and home users since the X4100 is certainly overkill in this
application,
> though I''d wouldn''t refuse one offered to me.  =)
Though there isn''t a Sun "tower server" that fits your
description, the Ultra-40
can hold 4 3.5" drives (80, 250, or 500 GBytes).  You might actually prefer
something designed for office use at home, rather than something designed for a
data center.
	http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/ultra40/specs.xml
  -- richard

> Though there isn''t a Sun "tower server" that fits
> your description, the Ultra-40
> can hold 4 3.5" drives (80, 250, or 500 GBytes).  You
> might actually prefer
> something designed for office use at home, rather
> than something designed for a
> data center.
> 	http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/ultra40/specs.
> xml
>   -- richard
> _____________________________________________
Thanks for the reply Richard, though with a W2100z already I really
don''t need another powerhouse desktop machine, just something small and
relatively low power to hide around the house for redundant I/O duty only.

The Ultra 40 is a nice machine, but I''d be more apt to go for an Ultra
20 for this application, and I''ve already considered that route and
been very happy with the others I''ve used.  I''m spying a
W1100z at the moment if I can get a nice price on it, though it''s
physically much larger than I would like for this application, I''ll
overlook that for the performance.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Wes Williams wrote:
> Thanks gents for  your replies.  I''ve used to a very large config
W2100z and ZFS for awhile but didn''t know "how low can you
go" for ZFS to shine, though a 64-bit CPU seems to be the minimum
performance threshold.
> 
> Now that Sun''s store is [sort of] working again, I can see some
X2100''s with the custom configure and a very low starting price of only
$450 sans CPU, drives, and memory.  Great!!
> 
> [b]If only we could get a basic X2100-ish designed, "custom
build" priced, server from Sun that could also hold 3-5 drives
internally[/b], I could see a bunch of those being used as ZFS file servers. 
This would also be a good price point for small office and home users since the
X4100 is certainly overkill in this application, though I''d
wouldn''t refuse one offered to me.  =)
>  

I built my own, using essentially the same mobo (tyan 2865).
The Ultra 20 is slightly different, but not enough to matter.

I put it in a case that would hold more drives and a larger
power supply, and I''ve got a nice home server w/ a TB of
disk (effective space 750GB).

Very simple and easy.  Right now I''m still using a single
disk for /, since I''m worried about safegarding data, not
making sure I have max availability.

- Bart

-- 
Bart Smaalders			Solaris Kernel Performance
barts at cyber.eng.sun.com		http://blogs.sun.com/barts

Thanks again for your input Gents, I was able to get a W1100z inexpensively with
1Gb RAM and a 2.4 GHz Opteron...now I''ll just have to manufacture my
own drive slide rails since Sun won''t sell the darn things [no, I
don''t want a 80Gb IDE drive and apple pie with that!] and I''m
not paying $100 for three pair of plastic strips that almost fit right.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org