zfs discuss - Jun 2009 - 24x1TB ZFS system. Best practices for OS install without wasting space.

So we have a 24x1TB system (from Silicon Mechanics).  It''s using an LSI
SAS card so we don''t have any hardware RAID virtual drive type options.

Solaris 10 05/09

I was hoping we could set up one large zpool (RAIDZ) from the installer
and set up a small zfs filesystem off of that for the OS leaving the
rest of the zpool for our data.

However, it sounds like this isn''t possible... and that a ZFS root
install must be done on a mirrored set of slices or disks.  So it looks
like either way we might be losing out on minimum 2TB (two disks).

Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
elsewhere... but are there any other options here?

Thanks,
Ray

Hi Ray,

* Ray Van Dolson (rvandolson at esri.com) wrote:
> So we have a 24x1TB system (from Silicon Mechanics).  It''s using
an LSI
> SAS card so we don''t have any hardware RAID virtual drive type
options.
> 
> Solaris 10 05/09
> 
> I was hoping we could set up one large zpool (RAIDZ) from the installer
> and set up a small zfs filesystem off of that for the OS leaving the
> rest of the zpool for our data.
> 
> However, it sounds like this isn''t possible... and that a ZFS root
> install must be done on a mirrored set of slices or disks.  So it looks
> like either way we might be losing out on minimum 2TB (two disks).
> 
> Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
> elsewhere... but are there any other options here?
Currently, no.  ZFS can only boot from single or mirrord zpools.

Cheers,

-- 
Glenn

IDE flash DOM?

On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Ray Van Dolson <rvandolson at esri.com>
wrote:
>
> Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
> elsewhere... but are there any other options here?
>
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>So we have a 24x1TB system (from Silicon Mechanics).  It''s using an
LSI
>SAS card so we don''t have any hardware RAID virtual drive type
options.
>
>Solaris 10 05/09
>
>I was hoping we could set up one large zpool (RAIDZ) from the installer
>and set up a small zfs filesystem off of that for the OS leaving the
>rest of the zpool for our data.
>
>However, it sounds like this isn''t possible... and that a ZFS root
>install must be done on a mirrored set of slices or disks.  So it looks
>like either way we might be losing out on minimum 2TB (two disks).
>
>Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
>elsewhere... but are there any other options here?
Is this an R505? What I did was to install two 2.5" drives in one of 
the internal bays. There''s an adapter that lets you mount one atop 
the other. You can then create a mirrored pool on these drives to 
boot from. You can still have a DVD drive in the other bay, too.
-- 

Maurice Volaski, mvolaski at aecom.yu.edu
Computing Support, Rose F. Kennedy Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 03:30:11PM -0700, Maurice Volaski
wrote:
> >So we have a 24x1TB system (from Silicon Mechanics).  It''s
using an LSI
> >SAS card so we don''t have any hardware RAID virtual drive type
options.
> >
> >Solaris 10 05/09
> >
> >I was hoping we could set up one large zpool (RAIDZ) from the installer
> >and set up a small zfs filesystem off of that for the OS leaving the
> >rest of the zpool for our data.
> >
> >However, it sounds like this isn''t possible... and that a ZFS
root
> >install must be done on a mirrored set of slices or disks.  So it looks
> >like either way we might be losing out on minimum 2TB (two disks).
> >
> >Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
> >elsewhere... but are there any other options here?
> 
> Is this an R505? What I did was to install two 2.5" drives in one of 
> the internal bays. There''s an adapter that lets you mount one atop
> the other. You can then create a mirrored pool on these drives to 
> boot from. You can still have a DVD drive in the other bay, too.
> -- 
Yup, it is.  Sounds like a promising solution.

Where''d you get this adapter?

Thanks,
Ray

At 3:40 PM -0700 6/1/09, Ray Van Dolson wrote:
>On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 03:30:11PM -0700, Maurice Volaski wrote:
>>  >So we have a 24x1TB system (from Silicon Mechanics). 
It''s using an LSI
>>  >SAS card so we don''t have any hardware RAID virtual drive
type options.
>>  >
>>  >Solaris 10 05/09
>>  >
>>  >I was hoping we could set up one large zpool (RAIDZ) from the
installer
>>  >and set up a small zfs filesystem off of that for the OS leaving
the
>>  >rest of the zpool for our data.
>>  >
>>  >However, it sounds like this isn''t possible... and that a
ZFS root
>>  >install must be done on a mirrored set of slices or disks.  So it
looks
>>  >like either way we might be losing out on minimum 2TB (two disks).
>>  >
>>  >Obviously we could throw in a couple smaller drives internally, or
>>  >elsewhere... but are there any other options here?
>>
>>  Is this an R505? What I did was to install two 2.5" drives in one
of
>>  the internal bays. There''s an adapter that lets you mount one
atop
>>  the other. You can then create a mirrored pool on these drives to
>>  boot from. You can still have a DVD drive in the other bay, too.
>>  --
>
>Yup, it is.  Sounds like a promising solution.
>
>Where''d you get this adapter?
 From SiliconMechanics. They have good instructions on how to assemble 
it all, too.
-- 

Maurice Volaski, mvolaski at aecom.yu.edu
Computing Support, Rose F. Kennedy Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University