Since 2016, I’ve had a fileserver mostly just for backups. System is on 1 drive, RAID6 for files, and semi-annual cold backup.
I was playing with Photoprism, and their docs say “we recommend placing the storage folder on a local SSD drive for best performance.” In this case, the storage folder holds basically everything but the pictures themselves such as the database files.
Up until now, if I lost any database files, it was just a matter of rebuilding them by re-indexing my photos or whatever, but I’m looking for something more robust since I’ll have some friends/family using Pixelfed, Matrix, etc.
So my question is: Is it a valid strategy to keep database files on the SSD with some kind of nightly backup to RAID, or should I just store the whole lot on the RAID from the get go? Or does it even matter if all of these databases can fit in RAM anyway?
edit: I’m just now learning of ZFS caching which might be my answer.
Building RAID on top of SSDs is an answer.
My new motherboard actually has a RAID controller for the M.2 slots. I know people frown on hardware raid, but given it’s the boot drive, it might just be easiest to count on it for daily operation and backup to the software RAID/something else every night.
I meant software RAID of course. Hardware RAIDs just cause headacehes, but fake RAIDs that are built into motherboards are a real nightmare.
Make sure, if you use hardware RAID, you know what happens if your controller dies.
Is the data in a format you can access it easily? Do you need a specific raid controller to be able to read it in the future? How are you going to get a new controller if you need it?
That’s a big reason why people nudge you to software raid: if you’re using md and doing a mirror, then that’ll work on any damn drive controller on earth that linux can talk to, and you don’t need to worry about how you’re getting your data back if a controller dies on you.