So I recently (a couple months ago) moved my fragmented docker-on-raspberry-pi architecture over to a Proxmox cluster. I’m running it on a pair of HP DL360 G6s, and I couldn’t be happier.
Except, well, I could be happier with just one more thing: high availability.
In particular, I want HA for my OPNsense firewall/router, but eventually for more of the workloads my family are depending on for life in general - Home Assistant, Plex, Overseerr, Immich, etc etc.
My current storage setup is a couple ratty old ARM-based NASes - an ancient Netgear ReadyNAS and an even more ancient Qnap TS-410. They’re both populated with 4 x 4TB (max raw size they can take) using RAID5, so I get about 22TB usable across the pair of them. They mostly store media for my Plex setup, but also support my 2N+C backup strategy for stuff like Immich, Paperless, and other important data.
My high-level plan is to grab another DL360, so I can have a quorum, then introduce a new storage system that:
- provides an iSCSI target for my Proxmox cluster; and
- can eventually grow to replace my old NASes.
The two solutions I’m pondering are:
- Build a TrueNAS setup from scratch - mini ITX case, board - the lot
- Pickup something tried, true and proven in the market, like a Synology
Up front cost is a consideration - I have a family to feed, so I can’t just run out and buy an 8-bay enclosure and fully populate it with 16TB disks.
Whatever I get, I’m likely to want to start with, say, 3 disks and grow it over time.
So, I guess this is a call out to the community to share any and all successes, war stories, and other advice. The more technical, the better. I want to make a sound, data-based decision here, and anecdotes from others who think like me are the best way to set my compass.
Cheers for anything you can offer!
One more option to consider would be doing HA with shared ZFS storage. Basically, if you have a zpool on each system with the same name and add it as shared storage, you can set up replication and have HA run off that. It’s a pretty simple setup and you can get by with just a couple extra disks per node rather than a whole separate machine.
Ah, interesting. Each node has a couple HDD slots free. I could populate those without introducing them to the hardware RAID set, and use ZFS on them instead? That could definitely be a good place for me to start. Thanks!