I've got a dual Xeon X5650 (6core) HP ProLiant DL160 G6 with 72G RAM and an HP P410 4port hardware raid card that I want to repurpose as a NAS and a test server. Additionally, I have 4 x 4T drives in it.
My initial plan was to just HW RAID5 the 4 drives and install Citrix Xenserver 7.2 (free version) on it. I have a couple of Windows VMs that I nede to run, as well as a PFSense firewall. But the primary use would be to create a main VM to run Docker (CoreOS or CentOS or Ubuntu), and a large 8T Virtual Drive assigned to that VM. Then run different Docker images mounted to different volumes created within that large VHD.
Some of the docker images I would like to run:
- Plex
- Sonarr
- Gitlab
- Docker-timemachine
- nextCloud
- …
Part of the 8T virtual drive would also be exposed as a NAS for sharing space in the office (this is for a small business context).
So now, I'm wondering if my approach is sound at all; should I be putting this much faith in hardware raid vs just using ZFS across the 4 drives instead (and dropping the HW RAID altogether)?
One concern I have of the HW RAID is if the controller fails. Then I end up have 12T of data that can only be recovered by another P410 controller (and I don't have a hot spare).
On the other hand, I am having difficulty finding docs if/how to install Citrix Xenserver on ZFS. Everything I've found seems to discuss ZFS as a Storage Repo for XS, but nothing relating to install DOM0 as a ZFS install. Secondly, I do have concerns of any ZFS management / maintenance required through DOM0. Normally, I like to have DOM0 run as much stock as possible – this simplifies upgrades.
Is installing Citrix XenServer on a ZFS even feasible? ie: the Dom0 would be installed and running on a 12T ZFS. Given that XenServer is based on CentOS7, I figure it should be doable, but not sure how. But even if it is feasible, is it recommended?
Is running XenServer on ZFS (if doable) a safe and recomended alternative to running a HW Raid5 (with FBWC)?
Best Answer
This is overly complicated. If it's a production environment, skip all of this. If it's a home science project, still skip it. It sounds like you have a technical solution looking for a problem.
Let's break this down: You're concerned about hardware RAID on an HP SmartArray P410 RAID controller. The use of a P410 means that you're using HP server hardware. HP, a company who has tremendous mindshare and large install bases throughout the industry.
The P410 controller is fine. They don't fail often... and even if one did, have a plan to purchase or repair. You don't worry about CPU failure; motherboard failure or disk backplane failure, do you? Those are relatively infrequent, so deal with it as it comes.
ZFS is a non-starter for this solution. It won't add anything, especially when complicated by whatever's needed to run XenServer. It would be a different story if you were using a KVM hypervisor or VMware, though.
I think the lack of information about the solution you're trying to build is a sign that it's not a recommended or common approach to solving the problem.