Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Software RAID1 for OS, necessary?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    5 Posts 3 Posters 616 Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • P
      pecker88
      last edited by

      I have 2 identical new Intel 545s 256GB SSD drives.

      Should I use the built-in Intel software raid on my SuperMicro A1SRI-2358F motherboard to create a RAID1 mirror for the OS or is just 1 drive sufficient?

      This will be a primary gateway at at remote office location, stability/up-time is important.

      thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JailerJ
        Jailer
        last edited by

        You'd be better off with a ZFS mirror. It's simple to set up during install.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P
          pecker88
          last edited by

          I mis-spoke in my OP, the mirror setup via the pfSense install is what I was referring to.
          Would be installing 2.4 stable build.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • K
            kpa
            last edited by

            Do not use the provided BIOS RAID configurator or any of the provided utilities for it. Instead use ZFS mirror as suggested, ZFS does poorly if it doesn't have a direct access to the disks used. In fact a configuration where ZFS is used on top of a software pseudo RAID defeats most of advantages ZFS offers.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • P
              pecker88
              last edited by

              SuperMicro A1SRI-2358F + Chassis CSE-101i isn't really "made" for 2x HDs, but the HD bay does easily fit 2 SSD atop each other.
              But, since I'm using external pwr supply, the mobo only has 1 male molex connector for HD pwr. So, I had to order female molex to 2x SATA power for the SSDs. Wasn't easy to find female molex to SATA power, but finally got 1 in today.

              Got everything up and running with Auto Install (ZFS), very easy. Thanks for recommendations everyone.

               pool: pfSenseZFSpool
               state: ONLINE
                scan: scrub repaired 0 in 0h0m with 0 errors on Thu Dec  7 07:01:02 2017
              config:
              
              	NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
              	pfSenseZFSpool  ONLINE       0     0     0
              	  mirror-0  ONLINE       0     0     0
              	    ada0p3  ONLINE       0     0     0
              	    ada1p3  ONLINE       0     0     0
              
              errors: No known data errors
              
              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • First post
                Last post
              Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.