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zim2323

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    zim2323 reacted to Shane in Questions about DrivePool as Veeam Backup Repository target...   
    I should perhaps add here that DrivePool won't stop writing a new file if it hits the % max, only if/when it hits actual full. The % max setting is for files yet to be written (e.g. "this disk is at/over % max, don't put more files here") and/or files that are not in use (e.g. "this disk is at/over % max, move file(s) off it until satisfied"); an example of a balancer controlling both of these (no new files and move old files) can be found in the Prevent Drive Overfill balancer.
    Likewise, with the SSD Optimizer plugin its option "Fill SSD drives up to X%" doesn't mean "empty at this point", it means "overflow to Storage drives at this point".
    When it empties is instead controlled by your choices in the main DrivePool settings menu (Balancing -> Settings -> Automatic balancing - Triggers).
    This may be somewhat counterintuitive, but it is useful to avoid running out of space in situations where the "SSD" is being filled faster than it can be emptied.
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    zim2323 reacted to Shane in Questions about DrivePool as Veeam Backup Repository target...   
    1)  Is there a way to write files to the disk with the most available space in the pool?
    DrivePool defaults to attempting this, though if multiple large files start being written more or less simultaneously to the pool there might be an issue (q.v. next answer).
    2)  File sizes are unknown until the backup is finished.  My assumption is that this will be a problem for DrivePool, in that, if it's writing to a disk that only has 4TB free and it ends up being a 6TB backup, then it will fail.  Correct?
    Correct.
    3)  I'm assuming there's no way to allow "write continuation" to another disk if the current disk fills or hits the % max.
    Correct.
    4)  If a disk starts to fill can I set a lower max % , say 50%, and set the balance plugin to run every X minutes?  My intent would be that if a disk would start to "balance" other data off the disk and make room for additional write capacity as the current backup being written grows.
    You can set Balancing to always run immediately upon detecting a trigger condition or only no more often than as small as any integer multiple (including 1x) of 10 minute intervals. Note that (I believe) it cannot balance open files, or at least not files that are actively being written. @Christopher (Drashna)?
    5)  I would anticipate that we'll use 70-80TB of the almost 100TB that we'll have available to us.  We will have headroom, but I'm concerned about managing/maximizing write space.  Depending on above answers.  I would assume Veeam will start having write failures for larger backup files if there's not enough room on the volumes.
    Correct. I've had this happen. I take it the enterprise version of Veeam still doesn't support splitting? (I use the standalone agents at home)
    6)  Can I configure a non-SSD as a cache point, say one of the 20TB SATA volumes, that would then write out to the pool?  I'd used it purely as a staging point, rather than for performance.  At this point, ANYTHING is faster than our DataDomain's
    Yes, you can. The SSD Optimizer plugin doesn't actually care whether an "SSD" is actually an SSD or not; it would be more accurate to call it the Cache Optimizer plugin.
    For example, you might set "Incoming files are cached on drives A and B; when A and B are more than 25% full they empty* to drives C, D, E and F in that preferred order, but try not to fill any storage drive to more than 90% capacity and if any are then move files off them until they are no more than 80% full".
    Note that you can also make pools of pools (so pool P could consist of pools Q and R which could consist of drives A+C+D and B+E+F respectively) if for some reason you want to have different configurations for different sub-pools.
    *the SSD Optimizer plugin doesn't have fine control over emptying; when it starts it will attempt to continue until the cache is empty of all files not being written to it.
    P.S. it is possible to write your own balancing plugins if you've got the programming chops.
    P.P.S. do not enable Read Striping in DrivePool's Performance options (it defaults to off) in production until you have confirmed that the software you use works reliably with it. I've found some hashing utilities (for doing comparison/integrity/parity checks) seem to expect a single physical disk and intermittently give false readings when read striping is enabled.
  3. Like
    zim2323 got a reaction from Christopher (Drashna) in Performance / Threads Limit???   
    Thanks Chris!
     
    So, big changes recently!  I've been starting to wonder about a lot of things in my setup.  The ASUS ROG Rampage IV Extreme is showing it's age.  To get full USB 3.0 speeds you have to really monkey around with things and I just haven't been able to achieve what I wanted to.  The controller on the board (for USB 3.0) is an Asmedia 1042.  4 seperate HUB's for 5gb (yeah right!) per port.  The external controller is the Startech 8-bay eSATA/USB 3.0 UASP JBOD enclosure.  It's loaded with 8 1tb/500gb(de-stroked) WD Enterprise SATA II drives.  I could achieve a solid 90-100 MB/s from the enclosure.
     
    As of today I changed to this:
    Startech PEXUSB312A USB 3.0 Gen 2 Type A 2-port card.  I now have this installed and the enclosure connected to it.  I'm getting a full 250-300 MB/s transfer rate from the enclosure, which is about as good as SATA II can give me.  All 4 of my PCIe slots are v3.0.  So there's good news on the horizon.  I'm currently in the process of moving my pool to this external enclosure.
     
    I also purchased more SSD's, so I am going to build a new pool just for SSD's and move all my VM's there.  4 x 500GB Samsung 850 EVO's, 1 x 1TB Samsung 850 EVO, 1 x 512GB Samsung 840 Pro, and 2 x 256GB OCZ Vector 4's.  All of these SSD's will live on my internal SATA controllers and the old Startech 4-port SATA 3 6gb card.  So I have 8 6gb ports and 4 3gb ports that will comprise this SSD pool.  I'm making sure my stand along Samsung 850 Pro 512gb(OS) and 850 Pro 1TB(installs) are on the 6gb ports.
     
    I'm hoping to just get rid of all my issues getting away from the on board Asmedia 1042 controller and using a more solid USB 3.1gen2 interface for better performance, etc.
     
    I'll update with how things go, and perhaps the other issues will just magically disappear.  Once this is done/stable, I'll be wiping and reloading Windows 10.  I just want to make sure my pools and data are configured the way I want them before I do so.
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