advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

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advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby tangles » Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:52 am

Hi,

I'm about to setup a video authoring station for a mate at work and have a few questions if anyone's willing to chip in:

I've never used a pure SSD pool before, and I've never used ZFS for video authoring before, so any suggestions/tips are most welcome.

1:
Two pools:
Pool1 (Work In Progress) = OWC Thunderbolt 4Bay Mini/2.5" JBOD using 4 x 250GB Samsung EVO 850 SSDs

Pool2 (Archive) = OWC Thunderbolt 4Bay 3.5" JBOD using 4 x 4TB Seagate ST4000DM000 drives.

2.
iMac has 32GB RAM so will limit ARC to 12GB.

3.
I'm wondering about the ashift value for the SSD pool.
Typically I'd use ashift=12 and so is this okay for SSDs as well? (loss of space is not an issue here as file sizes are typically in the GBs)

4.
Being a video authoring setup, (which is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to the size of reading/writing files when compared to databases) I'm thinking of using a 1MB recordsize value. I don't intend to compress either pool as the files are already compressed and I want CPU cycles for plugins that don't use the GPU for rendering.
But Reading https://www.joyent.com/blog/bruning-que ... ecord-size just throws things up in the air to me... anyone else care to comment here?

So, the syntax I intend to use is:

1. Prep the SSDs:

Code: Select all
sudo diskutil partitiondisk /dev/disk(1-4) GPTFormat "Free Space" "Free Space" 100%

sudo zpool create -f -o ashift=12(?) -O checksum=skein -O casesensitivity=insensitive -O atime=off -O normalization=formD WIP mirror disk1 disk2 mirror disk3 disk4

sudo zfs create WIP/WorkInProgress

sudo zfs set reservation=1m WIP; sudo set recordsize=1m WIP/WorkInProgress

sudo chown -Rf <VideoUID>:staff /Volumes/WIP/WorkInProgress

sudo chmod o-rwx /Volumes/WIP/WorkInProgress


2. Prep the Rotationals:

Code: Select all
sudo diskutil partitiondisk /dev/disk(5-8) GPTFormat "Free Space" "Free Space" 100%

sudo zpool create -f -o ashift=12 -O checksum=skein -O casesensitivity=insensitive -O atime=off -O normalization=formD Archive mirror disk5 disk6 mirror disk7 disk8

sudo zfs create Archive/ArchivedProjects

sudo zfs set reservation=1m Archive; sudo set recordsize=1m Archive/ArchivedProjects

sudo chown -Rf <VideoUID>:staff /Volumes/Archive/ArchivedProjects

sudo chmod o-rwx /Volumes/Archive/ArchivedProjects


3. and finally limit arc to 12GB:
Code: Select all
sudo sysctl -w kstat.zfs.darwin.tunable.zfs_arc_max=12884901888


The hardware has already been ordered so that's all locked in.
It's a shame ZFS doesn't move data around like a fusion drive can, it would be neat to have just one pool and have zfs move data off the SSDs during idle periods... enhancement perhaps?

Anyway, any & and all guidance most welcome.
tangles
 
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby tangles » Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:55 pm

no one used ZFS with video authoring b4?
tangles
 
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby Brendon » Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:11 am

Tangles,

Design changes like SSD <-> HDD migration belong upstream with OpenZFS. Our O3X is a port of OpenZFS to Mac, and we are maintaining absolute compatability with Illumos (and therefore ZoL, FreeBSD etc), so far as OS semantics allow.

Regarding your hardware configuration, we are not really in a position to comment. None of the developers possess such a setup, we would be speculating at best.

- Brendon
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby RobRehnmark » Tue Jul 19, 2016 12:58 am

Tangles, I'm no pro but I'm running Final Cut Pro on my Hackintosh with ZFS.
I edit 1080p50 both in ProRes and compressed without any problems.

The pool is a RaidZ2 made of 6x 3TB Seagate Barracuda.
I created it with ashift=13 because I wasn't sure exactly what to do in case I wanted to add a cache SSD disk and ashift=13 didn't seem to hurt.
Code: Select all
sudo zpool create -f -o ashift=13 -O compression=lz4 -O casesensitivity=insensitive -O atime=off -O normalization=formD ocean raidz2 /dev/disk2 /dev/disk3 ....

I have set com.apple.mimic_hfs to ON because I have iTunes Library and all sorts of stuff on this pool too but I don't know if it's necessary for FCP.
Super grateful to the people developing OpenZFS on OS X!
RaidZ2 working well for storing my data, OS X Server share for Time Machine, FCPX, iTunes, Photos, etc. on my Hackinstosh.
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby Brendon » Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:26 am

I've also run FCP on a ZFS homedir setup. Mimic was on for similar reasons to @RobRehnMark
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby tangles » Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:49 pm

Thanks guys,

I'll have a play and post some straight line synthetic tests next week.
tangles
 
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby RobRehnmark » Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:16 am

@tangles
Would you like to enlighten us as to how all this went?
I'm sitting here with thoughts of an all SSD pool myself now.
It would be be for general storage, video editing, perhaps home directory and maybe even zfs boot if I can get that to work on my Hackintosh.
Super grateful to the people developing OpenZFS on OS X!
RaidZ2 working well for storing my data, OS X Server share for Time Machine, FCPX, iTunes, Photos, etc. on my Hackinstosh.
RobRehnmark
 
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby tangles » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:03 pm

Ran out of time to author a FCP project myself and so wasn’t game to put ZFS into prod. In the end

I just went with HFS+ mirrors.

I’ve since played at home but am yet to bring finished projects home to test properly.
tangles
 
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Re: advice re: SSD pools, ashift and recordsize...

Postby JasonBelec » Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:52 am

Interesting OP setup, not the way I would go but...

I have quite a bit of high end video running here, from Red and Panavision camera's and I'm not sure your going about this the best way, but I don't know your constraints or desire. Currently a new startup's data (all video) is stored here as well.

The SSD should all be strung together and 5 of them would be better. If you want a mirror, then double the setup and do it 'properly'.

Storage should also be mirrored and using copies as well to ensure the greatest recovery options. That said, these days recovery is getting pretty damn good under ZFS - I've had occasion to test it - a lot.

as for the best parameters for ZFS creation, you can try several and test to see what works for you. Just make sure you address recovery.
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