storage on Kevin Heruer

Using the same dataset mounted on an app and share it via SMB

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 01:00:00 +0100

Discovering the intricacies of dataset management can sometimes seem like an overwhelming puzzle. But, after a lot of learning and tinkering, I’ve finally mastered a method to concurrently mount a dataset and share it via SMB.

Why is This Important?

You might wonder, why go through all this trouble? Here’s my use case: I frequently upload videos to my Plex dataset, which is integrated with my Plex TrueNAS app. The conventional approach was to nest a dataset and mount the child dataset while concurrently sharing the parent dataset via SMB. This method, however, became nonviable following an update from TrueNAS.

Fortunately, it opened up two alternatives. The first is to disable host path validation, while the second merges the strengths of NFS and SMB shares using TrueCharts.

Why I Chose the Second Option

Given that I was already utilizing TrueCharts, the second option was more appealing. The process is simple: instead of the traditional host path, I employed the NFS option in the volume mount of the app. Prior to this change, it’s essential to establish the NFS share.

This decision ensured that I could still manually upload videos to my Plex dataset without any disruption or the need for workarounds. By integrating NFS and SMB shares via TrueCharts, I created a more robust and efficient solution.

Seagate Skyhawk Drives suck! Part 2

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 01:00:00 +0100

Last post was about the Seagate Skyhawk HDDs and how they seemed to die like flies. I replaced them with some Toshibas (which are noisier btw) but I wanted to be 100% sure if they were actually dying, so I put them in an external HDD caddy and read out the S.M.A.R.T values. Turns out there is nothing wrong with them??? I also used CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark and they seem to be fine.

So the next thing on the list is the RAM, it’s possible the RAM is faulty and makes the system do unexpected things. They are non ECC because I’m running consumer grade hardware but that shouldn’t be the issue, so now I loaded half of the sticks into my desktop and I’m running MemTest86 to see if I can find anything.

So now I have 3x 4TB drives extra, I can’t put them back into the system because they’re 5700RPM instead of the 7200 the others are running on. An alternative for them would be to use them as backup drives, I still have an old 2-bay Synology NAS and backing up the critical stuff shoulnd’t be even close to 4TB making it perfect to run them in mirror.

Seagate Skyhawk Drives suck!

Sat, 08 Oct 2022 20:00:00 +0100

The Seagate Skyhawk drives are advertised as “surveillance” drives, this basically means that its made for lots of write actions.

But let me give you some backstory, I currently run a TrueNAS Scale server with 8TB in total in one pool split among 3 mirrored vdevs. 2 of these vdevs are 2 mirrored 2TB Skyhawks, the other and most recent one is a 4TB mirrored Toshiba vdev.

In a timespan of 2 years this server has run (1.5 years on Proxmox), I had to replace 3 Seagate drives. 1 2TB and both the 4TB ones. I know these drives arent made for read/write but still, they tend do die pretty quick with my setup. And the temperatures arent extremely high either.

I’ll be testing the Toshiba 4TB drives to see if they keep up better since these are advertised as NAS drives.

So at the bottom line, I do NOT recommend Seagate Skyhawk drives as a cheap option for your server, get something else that’s a bit more expensive instead. It’ll be cheaper in the end ;)

P.S. The drives were advertised as 7200 RPM at tweakers.net but in reality they’re 5400 RPM. The drives in queston are the ST4000VX013 models. Turns out I had to do some more research before buying, but they are the cheapest (at time of writing).

Increasing VM disk size: Final edition

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:47:00 +0100

This post merges both A little follow up on this post and Increasing Disk Size on Existing VM and fixes a couple of mistakes.

First off, go to your Proxmox host. Run the resize command:

bash


qm resize <vmid> <disk> <size>

where vmid is the ID in your VM ID, disk is the identifier of the disk inside the VM, it’s most likely to be scsi0. size is the size you want to add or remove, something like +100G or +1T is both valid.

Now go into your VM, run the following command to check if the system has notices a disk resize:

bash


dmesg | grep sda

Where sda is the disk, it could be vda or sdb.

Run the following command to get your disk and display the partitions, remember to change sda if required.

bash


fdisk -l /dev/sda | grep ^/dev

Remember the number of the partition you want to increase, it’s most likely the biggest one.

Run the following command to open parted with the drive:

bash


parted /dev/sda

Run a list to check if everything is recognized correctly and run the following command:

bash


resizepart <partition number, integer only> 100%

You could change the 100% to add only a percentage of the free space and add the remaining space to another partition, but to keep it simple we’ll give it all to this partition.

If it asks to fix the unused space type F to fix it, if it asks for a partition number and size; just put in the values like above.

Ctrl-C out of Parted and run df -h, you’ll notice that you still do not have your extra space! Run pvresize /dev/<block> to start resizing, remember to subsitute <block> with your partition like sda3.

Now run lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv and resize2fs /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv to actually resize your LVM partition. Remember to replace /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv with your LVM partition, you can find it by running df -h and looking for the one mounted on /.

That’s it! The drive has been expanded and readily available, no need to reboot!

Sources:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Resize_disks

Follow up on increasing existing VM disk size

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 13:47:57 +0100

A little follow up on this post: Increasing Disk Size on Existing VM Disk

When extending an LVM system you should also run the following commands:

pvresize /dev/sda3 (replace with your partition)

lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv (replace with your lvm partition)

resize2fs /dev/mapper/dev/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv (again replace with your lvm partition)

storage on Kevin Heruer

Using the same dataset mounted on an app and share it via SMB

The Efficacy of Mounting a Dataset and Sharing It via SMB Simultaneously

Why is This Important?

Why I Chose the Second Option

Further Reading

Seagate Skyhawk Drives suck! Part 2

Seagate Skyhawk Drives suck!

Increasing VM disk size: Final edition

Follow up on increasing existing VM disk size