ZFS Manager (distributed by AURORÆ Solutions)

ZFSmanager is built into our kadath Datawarehouse systems.

For whom

As it is both permissive (i.e. it allows remote execution of commands with elevated privileges) and requires (at least) some technical knowledge, ZFS Manager is usually not suited for end users: Sysadmins, Data managers and/or Power users have the best profile to use it. 

Value

The main goal of the ZFS Manager UI is to let its users quickly access the most helpful indices and functions for daily management of a Datawarehouse on ZFS Host. This includes:
—the creation and management of Filesystems (formatting and configuring Disks arrays, managing ZFS Pools, Filesets, Snapshots and shares/exports)
—the configuration and optimization of the Host Operating System (through Sysctls and including Firewall Rules)
—the surveillance of related system indices (like CPU/Memory Usage, running processes, cache handling & other system logs)
—the ability to remotely stop/start/reboot the Host and the main services related to the Datastores.

How to upgrade existing ZFS pools

One additional (important) step would be to upgrade any existing ZFS pools to the latest version.

Open a shell as root:

   zpool upgrade zroot
   gpart show

For instance, you will see:

  root@ns3322573:~ # gpart show
  =>        40  3907029088  ada0  GPT  (1.8T)
          40        1024     1  freebsd-boot  (512K)
        1064         984        - free -  (492K)
        2048    33554432     2  freebsd-swap  (16G)
    33556480  3873472512     3  freebsd-zfs  (1.8T)
  3907028992         136        - free -  (68K)

On output, note the label of boot disk/pool (ada0) and the id of freebsd-boot partition (1).

Then, update bootcode accordingly:

   gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptzfsboot -i 1 ada0

Check that everything is fine by rebooting immediately, then issuing a scrub and checking the health of your pool:

   reboot
[...]
   zpool scrub zroot
   /root/zfs_health.sh

Supported Hardware

ZFSmanager can be installed on any FreeBSD system and is really valuable with 5+ disks, allowing to perform remote maintenance through a SSH/VPN connection.

For users who require a low-end ZFS Storage unit (home users, professionnals, small businesses...), it is often appropriate to use a reconditionned or unused tower PC (starting at 150 EUR). If necessary, add a backbone for 6x 2,5'' SATA HDDs or SSDs (around 100 EUR) or a backbone for 4x 3.5'' SATA HDDs (around 150 EUR). You may also have to add an additional SATA Controller card or SATA + SAS HBA (around 100 EUR), which is still less than a NAS Appliance and will offer much higher performance and reliability. Of course, we may find, purchase, validate and build the hardware for you.

Building an unexpensive reliable high-end ZFS Storage unit (for AI, Data Mining, A/V or F/X companies) requires a system that supports the FreeBSD OS, a really steady and preferably fanless power supply (Platinum+), as much ECC RAM as you can get (depending on use cases, 32 Gb+ are recommended), 6+ SATA ports, one or more SAS HBAs (JBoD mode) and at least one 10GbE or 40 GbE Networking adapter (unexpensive switches of note supporting 10 GbE are the GS110EMX from Netgear and its successors).

For storage, you should always acquire and use professional disks (like Seagate Ironwolf Pro series or Crucial MX SSDs).