Server Hardware Questions

Server
1

I’m looking to spec out a new server and have a couple questions…

  1. Does the NVMe write-cache drive also need to be the OS drive? Or do I install the OS on an SSD and then have a separate NVMe write-cache drive?

  2. Do all drives need to be formatted as btrfs or just the RAID drives? Like does the Linux OS drive need to be btrfs too or format it as ext4 like normal?

2

From your history I am assuming this is about the appliance?

  1. Having a separate SSDs/NVMes for OS and cache would be optimal, but it can also run with both on the same. The cache NVMe usually gets more use.

  2. The OS/cache disks are btrfs and the RAID disks ext4 (if you have a cache), but this is only an implementation detail and not something you can change.

3

Yes in the past I have used the appliance. But after asking the question the other day and trying to remember what happened before, this time around I’m considering going with a windows build. I don’t know Linux very well and when I had problems before I felt lost when troubleshooting.

So I realize my previous question doesn’t apply to a Windows server. For a Windows build, do you recommend JBOD with windows Storage Spaces or hardware RAID for the backup target volume?