Looking for advice on disk/pooling setup

[luco]

I have now successfully installed Amahi! Yay!
I've been reading about Greyhole, pooling and adding disks etc. and I'm a bit confused on how to use all the tools to accomplish my desired setup. Here's what I have in my server:
HDD1: 1TB WD Black - this drive has the Fedora/Amahi OS
HDD2: 2TB WD Red
HDD3: 2TB WD Red

It appears that Amahi set up its shares on the OS drive by default.

Here's how I was planning to use the drives:
HDD2 - Important data such as pictures, documents etc. and use client PCs/devices with applications to work with those files.
HDD3 - Other files like movies, downloads etc.

I plan to use two external USB drives (1.5TB and 3TB) to backup both of the above: that is one external drive for important files and one for the rest.

I don't know what to do with the extra space on the OS drive. Should this be setup as my Landing Zone?

So, how should I use Amahi shares and Greyhole to accomplish the above? Should I not worry about specifying specific HDDs for type of files/shares and just have one giant pool and then backup the individual shares based on their importance to me?

Another puzzling thing is that here GH says that I shouldn't use it for: files that change often, files that are edited directly from shares (Office files), files that need to be available all the time (e.g. pictures that my users may want to browse).
So, it sounds like I shouldn't use GH at all. Or am I misunderstanding those warnings?

Thank you for any guidance.

p.s. When trying to add HDD2 and HDD3 using the Disk Wizard, I chose to format the entire disk and mount it, but it fails with this error:
#<RuntimeError: Cannot find partition file system with this path /dev/sdb2>.
Any ideas why?

[bigfoot65]

It appears that Amahi set up its shares on the OS drive by default. I don't know what to do with the extra space on the OS drive. Should this be setup as my Landing Zone?

That is what it's being used as now. Where the shares live is the LZ.

Or am I misunderstanding those warnings?

It should be fine for files being viewed, such as pictures. It's the files, live MS Office documents that are frequently edited which should not be handled by Greyhole.

For example, if you has a .pst file for MS Outlook being managed by Greyhole, it would be opened and closed frequently throughout the day. That is the type of file you would not want in the Grehole pool.

So, how should I use Amahi shares and Greyhole to accomplish the above? Should I not worry about specifying specific HDDs for type of files/shares and just have one giant pool and then backup the individual shares based on their importance to me?

I wouldn't separate them on the drives. Just let Greyhole decide where they live and back them up from the original share location, not the Grehole drive. Use Max copies to ensure there is more than one copy should a drive die. Might want to install mount shares locally as well.

p.s. When trying to add HDD2 and HDD3 using the Disk Wizard, I chose to format the entire disk and mount it, but it fails with this error:
#<RuntimeError: Cannot find partition file system with this path /dev/sdb2>.
Any ideas why?

Submit a bug report. Log in using amahi.org credentials, then choose Project, followed by Apps. Finally choose New Issue.

[luco]

Thank you. I have submitted bug #1944 for adding the new disk issue.

OK, so it sounds like I can leave Amahi shares on the OS drive and use that drive for R/W of temporary downloads, work with office files, etc.

Regarding Greyhole, since I only have 4 drive bays and the last bay will likely be used for NVR drive (which obviously is not a good GH candidate due to constant R/W activity) should I even bother with GH? I can see its benefit if one has many drives of various sizes etc., but since I will only have 2x 2TB drives besides the OS drive, should I bother? I can appreciate that if I had say 4TB worth of pictures, it would be easier to have a single 4TB pool called "Pictures across the two drives" rather than one share called Pictures1 on HDD2 and another called Pictures2 on HDD3.
Also, I can see the usefulness of the automatic duplication of important files across the drives in case one fails. But could this just be accomplished with an offline backup to USB drives of specific important shares?

[bigfoot65]

Also, I can see the usefulness of the automatic duplication of important files across the drives in case one fails. But could this just be accomplished with an offline backup to USB drives of specific important shares?

Yes. It's a matter of personal preference here. If you intend to back up files from the HDA drives, then Greyhole might just be extra overhead in your network.

Best to keep it simple and use one method, Greyhole or external backup.

[luco]

Thanks again.

Regarding the Disk Wizard bug, shall I follow this manual guide to add my new disk?
I have 2 disks to add, so perhaps I can try to add one manually and the next one with the Disk Wizard if the bug is resolved in time or if I can help with any testing of that app.

[bigfoot65]

Might be best to follow that guidance.

As for the Disk Wizard, it may be that you needed to remove all partitions on the drives before using it.

[luco]

I hope I can continue my troubleshooting of adding new drives here. If it's better, I will copy the post below into a new thread.

I have tried to educate myself on using 'parted' utility from the command line, but I still cannot seem to add the new drives. Using parted, I was able to determine that both of the HDDs I would like to add have gpt partition tables.
I have tried to switch one of them to msdos using "mklabel msdos" command and here's the result:

Code: Select all

[root@localhost ~]# parted /dev/sdc GNU Parted 3.2 Using /dev/sdc Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted) print Model: ATA WDC WD20EFRX-68E (scsi) Disk /dev/sdc: 2000GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B Partition Table: gpt Disk Flags: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 1049kB 2000GB 2000GB primary (parted) mklabel msdos Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdc will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue? Yes/No? yes Error: Partition(s) 1, 2 on /dev/sdc have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. As a result, the old partition(s) will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes. Ignore/Cancel? ignore (parted) print Model: ATA WDC WD20EFRX-68E (scsi) Disk /dev/sdc: 2000GB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B Partition Table: msdos Disk Flags: Number Start End Size Type File system Flags (parted) quit Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab. [root@localhost ~]#

I've then tried to use Disk Wizard, but it gave me the same error I've listed in the original post above.
How should I proceed here?

I'm simply trying to wipe whatever is on both HDDs, format them, and add them to my server.

[luco]

Well, I will answer my own post with...: Success!

I was able to execute the commands in this tutorial.
However, I would add/change some steps in the tutorial as I was confused whether I should continue as written. Here's what I did following the tutorial with my steps added in red:

parted /dev/sdb
1. mklabel msdos (answer yes when prompted, then answer Ignore if prompted)
2. mkpart primary 0% 100%
3. quit

Reboot your server by typing reboot.

Then I was able to continue the tutorial by formatting the partition etc. I couldn't see sdb1 until I rebooted my server.
After formatting the partition, I was able to use the Disk Wizard and add and mount my new HDDs.
Now, I'm off to move my shares around to those new drives.

I'm still trying to figure out how to use the remaining space on the OS drive under the "/dev/sda3" partition. Perhaps I should install GH afterall and let it duplicate my important files from sdb1 to that partition.

[bigfoot65]

Ok, so sounds like you have this sorted out now.

Can this thread be closed?

[luco]

Yes, please close the thread.

Thanks for the help!