I'm in the process of migrating from VMWare to Proxmox, and I'm curious about switching from our hardware RAID setup to ZFS. Many reputable sources and users seem to agree that ZFS is the best filesystem to use, especially for server applications, as long as it's not on ESXi. The main downsides I've come across are a slight increase in CPU and RAM usage, but that doesn't bother me much. So, is ZFS really as good as everyone says? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
6 Answers
I love ZFS for small setups! It has incredible tooling and features that really make managing storage enjoyable. But I guess it's a bit different when scaling up. Have you tried playing around with ZFS yet? It'll surprise you!
No filesystem is perfect, including ZFS. It’s robust and offers a lot of features suited for specific scenarios, though it may not be the best in every case. I would say carefully weigh its pros and cons against your specific setup to see if it's truly worth ditching your RAID setup for it.
Good point! Regardless of the filesystem, always ensure you have solid backups in place.
ZFS can be a bit slow compared to other filesystems like XFS and EXT4, especially with SSDs. It was originally optimized for traditional hard drives, so for best performance, you might need to tweak settings like record sizes and compression types before deploying it live. Just a heads up, troubleshooting ZFS performance can be a bit of a headache, so plan your tuning carefully!
My experience aligns with this. ZFS is unpredictable performance-wise, so keep that in mind, especially if you're using it for VMs.
Recent updates to ZFS have improved its performance on SSDs, but you're right that it still has some catching up to do against XFS or EXT4.
You definitely need adequate CPU and RAM to run ZFS efficiently. It's not a lightweight solution, especially if you're aiming for speed. ZFS with RAIDZ can perform well but a ZFS setup with lots of heavy tasks can slow down as it requires careful planning for metadata and writes, particularly for large data volumes. Just keep that in mind!
Agreed. Though, with innovations in deduplication, the resources being used are less intensive than before.
I've been running Proxmox with ZFS for years in a datacenter and honestly, I've had no issues or regrets. It's been solid and reliable.
ZFS is great with the right setup! But if you have a hardware RAID that works, it might be wise to stick with it unless you're ready to tweak ZFS for optimal performance. The migration can introduce unexpected issues. It’s tempting to make the switch but think through the costs and how it matches your needs.
I'm fairly new to all this, and your advice makes sense. I want to make the shift while keeping stability in mind. Thanks for the insight!
Any tips on getting started with ZFS? I've tried it a couple of times, and it always felt a bit daunting.