ZFS Storage Architecture

ZFS Storage Architecture

Terra utilizes ZFS for primary data storage, leveraging its advanced features for data integrity, snapshots, and caching.

🏊 Pools

🚀 main (SSD Pool)

• Hardware: Raid-Z2 (6x 2TB SSD)
• Total Capacity: ~12TB Raw
• Use Case: High-performance data, VM disks, Docker root, and active AppData.
• L2ARC: 48GB limit (leveraging NVMe partitions).

🐘 bulk (HDD Pool)

• Hardware: Raid-Z1 (4x 12TB HDD)
• Total Capacity: ~48TB Raw
• Use Case: Large media storage, backups, and long-term archival.
• Special VDEV: Mirrored NVMe partitions used for metadata offloading to speed up file listing on HDDs.

📂 Key Datasets & Mounts

• /srv: Docker-compose configuration files (Stored on main).
• /main/appdata: Primary persistent storage for containers (Stored on main).
• /bulk/pics: Family photo/video archive (Stored on bulk).

🛡️ Health & Maintenance

🔍 Automated Monitoring (smartd)

Drive health is monitored via smartmontools with automated short and long self-tests configured to email results. Test schedules are staggered to prevent resource contention.

• NVMe (2x 500GB): Short tests daily at 1am & 2am; Long tests quarterly on the 1st-2nd.
• HDD (4x 12TB): Short tests daily at 3am-6am; Long tests on the 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th of each month.
• SSD (6x 2TB): Short tests daily from 1am-6am; Long tests quarterly on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th.

🧹 ZFS Scrubbing

A scrub is performed automatically on the 3rd Sunday of every month to ensure data integrity and prevent bitrot.

Scrub Schedule (Cron): 24 0 15-21 * * root if [ $(date +\%w) -eq 0 ] && [ -x /usr/lib/zfs-linux/scrub ]; then /usr/lib/zfs-linux/scrub; fi