Plex, QTier, SSD Cache, SSD Volume, NEWBIE, Confused :(

[yking90]

Hello folks - apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong section.

I've just got my QNAP TVS-872XT-i5-16GB with 2TB (1x1) of Crucial NVMe SSD's + 4x16TB Seagate SATA.

Now, my primary usage is going to be using it for Plex for myself and for PlexShare over the internet for my friends and family.

I've been reading up on several configuration options and I'm genuinely confused.

Some say, just configure everything as 1 Volume (RAID1 for SSD + RAID5 for SATA) as QTier and it'll be perfect.

Some say, split into 2 volumes, SSD as Volume 1 and SATA as Volume 2 and store ALL Plex related data on Volume 1

Some say, enable SSD cache and forget everything else.

Honestly, I've moved from a Synology which had everything relatively far more simplified, so I'm all confused and I would appreciate if I could get some wise advice on what's the best way to get this configured.

Thanks

[Trexx]

Raid-1 SSD for system volume (will host Plex App, DB, etc). Raid 5/6 the HDDs for all your media and and less critical apps/qpkg’s.

Don’t worry about cache (doesn’t really help for media streaming that much).

QTier is too much of a black box that you really can’t control.

Get a UPS and good backup solution and you are good to go. I assume you already have Plex pass.



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[Moogle Stiltzkin]

just to expand on what trex talked about.

The raid1 (SSDs) is static volume. You get the best performance but you cannot use features like snapshots on it.

The raid5/6 (HDDs) will be setup as either thick or thin volume, which is under a pool. I'm not sure about thin, but thick volume will let you use snapshot feature.

There is a explanation here about it
https://www.qnap.com/en/how-to/knowledg ... ck-volume/

I've used ssd cache acceleration before, but i think it's probably best for getting your data stored on the hdd raid array to achieve the speeds for 10gbe by caching on the faster ssd? or at least thats what the article says
https://blog.qnap.com/10gbe-walkthrough-en/

or if you want the files stored on the hdds to have better access latency (so you would use ssd cache acceleration)

i installed QTS on the ssd raid1 single static volume for a more responsive QTS. Same reason why people have their OS installed on SSD rather a HDD.

To ensure QTS is installed on the SSD, you create the ssd raid1 first (in storage management), then this gets designated as cachedev1 which means that QTS will be installed there. Your hdd raid5/6 created next will be cachedev2.

[yking90]

Thanks guys - so what you recommend is I create 2 Volumes: 1) SSD on RAID 1 and 2) RAID 5 with the HDDs and then install Plex and system apps on SSD. How can I instruct QTS to be installed on SSD Volume?

[Trexx]

Only have the SSDs installed in the NAS during initial setup. After that is done you install the HDDSs and set them up as a 2nd volume.


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[yking90]

Great thanks. But how do I get to move the QNAP OS onto the SSD?

[yking90]

I think I figured it out (found another post by you @Trexx viewtopic.php?t=132008)

So basically, if I've reset my NAS, I simply have SSD's installed.

As I go through the system initialisation procedure, once all set, I simply create a RAID 1 volume via the SSDs.

Post that, simply power off, manually insert the SATA HDDs and power on and I should be ok right?

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Great thanks. But how do I get to move the QNAP OS onto the SSD?

if your QNAP is already setup, as in you already created a volume, raid etc. then you would need to begin again from scratch, which is to reinitialize (which formats = deletes everything). So you'd recover your data later from a backup stored elsewhere. (anytime you do a reinitialize, make sure to have a backup first. In fact, always have a backup handy)

After initial reinitialize. First thing you do is go to storage manager.

Like mentioned earlier, the FIRST volume created, is where the QTS will be installed into. Hence why you should create the raid1 ssd FIRST! Once you done that, your set.

Well, you can then create the separate HDD raid5/6 array for your 2nd volume. This is where you will be storing most of your data.

The SSD will contain your QTS, and your apps (because ssd is fastest and more responsive). The HDDs is best for storing large amounts of data, because it's storage capacity per dollar is way cheaper than SSD, so makes sense.

I think I figured it out (found another post by you @Trexx viewtopic.php?t=132008)

So basically, if I've reset my NAS, I simply have SSD's installed.

As I go through the system initialisation procedure, once all set, I simply create a RAID 1 volume via the SSDs.

Post that, simply power off, manually insert the SATA HDDs and power on and I should be ok right?

tbh i'm not sure leaving hdds out is required any longer? the reason for this last time was because the initialization process was different. The new method is after initialization, you can immediately go to QTS then go to storage manager to setup. The older process was that you would do this during the very beginning during the initialization setup. That was why we left the hdds out first during the initial setup. But i'm not sure that this applies any longer.

As long as you create the SSD raid first, then you are as good as gold.

When i did mine, i booted up with both the SSDs and HDDs inserted already. And i confirmed that SSD was designated as cachedev1 so seems to work fine without having to shutdown, insert hdd and boot up again.

[yking90]

Excellent! Thank you once again guys for your prompt responses

Maybe I'm going over the top, but do you reckon I should invest in an additional SSD (installed via the spare PCIe slot) so I can use that for caching or is that way over the top?

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

are you planning on doing 10gbe networking?

if not than i'm not really sure you need it? since your qnap is already installed on the existing ssd.

or does anyone else have a in favor for ssd cache acceleration argument to make for his setup?

[Toxic17]

Only have the SSDs installed in the NAS during initial setup. After that is done you install the HDDSs and set them up as a 2nd volume.

Paul

I'm going to reconfigure my 473 like this soon. is it worth setting the initial m.2 SSD volume as thick or thin?

[yking90]

are you planning on doing 10gbe networking?

Nope!

[Trexx]

Only have the SSDs installed in the NAS during initial setup. After that is done you install the HDDSs and set them up as a 2nd volume.

Paul

I'm going to reconfigure my 473 like this soon. is it worth setting the initial m.2 SSD volume as thick or thin?

Depends if you are going to use snapshots.

If yes to snapshots then I would go thin as they are most space efficient. If no snapshots then I would go static volume for performance.




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[yking90]

Folks - another question.

So I've initialised the QNAP with the NVMe SSD RAID1 (without HDDs) and have installed Plex Media Server and configured it (obviously without setting library folders).

I shut down the QNAP and have now loaded my HDDs.

Is it ok for me to configure it as a single static volume and just allocate the max size available? I don't want to use Snapshots and/or Qtier - as I had mentioned, I'm primarily using it for Plex with my media collection which I'd share using PlexPass online with friends & family.

I intend to simply create multiple shared folders on the single volume (Apps, Media, etc).

Is there any noted benefit, in my case above, to create separate "volumes" for them rather than just shared folders in the 1 static volume?

Thanks

[Trexx]

I personally would configure your HDD's in a storage pool which give you the most flexibility long-term, even if you don't use snapshots/etc. day one. Things like snapshot volumes for those irreplaceable home videos/pictures, etc. are something you may want/use down the road (or some other new feature they add later).

Plex streaming uses very minimal data throughput (<1Gb/sec) so any performance difference between a static volume and storage pool isn't going to matter.

Create 1 volume (I would go thick since you aren't using snapshots, you can always change to thin later) and then create your separate shared folders (documents/media/etc.).