FreeNAS, HP Microserver N40L, and some loose drives

I've got a bunch of mismatched drives, and I wanted to use them. I also wanted to be able to drop the smallest and replace it with a larger disk.

 I bought a Drobo FS, it's cute but I'm underwhelmed by the performance.

Taking inspiration from nowhereman's post, I've done it with FreeNAS.

Presently I have 250G, 750G, 750G, and 1500G.

d0	d1	d2	d3
120	120	-	120
120	-	120	120
-	300	300	300
-	300	300	300

method:

# 250

gpart create -s gpt /dev/ada0 

gpart add -b 128 -t freebsd-swap -s 4194304 ada0                                

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l alpha_0 ada0

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l bravo_0 ada0                                                                            

gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr-datadisk /dev/ada0                                                          

# 750

gpart create -s gpt /dev/ada1

gpart add -b 128 -t freebsd-swap -s 4194304 ada1

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l alpha_1 ada1

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l charlie_0 ada1

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l delta_0 ada1                                                                          

gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr-datadisk /dev/ada1

# 750

gpart create -s gpt /dev/ada2

gpart add -b 128 -t freebsd-swap -s 4194304 ada2                                

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l bravo_1 ada2

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l charlie_1 ada2

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l delta_1 ada2

gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr-datadisk /dev/ada2

# 1500

gpart create -s gpt /dev/ada3 

gpart add -b 128 -t freebsd-swap -s 4194304 ada3                           

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l alpha_2 ada3

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 240000000 -l bravo_2 ada3                                                                          

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l charlie_2 ada3

gpart add -t freebsd-zfs -s 600000000 -l delta_2 ada3

gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr-datadisk /dev/ada3

# force ashift=12

for ROW in alpha bravo charlie delta; do

  for COL in 0 1 2; do

    gnop create -S 4096 gpt/${ROW}_${COL}

  done

done

zpool create -f tank \

-m /mnt/tank \

raidz gpt/alpha_0.nop   gpt/alpha_1.nop   gpt/alpha_2.nop \

raidz gpt/bravo_0.nop   gpt/bravo_1.nop   gpt/bravo_2.nop \

raidz gpt/charlie_0.nop gpt/charlie_1.nop gpt/charlie_2.nop \

raidz gpt/delta_0.nop   gpt/delta_1.nop   gpt/delta_2.nop

zpool export tank

for ROW in alpha bravo charlie delta; do

  for COL in 0 1 2; do

    gnop destroy gpt/${ROW}_${COL}.nop

  done

done

And then auto-import the volume from the FreeNAS web interface.