What is our primary use case?
I use Oracle ZFS on my servers and all my VMs run on Oracle ZFS redundant arrays. My NAS which is a separate unit is running TrueNAS and I'm running five drives in an Oracle ZFS array. We have a lot of redundancy there, which has saved us from having a critical data disaster at least three times already in the last five years.
What is most valuable?
Oracle ZFS is very fast and it is efficient. It has outperformed any hardware array controller that I've ever come across. With Oracle ZFS on my NAS, which is running five, four terabyte drives, when I've had a drive failure and changed one out, it'll rebuild that array in two hours, or maybe less. When you think you're rebuilding almost four terabytes of data redundancy, that's pretty good using an old AMD Turion hardware, that's nothing to complain about.
The data reliability has stood out, it is reliable.
What needs improvement?
Oracle ZFS does what I've asked it to do, and it has done it very efficiently. The only time I'm running into issues is with Proxmox. If I run ZFS drives, I find my RAM usage is very high. However, I don't have that problem with the TrueNAS system, where I'm running an old N36 Turion with four gigabytes of RAM, and that's running 24/7. There have been no issues with such a low-powered environment there, it works fine, but with Proxmox it seems to go slow.
The ability to upsize and downsize an array can be difficult.
In a feature release, it would be a benefit to have the ability to add an extra drive onto that pool as a spare. This would allow it to automatically rebuild the array onto the standby drive if there is a failure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Oracle ZFS for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Oracle ZFS is highly stable.
The solution is phenomenal in terms of picking up the warnings on pending drive failure through smart monitoring. When you pull the drive out and rebuild the array, with the new drives, it's been incredibly fast and I have not lost data. I think I've had to rebuild three types, so I can't complain about that.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is not something that I've had a lot of experience with. In terms of testing I have noticed you are unable to add a new drive onto the Oracle ZFS array, and then have it rebuilt with a new number of drives. You need to back up the data and build the new array and put the data back. In terms of dynamic sizing, and dynamics scaling, I haven't been able to accomplish them yet. I don't know whether that is supported or not, but I haven't been able to do it.
I have had some issues with scaling the solution.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had to contact the support.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't have any problems with the implementation of Oracle ZFS.
The TrueNAS is integrated into Oracle ZFS. When the drives are set up, you are able to choose ZFS, which ZFS format you want to use, and the level of ZFS you want to use. It is all done by the GUI which is nice and easy. The only problem is with Proxmox, which is possibly a Proxmox problem more than an Oracle ZFS issue. Proxmox could improve by having the ability to add a drive that isn't completely cleaned. For example, you could clean that drive and then configure it within Proxmox. That's probably the only glitch I've had with it.
When you add a new physical drive onto Proxmox, the drive has to be completely free of any data and any partition information. If it even has partition information on it, Proxmox won't see it. You have to wipe that drive first. However, in terms of the Oracle ZFS setup within Proxmox, it is all done by the GUI. Additionally, you can do it by the command line, but it's easy through the GUI. I did not even have to use the command line to set up Oracle ZFS. The functionality that's been built is either the Proxmox or TrueNAS has been very easy to do.
I would rate the implementation of Oracle ZFS a five out of five.
What about the implementation team?
I did the implementation of Oracle ZFS myself.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others thinking about implementing Oracle ZFS is to look at the options that are out there, get to know the pros and cons, and assess what your needs are going to be before you choose a deployment. I would recommend taking close look at Oracle ZFS.
For my clients, it is about me learning the solution and getting familiar with the intricacy of the systems before I go and advocate it. It doesn't help if go and advocate something that I've got limited experience and then can't support.
I rate Oracle ZFS an eight out of ten.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
