Using ZFS with little RAM?

1

I have an Acer EasyStore with a RAID5 mdraid array I use for storing my home files (photos, movies, etc), and I want to migrate it to ZFS with Ubuntu (the native kernel module from zfsonlinux.org).

I hear that ZFS needs a lot of RAM, but the EasyStore only has 2 GB. The RAIDZ will be three 1.5GB disks, and I'm wondering if ZFS won't work with 2 GB of RAM. What problems, if any, am I likely to see? Performance isn't a concern, as long as it can stream HD movies in real time, which is basically the use case this computer sees.

Stavros Korokithakis

Posted 2012-12-12T11:10:01.513

Reputation: 283

Yes, my ZFS NAS runs fine with just 2 GB of memory. The performance isn't stellar (which may be more to do with the network, or the CPU), but it can certainly stream HD films.

– sblair – 2012-12-13T00:31:07.030

Answers

2

It will work, even with a small RAM footprint. ZFS uses RAM as a caching layer and for some of the advanced features like deduplication. Don't expect any boost in performance over what you have now, though.

ewwhite

Posted 2012-12-12T11:10:01.513

Reputation: 1 037

That's fine, I only want it for the improved RAID capabilities, checksumming and various other features. Thank you. – Stavros Korokithakis – 2012-12-12T11:40:23.600

Asked: 2012-12-12T11:10:01.513

Viewed: 354 times

Active: 2012-12-13T00:09:03.923