====== How we setup the filesytem on our flexbufs ======


===== The really short version =====

  * We use ZFS
  * 6 raidz's with 6 disks
  * Use a 4k alignment for the disks
  * Set set xattr=sa for each pool
  * Use vdev aliases for the disks

===== Create a vdev alias mapping =====


You should make your vdev alias mapping first to be able to use F0-5 as disk names for your pool. 
F0-5 are the disk vdev names. This does not work by default you need to make a vdev alias mapping first to be able to use this. 
We do this because it makes it easy to find a disk in the system. F0 means slot zero in the front. Because we map it to the pci path instead of the disk, we can replace a disk and it will get the correct vdev name automatically. The only thing to keep in mind is that the pci path could change if you add a pci device to the system. 

Your first step is to know where each disk is in your system a nice identifier is the serial number of the disk. So write these down with the slot they are I. 
Install smartmontools on your system and set it up to send emails when disks start failing!
When you have done that use smartmontools to find which device belongs to which path.
  sudo smartctl -i /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000\:83\:00.0-sas-phy1-lun-0 
Then add this to your vdev file with an alias name.  Create it in /etc/zfs/vdev_id.conf. Do this for all disks

Heres an example 
  alias F0        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy3-lun-0
  alias F1        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy2-lun-0
  alias F2        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy1-lun-0
  alias F3        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy0-lun-0
  alias F4        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy7-lun-0
  alias F5        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy6-lun-0
  alias F6        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy5-lun-0
  alias F7        pci-0000:01:00.0-sas-phy4-lun-0

  alias F8        pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy3-lun-0
  alias F9        pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy2-lun-0
  alias F10       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy1-lun-0
  alias F11       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy0-lun-0
  alias F12       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy7-lun-0
  alias F13       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy6-lun-0
  alias F14       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy5-lun-0
  alias F15       pci-0000:02:00.0-sas-phy4-lun-0

One of our config files note that the file name should be vdev_id.conf not .txt [[http://www.jive.nl/jivewiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=vdev_id.txt]]


Look closely you will see there is some logic to it so you don't have to probe all your disks.
After editing the file you need to update your vdev entries by running:
  sudo udevadm trigger   
 
If you want to check if its correct you can do the same smartctl command but with the vdev instead of the pci path.

  sudo smartctl -i /dev/disk/by-vdev/F0

Create a zfs pool

  zpool create -o  ashift=12 -m /mnt/disk0 disk0 raidz  F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

What does this mean?

Zpool create is the command used to create a new pool

-o  is set an option, ashift=12 means 4096b disk alignment 
Most disk these days use a sector size of 4096b instead of 512b
Since it is not possible to replace a 512b disk with 4096 disk if the pool is aligned at 512b  we recommend aligning the pool at 4096b even though you are using 512b disks this to be future proof.

-m is to set the mount point, by defailt the mount point is the pool name. We set it to /mnt/disk0

disk0 is the pool name

raidz is the  raid type raidz is the zfs equivalent of raid5. We use this so we have 1 redundant disk per 6 disks. 

F0-5 are the disk vdev names. 

If the zfs create command complaints there is already a partition on the disk add -f to the command.
Then it will happily destroy whatever is on the disks to create your pool. Be careful. Think twice.
zpool create -f -o  ashift=12 -m /mnt/disk0 disk0 raidz  F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

Check if it all went well.
  sudo zpool status 

Then set xattr=sa its a linux specific setting so there is a change you cannot import the pool on a non linux system. 
  sudo zfs set xattr=sa poolname