FreeBSD Home NAS: ZFS Mirror Configuration Guide

This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough for configuring a FreeBSD-based home NAS using a ZFS mirror, which offers data protection similar to RAID1. The process begins with selecting appropriate hardware, focusing on components that ensure compatibility and performance for a storage server.

The installation phase involves setting up the FreeBSD operating system on a dedicated boot drive, followed by the critical steps of creating and configuring a mirrored ZFS pool across two data drives. The guide concludes with instructions on creating datasets to manage stored files efficiently, establishing a complete and resilient storage solution.

Building a reliable home NAS starts with choosing the right components. The guide recommends a motherboard with sufficient SATA ports to accommodate the boot device and at least two data drives for the mirror. This ensures direct connectivity without relying on additional expansion cards.

Memory is another critical factor for ZFS performance. The article specifies that a minimum of 8 GB of RAM is required for stable operation, as ZFS uses system memory extensively for caching and data integrity checks. For storage, the guide advises using two identical hard drives to form the mirror, which will contain the primary data.

Before beginning the installation, it is essential to prepare the installation media. A USB drive with the FreeBSD installer is needed to boot the system and initiate the setup process. The guide suggests downloading the latest FreeBSD release to ensure access to the most recent features and security updates.

The installation begins by booting the target machine from the prepared FreeBSD USB installer. The process follows the standard sysinstall utility, which guides the user through several configuration steps. It is important to select the "Install" option to begin the fresh installation of the operating system.

During the partitioning phase, the guide recommends allocating the entire boot drive to the FreeBSD system. This drive will host the operating system itself and should be kept separate from the main data storage pool. The installer will prompt for the distribution sets; a minimal installation is sufficient for a server, selecting only the base system and kernel.

After the base system files are copied, the installer will configure the network, set the time zone, and allow for the creation of a root user and at least one additional user account. Once these steps are complete, the system will install the boot loader and prompt for a reboot. At this point, the core operating system is installed, but the data storage pool has not yet been created.

With the base system running, the focus shifts to configuring the storage. The guide instructs the user to open a terminal and identify the two data drives that will be used for the mirror. This is typically done using command-line tools to list all connected block devices and note their identifiers, such as /dev/ada1 and /dev/ada2.

To create the mirrored pool, a specific ZFS command is used. The command structure involves specifying the pool name, the mirror keyword, and the identifiers for both disks. For example, a command might look like zpool create tank mirror ada1 ada2. This instructs ZFS to write data to both drives simultaneously, providing redundancy.

Once the command is executed, ZFS will create the pool and mount it automatically. The guide verifies that the pool status can be checked to confirm the mirror is active and healthy. This step successfully establishes the primary storage space where all user data will eventually reside, protected against a single drive failure.

After the main pool is created, the guide recommends creating datasets to organize files. Datasets function like folders but offer independent properties and snapshots. This allows for granular control over different types of data stored on the NAS.

The article suggests creating separate datasets for different purposes, such as media, documents, and backups. This can be accomplished with the zfs create command followed by the desired path, for instance, zfs create tank/media. Each dataset is created as a child of the main pool.

By separating data into distinct datasets, users can manage permissions, compression settings, and snapshot schedules on a per-category basis. This finalizes the initial configuration, resulting in a fully functional and organized home NAS ready for data storage.