01 - Proxmox + MergerFS + SnapRAID

Date: 2025-12-19
Hostname: pve
IP address: 192.168.0.109
Web UI: https://192.168.0.109:8006

📋 Hardware Configuration¶

NVMe SSD (238.5 GB)¶

/dev/nvme0n1
├─ nvme0n1p1: EFI partition (1007K)
├─ nvme0n1p2: /boot/efi (1GB)
└─ nvme0n1p3: LVM physical volume (237GB)
   ├─ pve-swap: 8GB (swap)
   ├─ pve-root: 60GB (/)
   └─ pve-data: ~150GB (VM/LXC storage)

HDD disks¶

/dev/sda: 5.5TB - Data disk
  └─ /dev/sda1: ext4, Label: data1
     UUID: YOUR_DISK1_UUID
     Mount: /mnt/disk1

/dev/sdb: 5.5TB - Parity disk
  └─ /dev/sdb1: ext4, Label: data2
     UUID: YOUR_DISK2_UUID
     Mount: /mnt/disk2

🔧 Proxmox Installation¶

Installation parameters¶

Target disk: /dev/nvme0n1 (256GB NVMe SSD)

Options:
├─ Filesystem: ext4
├─ hdsize: [empty] (full disk)
├─ swapsize: 8
├─ maxroot: 60
├─ minfree: 16
└─ maxvz: [empty] (auto)

Network:
├─ Hostname: pve.local
├─ IP Address: 192.168.0.109/24
├─ Gateway: 192.168.0.1
└─ DNS: 192.168.0.1

Resulting layout¶

256GB NVMe SSD:
├─ /boot/efi:      1 GB   (EFI partition)
├─ /boot:          1 GB   (Boot partition)
├─ LVM pve:
│  ├─ pve-root:   60 GB   (OS + Docker images)
│  ├─ pve-swap:    8 GB   (Virtual memory)
│  ├─ pve-data:  ~150 GB  (VM/LXC disks)
│  └─ free:       16 GB   (Expansion reserve)

📦 Repository Configuration¶

Disable enterprise repo¶

mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources.bak
mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.sources /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.sources.bak

Enable no-subscription repo¶

File: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.sources

Types: deb
URIs: http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve
Suites: trixie
Components: pve-no-subscription

System update¶

apt update
apt upgrade -y

💾 HDD Configuration¶

1. Partitioning and formatting¶

Disk 1 (Data)¶

parted /dev/sda mklabel gpt
parted /dev/sda mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%
mkfs.ext4 -L data1 /dev/sda1

Disk 2 (Parity)¶

parted /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%
mkfs.ext4 -L data2 /dev/sdb1

2. Create mount points¶

mkdir -p /mnt/disk1
mkdir -p /mnt/disk2
mkdir -p /mnt/storage

3. fstab configuration¶

File: /etc/fstab

# 2x 5.5TB HDD mounts
UUID=YOUR_DISK1_UUID  /mnt/disk1  ext4  defaults,noatime  0  2
UUID=YOUR_DISK2_UUID  /mnt/disk2  ext4  defaults,noatime  0  2

4. Mount and verify¶

systemctl daemon-reload
mount -a
df -h | grep mnt

Expected output:

/dev/sda1       5.5T  2.1M  5.2T   1% /mnt/disk1
/dev/sdb1       5.5T  2.1M  5.2T   1% /mnt/disk2

🔗 MergerFS Installation and Configuration¶

Installation¶

apt install -y mergerfs

Version: 2.40.2-5

fstab configuration¶

File: /etc/fstab (added)

# MergerFS pool (disk1 only, disk2 = parity)
/mnt/disk1  /mnt/storage  fuse.mergerfs  defaults,allow_other,use_ino,cache.files=partial,dropcacheonclose=true,category.create=mfs  0  0

Mount and verify¶

systemctl daemon-reload
mount /mnt/storage
df -h | grep storage

Expected output:

/mnt/disk1  5.5T  2.1M  5.2T   1% /mnt/storage

Storage structure¶

Storage layout:
├─ /mnt/disk1:    5.5TB (Data disk)
├─ /mnt/disk2:    5.5TB (Parity disk - SnapRAID)
└─ /mnt/storage:  5.5TB (MergerFS pool - disk1 only)
   └─ Docker DATA volumes will go here later!

🛡️ SnapRAID Installation and Configuration¶

Install from source¶

# Dependencies
apt install -y git gcc make autoconf automake libtool

# Download and compile
cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/amadvance/snapraid/releases/download/v12.3/snapraid-12.3.tar.gz
tar xzf snapraid-12.3.tar.gz
cd snapraid-12.3
./configure
make
make install

Installed version: snapraid v12.3

Configuration¶

File: /etc/snapraid.conf

# SnapRAID Configuration

# Parity file (disk2 = 5.5TB parity disk)
parity /mnt/disk2/snapraid.parity

# Content files (backup to multiple locations)
content /var/snapraid.content
content /mnt/disk1/.snapraid.content

# Data disk (disk1 = 5.5TB data)
data d1 /mnt/disk1

# Exclude patterns
exclude *.unrecoverable
exclude /tmp/
exclude /lost+found/
exclude *.!sync
exclude *.tmp

# Autosave
autosave 500

First sync¶

snapraid sync

Automatic sync (cron)¶

crontab -e

Added:

# SnapRAID sync every Sunday at 03:00
0 3 * * 0 /usr/local/bin/snapraid sync

📊 Useful Commands¶

Proxmox¶

# Version check
pve-manager --version

# LVM info
lvdisplay
pvdisplay
vgdisplay

# Storage info
df -h
lsblk

MergerFS¶

# Storage pool check
df -h /mnt/storage

# MergerFS info
cat /proc/mounts | grep mergerfs

SnapRAID¶

# Status
snapraid status

# Manual sync
snapraid sync

# Scrub (data verification)
snapraid scrub

# Check (full verification)
snapraid check

# Recovery (if disk1 fails)
snapraid fix -d d1

🎯 Expansion Options (later)¶

Adding a new data disk¶

Example: adding disk3 (2TB)

Format and mount HDD:

parted /dev/sdc mklabel gpt
parted /dev/sdc mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%
mkfs.ext4 -L data3 /dev/sdc1

# fstab
UUID=<disk3-uuid>  /mnt/disk3  ext4  defaults,noatime  0  2

Expand MergerFS:

# Modify /etc/fstab:
/mnt/disk1:/mnt/disk3  /mnt/storage  fuse.mergerfs  defaults,allow_other,use_ino,cache.files=partial,dropcacheonclose=true,category.create=mfs  0  0

Expand SnapRAID:

# Modify /etc/snapraid.conf:
data d1 /mnt/disk1
data d3 /mnt/disk3  # NEW!

Parity capacity rule¶

IMPORTANT: The parity disk must be at least as large as the LARGEST data disk!

✅ 5.5TB parity → protects: any number of data disks ≤5.5TB
❌ 5.5TB parity → does NOT protect: data disks ≥6TB

Example configuration:

Parity: 1x 5.5TB (disk2)
Data disks:
├─ disk1: 5.5TB
├─ disk3: 2TB
├─ disk4: 2TB
├─ disk5: 1TB
└─ disk6: 1TB

Total: 11.5TB usable storage!

🚀 Next Steps¶

✅ Proxmox installation - DONE
✅ HDD configuration - DONE
✅ MergerFS setup - DONE
✅ SnapRAID setup - DONE
🔄 Docker LXC container creation - NEXT
🔄 Docker installation in LXC
🔄 Backup restoration
🔄 Starting Docker stacks

📝 Backup Script Information¶

Source: /mnt/hdd2/backup/2025-12-19/ (path as it was on the Raspberry Pi - on Proxmox this disk became /mnt/disk4)

Contents: - Docker volumes: /srv/docker/ - User files: /home/nex/ - Log files

Expected backup structure:

/mnt/hdd2/backup/2025-12-19/
├─ docker/
│  ├─ radarr/
│  ├─ sonarr/
│  ├─ jellyfin/
│  ├─ calibre-web-automated/
│  ├─ prowlarr/
│  ├─ bazarr/
│  └─ qbittorrent/
├─ nex_home/
├─ backup.log
├─ rsync_docker.log
└─ rsync_home.log

🔐 Important Passwords and Data¶

Proxmox root password: [WRITE THIS DOWN!]
Web UI: https://192.168.0.109:8006
SSH: ssh root@192.168.0.109

End of documentation
Last updated: 2025-12-19