Dear all,
I am running two nodes already. A third one is online as well but it is too slow and I am going to kill it for good.
The first node I have is on windows 10, a 10 years old pc with 16GB of ram, is full since a few years. It is not doing much, it just stays full, online time etc is fine. I could add a second HDD to this computer and install a second node on the very same pc. I have found used 10 TB drives at a good price and I am tempted.
At the same time I understand windows does not perform that well in terms of performance. I have already installed Linux and I know how to do it, but then using Linux I am not used to. I also have little time (work and family absorb the rest) and no hardware lying around.
So my questions are:
Is my windows node adequate to run a node with 10TB or bigger?
By reading here and there I understand that hardware requirements are rising. I read that having ssds to put databases on is useful, that having lots of ram (64GB or more) is also useful.
What should I do? I might even have access to a 4 TB drive for free. Is that helpful though? Seems to me that those drives are too small nowadays. And again would windows be ok?
I wouldn’t expand unless your current disks are full. If you do expand, use the opportunity to learn more Linux + Docker . You have plenty of RAM. A 4TB HDD is too small: because the first 2TB used is really only paying to run the node, and you lose 1TB to filesystem-overhead and spare-space… so you’re only profiting on 1TB each month.
But in the end, yeah Windows would work: slap an extra 10TB in there and start making some coins if you want!
I mean, to some extent, just run with whatever you got. Windows, raspberry pi, whatever. It will work. Or at least it will work up to a certain node size. tipping point may be in the 6TB to 10TB range, depending. After that there may be too many problems finishing filewalkers and garbage collection and whatnot. My first node has 5.8TB of data on an ext4 partition and it’s just… maxed out. at 100% activity all the time, a used space filewalker takes two weeks, etc. I am working on slowly migrating it to another file system.
For a smaller node/drive, linux/docker with ext4 works fine.
people here have been experimenting with SSD’s to boost larger node performance. ZFS with an l2arc or a special vdev for metadata… LVM… I think windows tiered storage (native, or stablebit, or primocache)
Personally my nodes are running on linux w/docker, My system has a lot of RAM so i’ve been using ZFS and have set up l2arc on a SSD which seems to help some. Probably not the most optimal, but the easiest for me to set up. I’ve got 5 nodes running on 5 disks right now. But they haven’t gotten full and fragmented, that’s when everything might fall apart
You can run the node in docker on Windows, yes. But it’s better to setup the second node as a service using Vadim’s Win GUI Storj Node Toolbox due to fact, that docker for Windows uses a Linux VM, even with wsl2 there would be an overhead.
However, managing docker nodes is much simpler in my opinion.
I finally have purchased the new drive (second hand). I am trying to install the second node on the same computer where the first node is running using Vadim’s toolbox.
The first step is to create an unique identity. I am getting the following email message.
How may I avoid overwriting the old identity? Please note: the folder C:\Storj 3-3 identity is empty and it is dedicated to the creation of the identity for this new node. Still the error message tells me there is already one (first node I guess) and that it is not proceding because it does not want to overwrite.
Which is good but how to I get the script to place the new ID somewhere else?
Existing hardware and existing OS that is already running for other purposes.
If you are asking what NAS to build for yourself, that can also run nodes — then the answer is TrueNAS. Core if you want to learn proper OS and get stability or Scale if you want to jump on Linux bandwagon.
You need to provide --config-dir and --identity-dir options pointing to the folder, where the folder with the provided name (storagenode in your case) will be created.
If you want to create it here, then you need to provide this path
After a few trial and errors I have managed to get the node up and running.
I have one question regarding Vadim tool. I have used it to install the second node while it was stored in the download folder. Can I now move the vadim tool to some other folder or is it best I leave it in the download folder as the configuration has been performed now?
the tool itself dont care where it running, may be will need to run search of nodes one more time. I usually hold it on desktop. tool itself not running node, it help to install and give commands to star/stop and has fast links to nodes dashboard
. You have plenty of RAM. A 4TB HDD is too small: because the first 2TB used is really only paying to run the node, and you lose 1TB to filesystem-overhead and spare-space… so you’re only profiting on 1TB each month.