Boost ZFS Performance with a Special VDEV in TrueNAS

Curious about how a special metadata VDEV can boost ZFS performance, especially with spinning disks? In this video, I walk through what it is, why it matters, and how to set it up in TrueNAS and some from the terminal. I’ll also share real-world benchmarks comparing pools with and without a special VDEV, so you can see the difference for yourself.

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Video Notes: technotim.live/posts/special-vdev-truenas/
You can find the script here: github.com/techno-tim/zfs-tools/tree/main

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00:00 - Intro
00:53 - Quick ZFS Primer: What’s a VDEV
01:41 - Special VDEV & Metadata
02:33 - Metadata VDEV in TrueNAS
05:19 - Setting configuring small blocks
07:05 - Testing small blocks
08:47 - Special VDEV performance testing
11:57 - Should I use a special vdev?

Thank you for watching