I have a ReadyNAS 2312 with six 10-TB drives installed. The remaining six drive bays are empty, and I'm contemplating putting in SSD, rather than spinning disk.
If the spinning disks and SSDs are in separate arrays, is it okay to mix these types?
Yeah, I was looking at ReadyTIER, but my conclusion was that it is not relevant to my situation. I will be connecting to SQL Server via iSCSI, and I will be placing some fairly large databases on ReadyNAS. The databases are not transactional; rather, they data warehouse in nature, supporting mathematical/statistical research.
ReadyTIER alleviates latency in metadata traffic; however, the bulk of my traffic will be SQL Server index scans, table lookups, and so on.
ReadyTIER alleviates latency in metadata traffic; however, the bulk of my traffic will be SQL Server index scans, table lookups, and so on.
The current version of ReadyTier should also cache the files themselves on the SSDs, so it doesn't just cache metadata. Of course the ReadyTier SSDs would need to be sized appropriately, and the system would also need to update the mechanical disks when the databases are updated.
I haven't tried ReadyTier, so I don't know how the performance would compare to a pure SSD array. Clearly it couldn't be faster, but it would be cheaper.
I've also not tried ReadyTier, but my impression is the same as that of @StephenB . If the index files being searched are typically the same ones and will fit in the ReadyTier cache, then that could make a big difference.
You can always remove ReadyTier if it doesn't work and go to all SSDs for the drives, so it could be useful to tey, especially if sub-diving the data across two volumes is going to cause any headaches. Add a ReadTier to th4e exisitng volume. If it works, you can add more drives to that volume. If it doesn't, remove the ReadyTier, buy some more SSD's, and create that separate volume.
