I would +1 the zfs arrangement on this configuration as well. I am still rather new to zfs filesystems, but my VM host is really happy with zfs. My configuration using zraid and a pair of SSD's for storage tiering has been very nice as a balance.

For a laptop that may meet your needs, I would suggest looking into the Thinkpad T51g. 8 core CPU, Nvidia 2070 or 2080 graphics (nice to have performance graphics without having to deal with Quadro prices), 4 SODIMM slots, 2 thunderbolt, 1USBc connected to the GPU, 2 M.2 slots, a fingerprint sensor, and various workstation extras. Let me know if you have any questions as I happen to have one.

On Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 9:55 PM Matthew Crews via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

On 6/23/21 5:18 PM, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> Saw this today, talking about encryption under zfs under linux. Anyone
> using it here that can comment on experience using it yet for personal
> or at scale?
>
> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/a-quick-start-guide-to-openzfs-native-encryption/
> <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/a-quick-start-guide-to-openzfs-native-encryption/>
>
> I use a combination of mdraid+luks+lvm+ext4/jfs, and would really love
> for this to be one thing, ala ZFS or BTRFS. Yes I could google my arse
> off to look, but looking for some trusted opinion here.

I've used ZFS and BTRFS under Linux, though I haven't tried native ZFS
encryption yet. I have used both ZFS and BTRFS under LUKS encryption too.

Both BTRFS and ZFS work so much nicer than mdraid when it comes to
spanning across multiple disks (though beware that BTRFS still isn't
production safe for RAID5/RAID6).

If you want to use a multi-disk storage array, ZFS and BTRFS are both
superior options to MDRAID.

However ZFS is just straight better and easier to maintain than BTRFS,
especially now that native encryption is a thing (something BTRFS sorely
lacks).

Here is my disk topology for my 4 disk RAID10 setup under BTRFS.

Disk 1 - LUKS - Btrfs --\ /--Btrfs subvolume
| |
Disk 2 - LUKS - Btrfs --| |--Btrfs subvolume
|--- Btrfs volume --|
Disk 3 - LUKS - Btrfs --| |--Btrfs subvolume
| |
Disk 4 - LUKS - Btrfs --/ \--Btrfs subvolume

To be honest, it is a pain in the arse to mount an encrypted BTRFS
volume this way. You need to unencrypt all four drives first, and then
you need to mount it. But at least once its mounted, the subvolumes are
already set up.

If I need to replace a drive (and I've had to replace drives) it is also
a pain in the arse due to having to deal with both Luks and BTRFS.

Encrypted ZFS would simplify this setup enormously.

When I need to replace my drives, I will be switching from BTRFS to ZFS.

-Matt
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