I keep config backups of the config as well but my boot drive is a pair of mirrored Intel D3-S4510’s that are underprovioned by 50GB.

Rollback time will technically depend on the size of the change since a rollback only replaces changed files so that will depend on how far back you are rolling back to. My largest snapshot references about 2GB and is a little over 4 months old, I would estimate about 5 minutes at most rolling back to that point.

I’ve never been comfortable virtualizing a router. Nearly anything else is not an issue.

On OpnSense no. I previously did not have snapshots created. I have on FreeNAS when I had a setting issue that came up. Fundamentally it should be no different.

I have had to reinstall OpnSense before and would rather not go through that again if at all possible.

I’m sorry I have no opinion…

Sybil 1976 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075296/ The Entity 1982 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082334

Both supposedly based on true stories. I was watching them around 5 years old. After The Entity I started at the ceiling all night and at times could have sworn I saw electricity arcing. I was dumbfounded by Sybil and how someone could do that to their child had some weird nightmares from that for sure.

No clue. Don’t use it myself. I am able to access the website so I would assume the rest is up and working.

Your ISP may be blocking access (many ISP’s do not allow hosting things on home connections so check your TOS.) Why they would block access to the website I have no clue but they could see allowing it as allowing people to host a service.

Disconnect your phone from wifi and see if you can access DuckDNS. You can also do some troubleshooting and testing https://www.golinuxcloud.com/how-to-check-if-isp-is-blocking-website/

Also depending on your router if you can setup DNS over TLS or DNS over HTTPS and use two different DNS providers not controlled by your ISP.

If you’re using an ISP provided Modem/Router you should probably consider setting up a proper firewall router and get just a modem or put the modem/router in bridge mode so you don’t double NAT.

Journey Escape one of the og music in a video game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_Escape

Journey Escape for the Atari 2600 plays “Don’t Stop Believin’” on the title screen and during the ending sequence when you successfully complete the game. I was 4… lol.

I show them a picture of what i looked like in a previous haircut and say, “Make me look like that.”

I used to say, “I’ve got a hot date make me look good.”

A snapshot is an image of the complete system at the time of creation that tracks changes and can be restored if needed.

https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-use-snapshots-clones-and-replication-in-zfs-on-linux

I don’t think I’ve ever been in touch.

Software RAID, yes. Hardware RAID, NOOOOOOOO!!!

Without knowing what the hardware is in the system I need to stress that before getting started.

Software RAID is controller independent, if the MoBo dies tonight you can get a replacement of whatever that is cheap or even grab a HBA (Host Bus Adapter) and hook the drives up. Hardware RAID requires an identical controller with the same version of firmware in most cases. In a home environment hardware RAID is a major pain, most corporations have spare hardware on hand if there is a failure so it’s not as much of an issue. Also JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) is not the same as a HBA so using a hardware RAID controller with that turned on for a software RAID is asking for issues. For software RAID in OMV you will be looking at something like BTRFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs or using a plugin to add ZFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS

I come from a FreeNAS/TrueNAS background using ZFS and SAS2008/SAS3008 HBA’s.

There are different version of RAID array’s, you need to look them up and decide what works best for your data. What works for me or anyone else is irrelevant. No RAID is not a substitute for good backup policies, but it saves a potential TON of work doing a restore and the headaches associated with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels

RAID 1 or Mirrors is great for data integrity. You could put all 7 disks in a RAID 0 or mirror configuration and it would take 7 disk failures to lose your data.

RAID 0 or Stripes is great for speed and storage capacity, the data is split into chunks and with all 7 disks you would have maximum capacity of the total sum of all the disks, one disk fails and all your data is gone like a fart in the wind.

RAID 0+1 or Striped Mirrors combines the two above concepts. In some ways you get two disk failure and in others you don’t. Take 4 decks of cards, set two side by side, those are your mirrors. Take the other two and put them above the other pair, those are the stripes. Lose two mirrors and the data is gone, lose a single mirror in each stripe and the data is safe. You can mirror and stripe to your hearts content, want 3 mirrors with two stripes it takes 6 drives.

RAID 5 or RaidZ 1 gives you one disk failure redundancy, how it functions depends on the raid controller or software utilized but basically data is split in to chunks and you have the ability to replace a single disk and fully recover. If a second disk fails your data is gone again. Some people consider this dead as the odds of a large drive having an issue during a rebuild is higher. https://www.servnetuk.com/insights/ure-is-raid-5-dead

RAID 6 or RaidZ 2 adds a second disk failure redundancy. If you want maximum space this is what you should probably use with failure redundancy. It’s not super fast but unless you need the speed for anything in particular it’s a good trade off. With 7 drives this is a good option.

RaidZ 3 Adds a third disk failure redundancy. This is what I use for most of my pools. When rebuilding you are stressing the disks to the maximum and that is when you will find a second issue pop up. In a RaidZ1 your data is gone, in a RaidZ2 you lost your last spare. In a RaidZ3 you still have one failure that will save your bacon.

I have multiple pools. I have the majority of my regular data on a RaidZ3. I have a couple striped mirrors for things like VM’s, Docker containers, and things I want a little more speed on.

You can also do things like RAID 0+5 or 1+5. In ZFS this would be called RaidZ1 with two vDev’s.

I use TrueNAS because of ZFS, BTRFS is still a work in progress in comparison.

I imagine about now you just about had your head explode, it’s tough to make this decision because it puts you down a path. I started when BTRFS was an infant, I stick with ZFS/TrueNAS because I know how things work and it suits my needs. You need to decide what will work for you and you may find that OMV isn’t the best path going forward. Take the time to really make a decision about what your needs are today and what they will be in the future 5 to 10 years plus down the road. Don’t just say, well (random person on the internet) says this is best so it’s what I will do. Every decision is about tradeoffs and compromises.

Once you make a decision one of the best things you can do is do a burn in on the drives. I do it with BadBlocks and run smart tests. I just got done with a batch of 8TB SAS drives and found 4 with issues that were replaced before I even put them in to production. If a drive survives a torture test early on it’s less likely to have issues later on. I upgraded from a pool of 4TB drives and out of 11 drives I had 1 failure. When you get to the point where you are thinking about expanding your pool with new drives you will want to buy from a couple different sellers, at different times a week or two apart, or different manufacturer’s.

One other thing I will add… Toshiba is verboten in my world. They don’t replace, they give you a check and you have to buy at current prices and it’s more of a PITA than I want to deal with. BackBlaze is also a great place for information about drive reliability. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/resources/hard-drive-test-data

No problem.

Be sure to set a cron job for updating the DNS Blocklists, running scrubs, smart tests, and trim if you are using a ssd.

I am working on a way to do snapshots for the system as well for super simple restores that are automatically created. Before an update you WILL want to have a snapshot available. Once snapshots are automated I will probably start doing automatic updates. It basically creates a system similar to how an immutable OS works, if something goofs you can simply roll back to a previous working state and pause updates. I previously had a script I setup via a cron job but the system removed the job during an update.

Try setting a tunable of:

net.link.ether.inet.max_age = 540

By default FreeBSD sets a 20 minute ARP maximum age while many ONT’s set a 9 minute maximum age. This will show up as performance issues initially then cause other issues.

Also Realtek NIC’s are notorious for issues with FreeBSD, so if you are using one replacing it with an Intel one is highly recommended.

Absolutely. Remember to enable a cron job in the OpnSense - System > Settings > cron to update the Blocklists. Otherwise you are likely out of date.

No clue what the deal is, I’m likely only getting half the story.

And you are welcome to your opinion about the risk. I’m not willing to even entertain the chance. It would involve multiple states two countries and international law given the locations involved. What I do know is that it’s not worth 600 to me.

I figured there was an option like this. But it’s something he needs to deal with between the issuer and the bank.

Even if it’s his check payable to him I’m not willing to risk my life on it. I would be a part of a conspiracy to commit fraud if something happens.

Money is not an issue. The is some sort of bonus. He owns his condo in the Philippines and has his regular pension which direct deposits among with his social security check. He sold his house which he owned for years for just over 750k right as the pandemic was starting. He doesn’t want it mailed to him, that could have been done already.

He could have had it mailed and dealt with already. I’m coming in to things nearly a month later. His claim was it would cost 200 or 300 to do so. I don’t have a clue if it’s true or not. He is not hurting for cash at all. He has a regular pension plus social security he probably clears 4k a month. He sold a house right as the pandemic was starting for just over 750k that he owned for years. He bought a condo in the Philippines along with a car and traveled to China, Europe, the and the US with his new wife.

This is some sort of “bonus” and he reiterated multiple times they only do physical checks.