Folks, I’m in the process of planning my migration away from an aging MS server 2012 build and I have decided I don’t want to go with another MS product for my new setup.
So with that in mind I am planning a FreeNAS build… Planned uses are primarily data storage server, Owncloud, media server (probably no transcoding, just streaming mkv primarily) and possibly running an occasional VM.
There is only my wife and I, so at best 2 concurrent streams, but that wouldn’t be typical. The Xeon is probably overkill, but I am not sure really.
I’ve read many of the guides (Uncle Fester, Cyberjock, etc) and gone through the recommended hardware PDF, so I feel I’m going in the right direction, but any comments or advice would be really appreciated.
Update 10/6
So far this is the hardware I've purchased:
I'm going with 32GB Ram and 6 4TB WD reds in a single Vdev.
Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSM-F-O - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018AX44Q4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A29P93PKVXFSE3&psc=1
Kingston Technology ValueRAM 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 ECC CL17 DIMM 2Rx8 Desktop Memory (KVR24E17D8/16) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FM3GBC0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1FF9ODJZIUKGX&psc=1
Pentium G4600
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NADEVZI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Seasonic Focus Plus 550 Gold SSR-550FX 550W 80+ Gold ATX12V & EPS12V Full Modular 120mm FDB Fan 10 Year Warranty Compact 140 mm Size Power Supply - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GY89G5/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Drive - 5400 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD40EFRX
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EHBERSE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Kingston A400 SSD 120GB SATA 3 2.5” Solid State Drive SA400S37/120G - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6JQS8C/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Original post:
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V6 Processors BX80677E31220V6 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XX2KWCX/ref=psdc_229189_rv_t1_B0793BQS3R Or Intel Core i3-7100 7th Gen Core Desktop Processor 3M Cache,3.90 GHz (BX80677I37100) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCESRJX/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 If I go with the Xeon, I believe I will need to pick up a cooler as well… I was also contemplating this SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SDV-4C-TLN2F Mini-ITX board with integrated Xeon-D, but I don’t think it really buys me anything over the above options… https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182973&cm_re=xeon_d-_-13-182-973-_-Product 16GB of either: Kingston Technology ValueRAM 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 ECC CL17 DIMM 2Rx8 Desktop Memory (KVR24E17D8/16) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FM3GBC0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1FF9ODJZIUKGX&psc=1 Or 1CA79AA-MB 8GB DDR4 2400MHz ECC UDIMM Memory - https://www.ebay.com/itm/1CA79AA-MB...=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
For a boot device I had thought about doing mirrored USB, but for the price of small SSD I’m not sure if it’s worth the potential trouble.. I’d prefer not to lose an SATA port, but I can deal with 7 ports. I can always add more with an HBA card anyway.
I’m thinking either going new:
Kingston A400 SSD 120GB SATA 3 2.5” Solid State Drive SA400S37/120G - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6JQS8C/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Or used:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SSD-...6Gb-s-SATA-SSD-Solid-state-drive/273102509397
As far as mirroring the OS drive, as I think I understand it, that doesn’t give me any kind of failover without setting them up with a hardware RAID as a mirror? So as long as I backup the OS drive regularly, I can just reinstall from that and I don't need to worry about a mirrored OS drive?
For storage, this is my plan:
I based my capacities using this calculator - https://wintelguy.com/zfs-calc.pl
1st pool (1 VDev) - 4 WD Red 4TB in Z2 - This will be strictly my “important” stuff (photos, files, documents, etc) – Usable space ~5.5TB
2nd pool (1VDev) – 3 WD Red 6TB in Z1 – This will be only for my streaming media and I have everything mirrored on a Synology NAS, which is why I am going with Z1 for the media…. Useable space ~8TB
Finally, I am planning on reusing my existing server case (can’t remember the model right now) that has 2 of these SATA docks -https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00856XFVC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And one of these for my OS drives - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00475DQ6Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve been using them since early 2013 with no issues, so I don’t see any reason to not keep using them…
Thanks!
And again, I appreciate any input.
So with that in mind I am planning a FreeNAS build… Planned uses are primarily data storage server, Owncloud, media server (probably no transcoding, just streaming mkv primarily) and possibly running an occasional VM.
There is only my wife and I, so at best 2 concurrent streams, but that wouldn’t be typical. The Xeon is probably overkill, but I am not sure really.
I’ve read many of the guides (Uncle Fester, Cyberjock, etc) and gone through the recommended hardware PDF, so I feel I’m going in the right direction, but any comments or advice would be really appreciated.
Update 10/6
So far this is the hardware I've purchased:
I'm going with 32GB Ram and 6 4TB WD reds in a single Vdev.
Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSM-F-O - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018AX44Q4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A29P93PKVXFSE3&psc=1
Kingston Technology ValueRAM 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 ECC CL17 DIMM 2Rx8 Desktop Memory (KVR24E17D8/16) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FM3GBC0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1FF9ODJZIUKGX&psc=1
Pentium G4600
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NADEVZI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Seasonic Focus Plus 550 Gold SSR-550FX 550W 80+ Gold ATX12V & EPS12V Full Modular 120mm FDB Fan 10 Year Warranty Compact 140 mm Size Power Supply - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GY89G5/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Drive - 5400 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD40EFRX
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EHBERSE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Kingston A400 SSD 120GB SATA 3 2.5” Solid State Drive SA400S37/120G - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6JQS8C/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Original post:
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V6 Processors BX80677E31220V6 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XX2KWCX/ref=psdc_229189_rv_t1_B0793BQS3R Or Intel Core i3-7100 7th Gen Core Desktop Processor 3M Cache,3.90 GHz (BX80677I37100) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCESRJX/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 If I go with the Xeon, I believe I will need to pick up a cooler as well… I was also contemplating this SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SDV-4C-TLN2F Mini-ITX board with integrated Xeon-D, but I don’t think it really buys me anything over the above options… https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182973&cm_re=xeon_d-_-13-182-973-_-Product 16GB of either: Kingston Technology ValueRAM 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 ECC CL17 DIMM 2Rx8 Desktop Memory (KVR24E17D8/16) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FM3GBC0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1FF9ODJZIUKGX&psc=1 Or 1CA79AA-MB 8GB DDR4 2400MHz ECC UDIMM Memory - https://www.ebay.com/itm/1CA79AA-MB...=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
For a boot device I had thought about doing mirrored USB, but for the price of small SSD I’m not sure if it’s worth the potential trouble.. I’d prefer not to lose an SATA port, but I can deal with 7 ports. I can always add more with an HBA card anyway.
I’m thinking either going new:
Kingston A400 SSD 120GB SATA 3 2.5” Solid State Drive SA400S37/120G - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6JQS8C/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Or used:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SSD-...6Gb-s-SATA-SSD-Solid-state-drive/273102509397
As far as mirroring the OS drive, as I think I understand it, that doesn’t give me any kind of failover without setting them up with a hardware RAID as a mirror? So as long as I backup the OS drive regularly, I can just reinstall from that and I don't need to worry about a mirrored OS drive?
For storage, this is my plan:
I based my capacities using this calculator - https://wintelguy.com/zfs-calc.pl
1st pool (1 VDev) - 4 WD Red 4TB in Z2 - This will be strictly my “important” stuff (photos, files, documents, etc) – Usable space ~5.5TB
2nd pool (1VDev) – 3 WD Red 6TB in Z1 – This will be only for my streaming media and I have everything mirrored on a Synology NAS, which is why I am going with Z1 for the media…. Useable space ~8TB
Finally, I am planning on reusing my existing server case (can’t remember the model right now) that has 2 of these SATA docks -https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00856XFVC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And one of these for my OS drives - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00475DQ6Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve been using them since early 2013 with no issues, so I don’t see any reason to not keep using them…
Thanks!
And again, I appreciate any input.
Last edited: