So, I'm looking at building my first FreeNAS system (currently running a single drive Synology w/external USB drive as a backup).
I've done a bit of reading and poured through many threads here and have ended up with some questions. Some hardware related, others topology related.
First, this is for a home based setup that will contain family photos, CD music rips, MKV's, and about 5 household computer's documents/emails/etc.
What I'm contemplating is a simple 2 physical drive mirrored system, w/ another drive that is not physically connected to the NAS, for backup. No encryption, no L2ARC, no ZIL. Just a nice simple mirror setup.
1) So after reading, RAIDZ1 isn't recommended, but it seems to be the only ZFS choice when using only 2 drives, right?
2) If so, and if I continue to only want to use 2 drives for a mirrored setup, would I then be steered away from ZFS and towards another filesystem for a RAID1 style setup?
3) If I use RADIZ1 and 2 drives for a mirrored configuration, it seems that I should be okay if I've followed all the recommendations for a proper setup (UPS, ECC RAM, Enterprise grade drives, etc, etc). It seems the only major risk should be events where 1 drive fails....and this leaves me temporarily w/o any redundancy, right?
Considering CPU selection - The NAS will be in my small office room (along with a ridiculous amount of other computer and wireless equipment (work for a 'networking' company) and my room is also my lab. As such, my little home office struggles in the summer to stay cool....and fan noise drives me crazy. So, I've been converting all of my personal networking devices and computers in the office to small/quiet/low power systems. I love mITX/picoPSU systems! :D
So having said that, I want to build this NAS such that it's sufficiently powerful, yet quiet and not pumping out much heat.
4) Again, based on the reading I've done, it appears to be the case that unless I'll be encrypting or making use of Jails, I only need enough processor power to saturate the GigE connection (if I'm wanting to maximize file transfer speed) right? This seems to be the main driver in CPU selection, based on everything I've read.
5) If the above is true, then I'm considering either: G3220T (35W) or an Atom 2758 board/cpu (A1SRi-2758F). I'm confident that that Pentium would be a good choice, but I'd be willing to spend the extra money on the Atom system - granted that I can get feedback indicating that this new Atom would actually perform well in my system. The really low power aspect is certainly enticing.
6) Would the recommendation for a absolute minimum of 8GB RAM also still apply to a 2 drive mirrored setup? ....not that I would save much $ by skimping with only 4GB - just curious.
7) Does FreeNAS have a function that could run a scheduled backup of the system to another network drive? (would be my backup drive). Naturally, I'd also have a completely separate backup plan on DVD, as well as offsite backup.
I've done a bit of reading and poured through many threads here and have ended up with some questions. Some hardware related, others topology related.
First, this is for a home based setup that will contain family photos, CD music rips, MKV's, and about 5 household computer's documents/emails/etc.
What I'm contemplating is a simple 2 physical drive mirrored system, w/ another drive that is not physically connected to the NAS, for backup. No encryption, no L2ARC, no ZIL. Just a nice simple mirror setup.
1) So after reading, RAIDZ1 isn't recommended, but it seems to be the only ZFS choice when using only 2 drives, right?
2) If so, and if I continue to only want to use 2 drives for a mirrored setup, would I then be steered away from ZFS and towards another filesystem for a RAID1 style setup?
3) If I use RADIZ1 and 2 drives for a mirrored configuration, it seems that I should be okay if I've followed all the recommendations for a proper setup (UPS, ECC RAM, Enterprise grade drives, etc, etc). It seems the only major risk should be events where 1 drive fails....and this leaves me temporarily w/o any redundancy, right?
Considering CPU selection - The NAS will be in my small office room (along with a ridiculous amount of other computer and wireless equipment (work for a 'networking' company) and my room is also my lab. As such, my little home office struggles in the summer to stay cool....and fan noise drives me crazy. So, I've been converting all of my personal networking devices and computers in the office to small/quiet/low power systems. I love mITX/picoPSU systems! :D
So having said that, I want to build this NAS such that it's sufficiently powerful, yet quiet and not pumping out much heat.
4) Again, based on the reading I've done, it appears to be the case that unless I'll be encrypting or making use of Jails, I only need enough processor power to saturate the GigE connection (if I'm wanting to maximize file transfer speed) right? This seems to be the main driver in CPU selection, based on everything I've read.
5) If the above is true, then I'm considering either: G3220T (35W) or an Atom 2758 board/cpu (A1SRi-2758F). I'm confident that that Pentium would be a good choice, but I'd be willing to spend the extra money on the Atom system - granted that I can get feedback indicating that this new Atom would actually perform well in my system. The really low power aspect is certainly enticing.
6) Would the recommendation for a absolute minimum of 8GB RAM also still apply to a 2 drive mirrored setup? ....not that I would save much $ by skimping with only 4GB - just curious.
7) Does FreeNAS have a function that could run a scheduled backup of the system to another network drive? (would be my backup drive). Naturally, I'd also have a completely separate backup plan on DVD, as well as offsite backup.