BUILD 8 drive home backup/media storage FreeNAS

[nimble-goose]

• Case: Fractal Design Define R5 Black
• Motherboard: Supermicro X10SL7-F
• PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
• CPU: Xeon E3-1231 v3
• RAM: 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024Meg x 72 (Qty: 2)
• Disks: HGST Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS40003272SN 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" (Qty: 8)
• FreeNAS boot: SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 16GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive (Qty: 2)
• Fans: Cougar Vortex HDB (Qty: 4)

This is my first NAS build. Any glaring issues or recommendations?

What sort of price-per-terabyte do you look for on disks? This was the area I had the most trouble finding recommendations for among the forum stickies.

I'm aiming for about 24 TB usable space with a raidz2 configuration.

 

[Jailer]

Looks like great choices on hardware.

As far as usable space just remember that you can only use up to 80% of your total pool space with ZFS before performance starts to tank. With 8-4TB drives in a RAID Z2 that puts you at about 21.8TB of actual formatted space and 17.4 usable with the 80% guideline.

 

[Z300M]

• Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl
• Motherboard: Supermicro X10SL7-F
• PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
• CPU: Xeon E3-1231 v3
• RAM: 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024Meg x 72 (Qty: 2)
• Disks: HGST Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS40003272SN 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" (Qty: 8)
• FreeNAS boot: SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 16GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive (Qty: 2)
• Fans: Cougar Vortex HDB (Qty: 4)

This is my first NAS build. Any glaring issues or recommendations?

What sort of price-per-terabyte do you look for on disks? This was the area I had the most trouble finding recommendations for among the forum stickies.

I'm aiming for about 24 TB usable space with a raidz2 configuration.

That's the same motherboard I'm using but with the E3-1230 CPU. IF the motherboard you get has only the 1.1 BIOS (are there still any of those "in the pipeline"?), your chosen CPU won't work with it until you update the BIOS to ver. 2.0 -- but you'd have to use an older CPU first to do that.
Good choice on the disks: they are what I hope to buy to expand my system.
I have a pair of the 8GB Cruzer Fit flash drives, both tested error free on another system, but one or other keeps faulting. I might try a pair of 16GB ones.

 

[nimble-goose]

Thanks for the heads up on the CPU compatibility, Z300M. It sounds like I'll be able to update the BIOS via IPMI without a CPU slotted, but I'll try to get confirmation on the BIOS version of the board before shipping.

Good info on the usable space, Jailer. I knew there must be some additional Z/FS overhead, but I hadn't seen the number specifics yet.

I think I'm just about ready to order this one. :)

 

[marbus90]

You'll need a BIOS update key for ~$20 for that to work.

 

[Z300M]

You'll need a BIOS update key for ~$20 for that to work.

Doesn't that still require a compatible CPU to be installed?

 

[nimble-goose]

I think you're correct Z300M - that it will at least require a compatible CPU to be installed.

The most I could find is this comment saying that boards which support the HPM.1 spec of PICMG can do this, but I can't find any info about whether the X10SL7-F does.

For my build, I'll just try to get the supplier's assurance that the board ships with 2.0 BIOS. I'll report back if I can find any more solid info about IPMI capabilities from Supermicro, or from experimentation when it arrives.

 

[marbus90]

No, the IPMI BIOS update is afaik CPU independent.

 

[Ericloewe]

The IPMI BIOS update has no reason to depend on the host CPU. I believe some have successfully managed to flash from IPMI with an unsupported CPU installed, but I don't remember who it was.

 

[GrumpyBear]

I'm using that motherboard and processor. Ordered a couple of weeks ago from NewEgg and arrived with BIOS version 2.00 and IPMI version 1.42 so no upgrade required as long as your not sent old stock. If you are planning on using the SAS ports for the drives you will have to flash the LSI2308 into IT mode using the version 16 firmware rather than the current version 19 firmware. see Jailer's post here.

I'm also using the cougar fans but I'm using the Vortex PWM version so the fan speed can be variable depending on the sensors on the motherboard but you will need to adjust the motherboards low limit for the fan speed using IPMI using Eric's instructions. I'm also using a 5-way PWM splitter cable to send the same PWM signal out to all the fans but if you are happy with the Mobo controlling the fans it's not needed.

I'm still burning in the system. It's passed a single memtest86 and next on the plate are CPU stress tests using the Ultimate Boot CD tools followed by disk stress tests but I'm in Florida on vacation so that will have to wait until I get back home.

Build Pics here.

 

[cyberjock]

The IPMI BIOS update has no reason to depend on the host CPU. I believe some have successfully managed to flash from IPMI with an unsupported CPU installed, but I don't remember who it was.

Yeah, he paid for the BIOS update code from Supermicro. That's how he did it I believe.

 

[Ericloewe]

Yeah, he paid for the BIOS update code from Supermicro. That's how he did it I believe.

Someone even got it for free, supposedly, but nobody else has managed that since.

 

[radian23]

Someone even got it for free, supposedly, but nobody else has managed that since.

After pestering Supermicro support I was able to get their engineering group to give me the key. Email Support@supermicro.com with the MAC ID that is used by IPMI. Let them know you need a key to update the bios due to your BIOS not being compatible with the CPU you are using.

You can update your bios without having the CPU installed. Pretty neat!

 

[cyberjock]

You can update your bios without having the CPU installed. Pretty neat!

I wondered if that was how it worked. ROFL. Cool to hear someone validate my guess. :)

 

[GrumpyBear]

The BIOS is programmed using the SPI interface which both the PCH and BMC have access to so it makes sense that the BIOS can be flashed without the CPU as the BMC can manage things with its ARM processor and memory it is, after all, another complete system.

Being stuck in Florida and not being able to touch my shiny new toy means I have been reading the data sheets for the PCH and the BMC and the IPMI specs as a way of boning up on the hardware for when I get back later this week. Have to do something after the kids go to sleep

 

[ipsum]

Someone even got it for free, supposedly, but nobody else has managed that since.

I have, as well.

I simply sent them an email and asked for it (filled out a form with MAC address, where I bought it, etc); that was all there was to it. I got the instructions for the process out of a thread on these forums...

 

[nimble-goose]

Confirmed on board arrival that you can indeed update the BIOS without a CPU seated, though my board thankfully came with BIOS 2.0 :)

I ended up going for the newer iteration of the Fractal Design case, which seems to be a strict convenience improvement over the R4: Define R5 Black. I've got everything but the case now, which is arriving this afternoon, so I'm looking forward to the build this weekend!