Backup NAS Build - Please help me choose

[Mostly_Broken]

Hi all,

I'm new to Free/TrueNAS - I have another (unRaid) server that is currently doing the heavy lifting (Emby, primary NAS, VM's, etc.). This server currently has 6TB of dual parity redundant storage - I have used around 2TB a year for the last couple of years (currently used 4TB in total)

I haven't had any issues with this, however I'm now planning to deploy a TrueNAS box to keep a backup of the primary server, taking advantage of snapshots etc.

I've thrown together a test system using parts I had knocking about and have got everything setup for TrueNAS to pull from the primary unRaid server via Rsync.

The decisions I'm struggling with now are:

Hardware to use:

The test system I've been testing with has:

• AMD A4-3300 APU
• 8GB (Non ECC) Memory
• MSI M-ATX Desktop Board

This seems to run surprisingly well with the 2TB Mirror I've been using for tests...

I'm torn between actually buying a case for this and using it for real or;

Buying another 2u HP 14 Bay Server (DL380p Gen8), and fitting a H220 HBA (IT Mode) - is this overkill for my purpose?

The initial cost would actually be around the same for either by the time I've brought a case and new PSU for the 'test' system or brought the server and LSI card...

The biggest cost factor I'm concerned with (aside from HDDs) is power consumption; if I used the HP server, I have a plan to have it auto startup once a week, backup / run any scheduled tasks, before shutting down again... is this a commonly practiced method, or should I just plan to run this backup 24/7 with daily backups?

Amount of Storage to setup

Due to ZFS being less flexible with adding / expanding storage - I'm thinking maybe the best plan would be to shuck 4 8TB WD Elements drives and setup these in a RAIDz2, giving 16TB useable storage, which should be plenty for years to come...

Is this overkill?

Any other thoughts on this project / plan would be apprciated!

Many Thanks

 

[JohnDigital]

Short answer, yes its overkill. A simple filer or backup machine does not need very much power at all. Ive gotten great results with some pretty ancient machines. If power consumption is the main caveat, Ive taken to running a 12TB Elements USB disk connected to a Raspberry Pi 4 locally, and its shockingly good for this purpose (backup or general filer). Its also running my UniFi and few other things with no sweat. That MSI board has got to be as good or better than this, just having SATA ports is a big advantage. For power consumption though, Raspberry Pi FTW, you can also just add disks JBOD to a RPi, just a thought.

 

[Mostly_Broken]

Short answer, yes its overkill. A simple filer or backup machine does not need very much power at all. Ive gotten great results with some pretty ancient machines. If power consumption is the main caveat, Ive taken to running a 12TB Elements USB disk connected to a Raspberry Pi 4 locally, and its shockingly good for this purpose (backup or general filer). Its also running my UniFi and few other things with no sweat. That MSI board has got to be as good or better than this, just having SATA ports is a big advantage. For power consumption though, Raspberry Pi FTW, you can also just add disks JBOD to a RPi, just a thought.

I like the idea re the RPI4 (I happen to have one sitting spare..) - I actually have another use for such a setup in mind

My inital plan has shifted somewhat, I got thinking about another system I have running 24/7, used for BlueIris (CCTV) - this really needs Intel QuickSync to be efficent, which the current server its on doesn't have.

I'm becoming keen on the idea of setting up a low power E3-1225 v5 (supports QuickSync) system running proxmox... then passthrough the igpu and allocate two cores to a CCTV VM and then another two cores plus HBA passed through to a TrueNAS VM...

2x 4TB CCTV Drives could be passed through to CCTV VM from on-board sata controller
The pool drives for TrueNAS all connected via the dedicated (and passed-through) HBA

I could then retire the old and very power hungry CCTV server, combine the two and end up with less power consumption overall and a backup NAS....

Good Idea?

 

[JohnDigital]

Well from a power standpoint it's a great idea because you'll be running your nvr anyway. Combine the two and save on power. Seems legit.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Just be aware that running TrueNAS in Proxmox (even more so than with ESXi) is not trivial. The problem is not about getting it up and running, but be certain that it works under all circumstances. The latter especially includes the handling of nasty drive/cabling/etc. errors.

Is there a particular reason for not moving the CCTV stuff to your unRaid system? This would look like the more logical step to me.

As to the question of powering up your backup system only once a week or have it run 24x7, well that depends entirely on your level of paranoia ;-). You will need to think about off-site backup in addition to this anyway. And, depending on your data's change rate, it might be an option to have a daily (or even hourly) delta backup to the cloud (encryption recommended) and a full one once a week to your local backup system.