Basic FreeNAS build

[Russell Coight]

Thank you all, parts ordered, hope to have everything in about 2 weeks. Gives me time to read up and sort out existing data so the delay is a good thing.

Ended up ordering the heatsink/fan and a SATA DOM, will use a 60mm fan as above until the warranty runs out and then install the heatsink/fan.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

I am looking into the same sort of components (Supermicro A1SAI-2750F in a Fractal Design Node 304) and I am very concerned about power usage.

MrToddsFriends: as you have one running: do you happen to know the idle power consumption it draws?

Expect it to be around 35W for a 2750F with 4 WD Red 3TB (spinning, no accesses) and a PSU with similar efficiency as mine (see sig.).

I am also looking into a 2550 board as I intend to only run NAS, so no jails.
Is there a good reason you choose the 2750?

For file serving only there is no need for the four extra cores of the 2750.

 

[johnnychicago]

Expect it to be around 35W for a 2750F with 4 WD Red 3TB (spinning, no accesses) and a PSU with similar efficiency as mine (see sig.).

I went with a 2550, and have 2 WD Red 8TB (the 8s have slightly above 5W in spinning idle, the 4s only 3.5 or so) and a Pico PSU power supply. 32 Watt.

Switching IPMI off makes a difference if one wants to chase the last bit of efficiency...

 

[Russell Coight]

I've read that highish rated power supplies don't work well in low power applications. Is a 550W PSU too high with this is mind? Maybe a G-360 would be better?

 

[MrToddsFriends]

I've read that highish rated power supplies don't work well in low power applications. Is a 550W PSU too high with this is mind? Maybe a G-360 would be better?

Impossible to say without having comparable measurements at hand. But well: The G-360 has only 4 SATA connectors and standard cabling while the G-450 has 6 SATA connectors and is semi-modular ...

 

[johnnychicago]

I've read that highish rated power supplies don't work well in low power applications. Is a 550W PSU too high with this is mind? Maybe a G-360 would be better?

My reasoning was looking at 4, drives maximum 20W each at spin up, plus a mainboard/processor combo that will not manage to pull more than 50 Watt at peak.... I felt perfectly happy with 160 Watt. At boot it has 30W to spare, and at normal usage it's at half load. Fits me well.

 

[Russell Coight]

I came across this post and it suggests that a G-360 would be enough. I'd prefer modular/semi-modular of course but it's not a deal breaker. I only intend to use 4 drives, as long the SATA cables reach the drives which I'm confident they will, it would be fine.

I haven't seen the case in the flesh but it has 400 + 150 mm and 500 + 150 mm SATA cables, the case dimensions are 250 x 210 x 374 mm so I'm assuming it will fit. I'll also need one molex connector for the fan controller which it has.

After saying all that, is it worth replacing a G-550 with a G-360 purely for the efficiency? I'm thinking probably not. I've already got the G-550 and will find a use for it one day so buying a G-360 is no issue if it's worth it.

I've also been reading up mirroring versus RAIDZ2 with 4 disks. I'm leaning towards RAIDZ2 to avoid the problem of if 2 drives in the mirror die I've lost the pool.
I've read that re-silvering with RAIDZ2 taxes the disks much more than mirroring. How much of a concern is this? If I was to install another disk for 5 disks total in RAIDZ2, does this lessen how much the disks are taxed?

If I was to put another disk in, a G-360 wouldn't be suitable any more.

 

[Russell Coight]

Any thoughts please? If I've missed the answer in another thread I apologise.

 

[NZ_JJ]

I came across this post and it suggests that a G-360 would be enough. I'd prefer modular/semi-modular of course but it's not a deal breaker. I only intend to use 4 drives, as long the SATA cables reach the drives which I'm confident they will, it would be fine.

I haven't seen the case in the flesh but it has 400 + 150 mm and 500 + 150 mm SATA cables, the case dimensions are 250 x 210 x 374 mm so I'm assuming it will fit. I'll also need one molex connector for the fan controller which it has.

After saying all that, is it worth replacing a G-550 with a G-360 purely for the efficiency? I'm thinking probably not. I've already got the G-550 and will find a use for it one day so buying a G-360 is no issue if it's worth it.

I've also been reading up mirroring versus RAIDZ2 with 4 disks. I'm leaning towards RAIDZ2 to avoid the problem of if 2 drives in the mirror die I've lost the pool.
I've read that re-silvering with RAIDZ2 taxes the disks much more than mirroring. How much of a concern is this? If I was to install another disk for 5 disks total in RAIDZ2, does this lessen how much the disks are taxed?

If I was to put another disk in, a G-360 wouldn't be suitable any more.

As your use case is not requiring high IOPS, I'd go for the the Z-2 option.
The 'taxing' of the disks during resilver is more than offset by the added redundancy. In the Z-2 any other disk can "die" without loosing the data.
If using mirrors, during the resilver of a replaced drive, if the other disk in that mirror "dies" goodbye whole pool.

As with the 5th disk, if there is room in the case and ports on the M/B, go for it. As you've already got your redundancy, that is, almost (20% free), completely usable additional space.

 

[Russell Coight]

Thanks JJ. I don't need the extra space so I'll stick with 4 drives.

Any thoughts on the PSU?

 

[NZ_JJ]

If you already have the G550, don't buy a new one.

At rest, you'll only save 1-2W at the wall (guess based on efficiency ratings) and that equates to about $3-$5 / year.

 

[Russell Coight]

Yep thought as much, thanks again.

 

[Russell Coight]

I've got all the parts now but the motherboard won't power up. After about a minute of flicking the PSU switch on, the BMC LED will blink, but that's it. There's no other LED's on, no fans spin when pressing the on button. I've hooked up the power supply to another computer and the computer turns on. Any ideas? Motherboard DOA?

And for those interested, this is how I secured the CPU fan to the heatsink. Cable ties around the heat sink screws and the fan cable tied to them.

thanks

 

[Evi Vanoost]

I can barely see from the picture, but is that the CPU you attached this fan to directly? If that is how you are cooling an actively cooled CPU, you may have blown it up, that fan is too big and doesn't make contact. There is a reason they give you thermal paste and a large heat sink with a fitting fan.

Either way, if you suspect a blown motherboard (your motherboard most likely won't start without a CPU either), you should start by removing all components and use your POST analyzer to see what exactly is causing the issue.

You say the BMC LED is blinking, perhaps you can see what's happening by connecting to the BMC.

 

[Ericloewe]

I can barely see from the picture, but is that the CPU you attached this fan to directly?

It's pretty clearly attached to the heatsink. This is an Avoton board, they're nominally passively cooled.

As for ideas, try a different PSU.

 

[Russell Coight]

I can barely see from the picture, but is that the CPU you attached this fan to directly?

It's a passive heatsink as mentioned above, posts on page one will shed more light on why I posted the picture.

You say the BMC LED is blinking, perhaps you can see what's happening by connecting to the BMC.

Yes will try that. What am I likely to see that would explain this problem?

 

[Russell Coight]

As for ideas, try a different PSU.

I did try the PSU with a different computer which powered up, still worth trying?

 

[Ericloewe]

I did try the PSU with a different computer which powered up, still worth trying?

Yes, but less so.

What am I likely to see that would explain this problem?

If you can login to the IPMI web interface, check the error log.

 

[Russell Coight]

Never mind I'm a dumb arse, I had the connectors the wrong way..

I had to tweak the fan thresholds but a part from that no issues.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Russell Coight]

It's been running a RAM/CPU tests for the past week and I'm just about ready to install the 4 hard drives. For those with a Node 304, what do you think is the best placement of the hard drives for maximum air
flow flow?

There's 3 trays of 2 drives and 2x92mm fans at the front. Would I better off filling up say the 1st and 3rd trays which would leave an empty space in the middle for air flow. Or say fill the 2nd and 3rd trays leaving empty space where tray 1 goes. Fill the tray 2 and have 1 drive in trays 1 and 3.

Or am I overthinking it and it won't make much of a difference? Thanks