Build With Questions

[Thronesmelt]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking into building a NAS eventually and am looking to have a 9 or 12 single vdev RaidZ3 setup with the option to upgrade the case and vdev quantity later (most likely 9 for less chance of total data loss due to drive failures during resilvering but keeping options open and will take recommendations on this). I have tried and read many posts and all of the important discussions like:

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/so-you-want-some-hardware-suggestions.12276/
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php...or-supermicro-x10-lga1150-motherboards.23291/
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/

With all that said here are my Potential Parts list as follows:

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Power Supply Unit: (Currently Own)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

5.25" Expander for more 3.5" Drive Space:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._25_to_3_5_bay_adapter-_-17-994-152-_-Product

FreeNas OS USB Stick:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211668

Fans to cool the case:
7 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

2 Of these top mount http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDDs:

5 or 7 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5EM...

4 or 5 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236350

The hard drive quantities above are not the Vdev breakdown but just the physical quantities of each. I will not be purchasing all the drives from just a single retailer. I will be using many different online sellers but it is just easier to link to Newegg so you all can have a clear understanding of my parts list.



Here is where my questions come in about ram and HBAs.

Ram Question:

I want 32gigs of ram and I am having a lot of trouble finding the Hynix QVL ram for my MOBO at a reputable online retailer.

http://www.supermicro.com/support/r...93EDC24E320CF&prid=0&type=0&ecc=0&reg=0&fbd=0

I have found, while reading through the forums, the following ram sticks recommended for other users but for a different MOBO. Since they are of good quality I thought they might work, but I really need some guidance. The last thing i am concerned about is that, could I purchase multiple sticks of the ram (to total 32 gigs) and use them together without issue? I am so used to the rule of thumb for consumer ram of "Ram needs to be binned and sold together otherwise incompatibility could arise" I have not seen this issue addressed anywhere in the recommended ram section.

Forum recommended ram:
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D38GRE160S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148770

I had also found this one just looking interdependently but have no idea if it is worth buying or if i should go with the other ones above posted by forum members.
https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W1600EB8GS


HBA questions.

The MB I have chosen only has 8 sata ports. I know I would need a Raid Controller card to make either the 9 or 12 drive RaidZ3 possible but I can not seem to find any recommendations for a good quality one beside the IBM M1015. I understand you all seem to love that card but I am interested in something more updated. That M1015 is on pci-e 2.0 and would still require cross flashing. I do understand that HDDs don't even saturate sata2 speeds but for the price of a new m105 i can get something more modern that could future proof me for when ssds get to multiple TBs of storage. If you all could advise me on what i should look for. I know the major brands out there are LSI and Adaptec but i just dont know what kind of, nor quality of cards I should be examining. I want to ensure compatibility as well. I am willing to spend what is necessary on a proper HBA Controller card but would prefer to keep it as inexpensive as possible . My budget for the Controller card is max $600 US but would much prefer something much cheaper. In my research I was able to come across the following cards but I just have no idea.

This card is can handle 16 sata/sas without a SAS expander. Is there a comparable version in the kit version so I don't have to purchase cables separately?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118142

Then there are these:
Is this card really more worthwhile then the next one? Is it really that much better to get the potential 12Gb/s transfer speeds and pay that premium?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118218&cm_re=hba-_-16-118-218-_-Product

This seems like an optimal HBA but it only has 8 sata/sas ports which makes me weary if i ever want to upgrade to a much larger array in the future.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118183&cm_re=hba-_-16-118-183-_-Product


Thank you all for your help and advice. I greatly apprecate any who take the time to read this mess and help me make this nas a reality sometime. You all are a wonderful and helpful group out there.

 

[cyberjock]

I can understand your desire to get something newer than the M1015, but considering that the controllers that are the "upgrades" over the M1015 don't even have mature drivers yet, you're taking serious risk. Also considering the M1015 is only $100 I'd still go with that. It's not like you can pull it out later and use something else. Frankly, if you don't plan to use it right now you are likely to be pretty disappointed when you see that you cost yourself more money in the long run. Also keep in mind that flashdrives are also looking at being directly connected via PCI-e connections and not SATA/SAS in the future. So I'd tend to disagree with your "future planning" as a year from now I expect there to be lots and lots of SSDs that are going to be PCI-e cards on their own. The driver for these cards should be in 9.3. Someone asked for it to be added specifically and it has been added. :)

Choosing another card because it's PCIe3.0 is not worth your money. Remember your limiting factor is going to be your LAN connection and a single PCIE 2.0 express lane is enough to saturate dual Gb links more than two fold and the M1015 has 8 lanes. Also the 9300s specifically *do* have a driver for FreeNAS, but it's been labeled as experimental and we've already had a few users complain that the hardware doesn't seem to work "quite right". Not sure what the problem but my first guess is driver immaturity.

The M1015 provides you with far far more than adequate speeds for your function. In fact, even if you were doing 10Gb LAN your bottleneck isn't going to be your card. I know, I'm using 10Gb with an M1015. ;)

Hopefully i've put things in perspective and you now understand that you aren't going to "miss out" on anything just because you went with "the old M1015". I have no doubt that the new 12Gb SAS stuff will be cheap on ebay and we'll be promoting some other $100 card in 2 years. If you really are going to make a case for it then (again, assuming you aren't on dual Gb LAN since that's so slow anyway) you'll still find the TCO is lower.

 

[Ericloewe]

Why do you want the X10SAT? It's relatively expensive and it's a workstation board. You'd be better off with an X10SL7-F, which should be around the same price but already includes an SAS controller (the LSI SAS 2308, which is the PCI-e 3.0 update of the 2008 from the M1015). You'd also be able to use regular SATA cables to connect the drives. Besides having IPMI, which you only appreciate after having used it. It's also better known and it's pretty much guaranteed to take the Crucial ECC RAM you find mentioned all over the forums.

 

[ALFA]

Why would you want a CPU with video included? you could go with the E3-1230 v3 and the MB that Ericloewe recommended you, with that awesome IPMI feature.

PD. about the HBA question

search in this thread

LSI SAS 9311-8i

 

[Ericloewe]

Why would you want a CPU with video included? you could go with the E3-1230 v3 and the MB that Ericloewe recommended you, with that awesome IPMI feature.

PD. about the HBA question

search in this thread

LSI SAS 9311-8i

Oh yeah, no point at all in getting a Xeon with iGPU for a board with IPMI.

 

[Thronesmelt]

Cyberjock I do appreciate what your saying and understand what you mean. I will take your recommendation and think about it. I am still considering the card with the LSI SAS2308 controller. Is it possible for someone to link to trusted NEW breakout cables for the M1015? Ericloewe I don't mean to sound rude but i have seen you cut and paste that IPMI sentence/recommendation else where. Would you mind providing some details as to what makes that feature so excellent and what feature sets or user access abilities it provides that makes it considered such a necessity to you? I appreciate you attempting to answer my ram questions but what about the second part? So i can just purchase two kits of the Crucial and be ok? On your point about my MOBO I much prefer workstation style boards. Also those vertical sata ports annoy me. I like the 90 degree sata style off of a motherboard. I also thought the board i was looking at had IPMI it said it on the Newegg description at least. Also what does IPMI have ANYTHING to do with connecting a screen, keyboard and mouse direct up at the NAS box? I need an gpu if i want local graphics on the NAS without a discreet gpu. Correct me anywhere i am wrong.


Sorry it took so long to reply I have been very busy today and it took time to compose my thoughts correctly.

 

[cyberjock]

Just go to Amazon or monoprice and look them up. View: http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Internal-SFF-8087-Forward-Breakout/dp/B005E2XTO8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=sas+cable+breakout


IPMI is just awesome. If you've never used it, it's like getting laid every time you have to do something to the server locally. I never go to the basement to do anything local on my server... not even to power it on.

IPMI requires some cross-connecting between the IPMI device and the motherboard. In particular video. So if you have IPMI on your motherboard then it clearly has it's own video onboard that it uses to handle the cross-connecting.

Also what does IPMI have ANYTHING to do with connecting a screen, keyboard and mouse direct up at the NAS box? I need an gpu if i want local graphics on the NAS without a discreet gpu.

You might want to read up on what IPMI is. Then you'll wet your pants and wonder how you lived without it.

 

[Ericloewe]

Cyberjock I do appreciate what your saying and understand what you mean. I will take your recommendation and think about it. I am still considering the card with the LSI SAS2308 controller. Is it possible for someone to link to trusted NEW breakout cables for the M1015? Ericloewe I don't mean to sound rude but i have seen you cut and paste that IPMI sentence/recommendation else where. Would you mind providing some details as to what makes that feature so excellent and what feature sets or user access abilities it provides that makes it considered such a necessity to you? I appreciate you attempting to answer my ram questions but what about the second part? So i can just purchase two kits of the Crucial and be ok? On your point about my MOBO I much prefer workstation style boards. Also those vertical sata ports annoy me. I like the 90 degree sata style off of a motherboard. I also thought the board i was looking at had IPMI it said it on the Newegg description at least. Also what does IPMI have ANYTHING to do with connecting a screen, keyboard and mouse direct up at the NAS box? I need an gpu if i want local graphics on the NAS without a discreet gpu. Correct me anywhere i am wrong.


Sorry it took so long to reply I have been very busy today and it took time to compose my thoughts correctly.

Before I list the advantages of IPMI that come to mind (I might miss some), let me say that I did not copy-paste anything in my previous reply ;)

• Basic video adapter that eliminates the need for a proper GPU for a server (drives the lone VGA port and provides the image for the remote KVM)
  
• Very robust remote usage tools (remote KVM console with support for mounting ISOs and other storage) - eliminates the need to connect keyboard and monitor to the server
• Robust logging of low-level system events, including ECC errors and sensor warnings, with optional e-mail alerts (the OS is also notified of some events)
• Remote control of power and reset

Supermicro's website says that the X10SAT doesn't have IPMI.

As for the RAM, the X10 motherboard sticky has the model number of the Crucial DIMMs that, according to all current information, are the same Micron DIMMs that Supermicro recommends (for a number of boards, including the X10SL7-F). Using two 16GB kits should not be a problem.