Can I run a 48TB FreeNAS with 16GB ECC RAM using RAIDZ?

[Prethpal]

Please read and i will explain it.

I am building a 48tb Freenas for my livestream videos backups. After our livestream event, we will upload the videos on our youtube channel and then currently we will save it in a external hardisk. i am planing to build this Nas just to store all my videos in it using raidz (aka Raid 5). Max about 3 users will access this data at a time. So will i need 64GB of ecc ram or will 16 gb do for my work flow because we are just using the nas for storing our data and sometime access the old data if needed.

Below are the Nas hardware configuration

1) Motherboard
MSI C236M Workstation (its not easy to get asrock / Supermicro motherboard in malaysia and that is why i went for this motherbaord)

2) CPU
Intel® Core™ i3-6100 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)

3) RAM
Kingston 16bg 2133MHz DDR4 ECC (Model KVR21R15D4/16)

4) Storage
WD Red 8TB NAS - 5400 RPM 3.5inch (6 disk)

6) Power Supply
Corsair CS550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

So will 16Gb enough or i need 64gb of ecc ram???

 

[BigDave]

Your "need" will simply be dictated by performance requirements. It should
work with 16, but would be better with 32.
With FreeNAS, more RAM is ALWAYS better, it's a memory hog!
Go with as much memory as you can afford.

 

[mattbbpl]

So will 16Gb enough or i need 64gb of ecc ram???

I can only provide my data point - Cyberjock and I both use a 60TB system with 32 GB of RAM. It experiences slowdowns and performance issues at times, but at least with my use case it isn't an issue. It's just a limitation I was willing to accept in exchange for not having to bump up to E5 territory (this was prior to the new chips becoming more widely used).

 

[cyberjock]

What @mattbbpl said. There's performance limits sometimes, but as I am a single user I find it acceptable.

If you plan to do this in a production environment (which you sound like you do) then I'd go with more than 32GB of RAM.

Also, I do not recommend RAIDZ1 for anything. I'd go RAIDZ2 minimum.

 

[Stux]

Raidz1 with 6 8TB disks scares me.

 

[DrKK]

Raidz1 with 6 8TB disks scares me.

I am by far the most "liberal" person here in terms of using RAID-Z1, and I would tell you, you are ****WAY**** past what even DrKK would say is safe usage of RAID-Z1. And that's saying something. 6x8TB is a mega-disapprove in RAID-Z1 from DrKK.

/me makes Family Feud sound when someone gets a wrong answer

 

[Z300M]

Please read and i will explain it.

I am building a 48tb Freenas for my livestream videos backups. After our livestream event, we will upload the videos on our youtube channel and then currently we will save it in a external hardisk. i am planing to build this Nas just to store all my videos in it using raidz (aka Raid 5). Max about 3 users will access this data at a time. So will i need 64GB of ecc ram or will 16 gb do for my work flow because we are just using the nas for storing our data and sometime access the old data if needed.

Below are the Nas hardware configuration

1) Motherboard
MSI C236M Workstation (its not easy to get asrock / Supermicro motherboard in malaysia and that is why i went for this motherbaord)

2) CPU
Intel® Core™ i3-6100 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)

3) RAM
Kingston 16bg 2133MHz DDR4 ECC (Model KVR21R15D4/16)

4) Storage
WD Red 8TB NAS - 5400 RPM 3.5inch (6 disk)

6) Power Supply
Corsair CS550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

So will 16Gb enough or i need 64gb of ecc ram???

Is that specific Kingston memory on MSI's (not Kingston's) list of compatible memory? Many people around here (look at my sig. for my own experience) do not have a high view of Kingston these days; I bought nothing but Kingston for a decade or so, but not now.

How difficult and expensive to import a Supermicro motherboard privately? I mean: bypassing any dealers.

 

[sremick]

This thread is very relevant to my interests. It was rather uncanny as the numbers in the subject lined up exactly to what I was wondering. My MB maxes out at 16GB and to get more RAM I'd need to upgrade MB+CPU+RAM at the same time I upgrade all 6 of my 3TB drives to 8TB drives. RAIDZ2 in my case, however.

I usually have only 1 user... sometimes 2... rarely 3. Box is exclusively for streaming large video files via Plex.

 

[Stux]

This thread is very relevant to my interests. It was rather uncanny as the numbers in the subject lined up exactly to what I was wondering. My MB maxes out at 16GB and to get more RAM I'd need to upgrade MB+CPU+RAM at the same time I upgrade all 6 of my 3TB drives to 8TB drives. RAIDZ2 in my case, however.

I usually have only 1 user... sometimes 2... rarely 3. Box is exclusively for streaming large video files via Plex.

It would make sense to build a new box and repurpose the old box to a backup.

Alternatively, just try it. If you have problems, then it's time to build a new box. And then you can put the small drives back in the old box again as a secondary system.

 

[Prethpal]

Hi Guys thanks for all your helpful replies.

Below is my final FreeNAS configuration

1) Motherboard
MSI C236M Workstation
2) CPU
Intel® Core™ i3-6100 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)
3) RAM
Kingston 8GB KVR21E15D8/8 DDR4 2133MHz ECC Unbuffered RAM (X 4 sticks) Total 32Gb of ram
4) Storage
WD Red 6TB NAS - 5400 RPM 3.5inch (6 disk)
5) Case
Fractal Design Node 804
6) Power Supply
Corsair CS550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

@Z300M Thanks for the info. i have already change the ram model. Its not difficult to get a Supermicro motherboard but its very expensive and i have a very tight budget.

So guys i decided to go with 32Gb of ram and because of my tight budget i went for 6 6Tb WD Red drives. Its running in raidz (aka Raid 5) and i know the risk of running on raidz but because of the situation i had to run it on raidz. So far for a month everything is going well. 11tb already used and left with 14tb. We only boot Freenas up when needed and will switch it off after that because this Nas is just to store all of our livestream videos after editing is done.

So far the only problem i face is getting this Freenas to run on 1Gbps network. I will only get 1000baseT <full-duplex connection when i connect Freenas direct into my Pc which has Asus X99-E WS Motherboard and if i connect Freenas to my TP-link (TL-SG108) Switch i will only get 100base TX full-duplex connection. Maybe i will just get a intel NIC for the NAS to solve this problem.

So guys thanks a lot for all of your replies.

 

[Stux]

Kingston 8GB KVR21E15D8/8 DDR4 2133MHz ECC Unbuffered RAM (X 4 sticks) Total 32Gb of ram

I would've gone with 2x16GB. This leaves two slots free so you can expand to 64GB in future.

When I've looked, a 16GB Dimm is the same price as two 8s.

 

[Scharbag]

I would've gone with 2x16GB. This leaves two slots free so you can expand to 64GB in future.

When I've looked, a 16GB Dimm is the same price as two 8s.

Second that. And it is very cool that some new CPUs can actually handle more than 32GB!!

Hope the rig treats you well. Be careful with the Z1 pool and make sure you have backups!

Cheers,