First FreeNAS build, and needing advice before dropping the $$$ on hardware

[DJCounter]

Hi, I'm looking to build a FreeNAS server for file storage/serving duties and media storage (it would be accessed via iSCSI from a Plex VM on a dedicated VM host).

The hardware I'm considering using (and which I want to ensure is compatible), all housed in a Supermicro 743T-500B chassis, is:
Supermicro MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX motherboard
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V6 Kaby Lake 3.0 GHz
WD red drives, starting with 4 x 3TB
2 sticks of 16GB ECC RAM, Samsung DDR4 2133 M393A2G40DB0-CPB

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[pro lamer]

Supermicro 743T-500B chassis

4x Middle 8cm (5000 rpm) PWM Fan

Aren't you afraid of noise?

On the other hand - that chassis can be populated with an ATX mobo - bigger mobos can fit more RAM (for future maybe since the OP didn't state if it's for home use or not)

 

[diedrichg]

What RAID level? 1,2,3? RAIDZ2 @ (4) drives will offer poor $ per TiB. You would benefit from more storage with six drives in RAIDZ2 if that's the case.

 

[Chris Moore]

Aren't you afraid of noise?

On the other hand - that chassis can be populated with an ATX mobo - bigger mobos can fit more RAM (for future maybe since the OP didn't state if it's for home use or not)

http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4u/743/SC743T-500B

At work, we actually run some of those chassis as desktop workstations. The fans can run up to 5000 RPM, and they spin up during the system POST, but they idle down under operation to a quite reasonable level that is dictated by the system board based on CPU temp.
It is the size and weight of a 4U rack mount server standing on it's side though. If it were my choice, I would just go ahead and get the 24 drive bay unit to have room to grow down the road.

The hardware I'm considering using (and which I want to ensure is compatible), all housed in a Supermicro 743T-500B chassis, is:

Are you buying it new?

Do you already have this chassis?

If not, there may be better bang for the buck options out there?

Supermicro MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX motherboard
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V6 Kaby Lake 3.0 GHz
WD red drives, starting with 4 x 3TB
2 sticks of 16GB ECC RAM, Samsung DDR4 2133 M393A2G40DB0-CPB

PS. This is all fine ...

But, did you think about direct connecting between the VM host and the FreeNAS with 10Gb networking?

 

[DJCounter]

I already have the chassis, but I'm interested in what your choice would be, if only because it is a fairly unwieldy chassis, albeit that it comes with a PSU onboard (550W).

Also, I'd be mounting the chassis in a rack if I use it. Depending on the alternatives, I am happy not to take the rack-mounted route though, and as someone mentioned, it is for home use so that's another reason why I would be happy with a smaller case.

I quite like the look of this mobo (which I believe was a previous year's version of the one I quoted):

Supermicro X10SL7-F

 

[DJCounter]

What RAID level? 1,2,3? RAIDZ2 @ (4) drives will offer poor $ per TiB. You would benefit from more storage with six drives in RAIDZ2 if that's the case.

I'll be using a total of eight drives, I just quoted what I'm starting with. I take your point though.

 

[Chris Moore]

I already have the chassis, but I'm interested in what your choice would be, if only because it is a fairly unwieldy chassis, albeit that it comes with a PSU onboard (550W)

Well, if you already have it... I can't beat the price of free... For the same size chassis, you could have a 24bay unit like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro...-846EL1-24X-Trays-2x-PWS-920P-SQ/382382593982
This chassis has redundant 900watt power supplies. They are the SQ (super quiet) model power supplies so you could probably tolerate the sound form this server... It also has the SAS2 expander backplane which means you can use one SAS controller to run all 24 drives in the drive bays. Still, it is an empty chassis, so you would need your system board, processor and RAM.
I guess you would also need a SAS controller and a 10Gb network card, depending...
I would get one of these myself but my wife would kill me. I already have four rackmount chassis in my office at home...
What do you think?

 

[diedrichg]

I'll be using a total of eight drives, I just quoted what I'm starting with. I take your point though.

You will have to either have two vdevs of four drives or destroy the data on the four drives before you can create the 8 drive vdev.

 

[DJCounter]

You will have to either have two vdevs of four drives or destroy the data on the four drives before you can create the 8 drive vdev.

I will be creating a second vdev. That was the original plan. Added to which, there is no data on the WD drives, and if need be, I could start the build with more. It is more the mobo/CPU/RAM that I am concerned with. That's why I am grateful to everyone for their input.

 

[DJCounter]

Well, if you already have it... I can't beat the price of free... For the same size chassis, you could have a 24bay unit like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro...-846EL1-24X-Trays-2x-PWS-920P-SQ/382382593982
This chassis has redundant 900watt power supplies. They are the SQ (super quiet) model power supplies so you could probably tolerate the sound form this server... It also has the SAS2 expander backplane which means you can use one SAS controller to run all 24 drives in the drive bays. Still, it is an empty chassis, so you would need your system board, processor and RAM.
I guess you would also need a SAS controller and a 10Gb network card, depending...
I would get one of these myself but my wife would kill me. I already have four rackmount chassis in my office at home...
What do you think?

I think that I would like to have a longer talk with you about this, as it is all very interesting to me, but you are already in danger of stretching the bounds of the limited knowledge I possess.

 

[Chris Moore]

I think that I would like to have a longer talk with you about this, as it is all very interesting to me

Any time. Ask questions. Someone around the forum will have an answer for you.
There is also a list of links in my signature that all contain very important information to help you get where you need to be with FreeNAS.

 

[Chris Moore]

it would be accessed via iSCSI from a Plex VM on a dedicated VM host

What made you decide to run Plex on a dedicated host instead of as a Jail inside the FreeNAS?

 

[DJCounter]

What made you decide to run Plex on a dedicated host instead of as a Jail inside the FreeNAS?

It's really because I wanted to set up a home lab on an VM host, so I'd be installing ESXi on it (we use it where I work and at my university). The reason I would be using iSCSI is just that I want to get 'hands on' with the technology and learn that way. I was intending getting an R420 to act as the VM host, and there would be the benefit that I would be able to practice using Zerto (our replication s/ware of choice) on it, by creating two virtual datacenters.

 

[DJCounter]

Can you recommend a case that houses 8 drives, with one hot swappable bay minimum (I know everyone asks for this, but it WOULD be helpful), in case the Supermicro is too much for my neighbors to stand?

 

[Chris Moore]

Can you recommend a case that houses 8 drives, with one hot swappable bay minimum (I know everyone asks for this, but it WOULD be helpful), in case the Supermicro is too much for my neighbors to stand?

If you want something small(ish) and quiet. You can't beat (in my opinion) the Fractal Design Define R5. The newer R6 is nice, but there are problems getting additional drive trays for it because it is new, where the R5 came with drive trays already installed.
Take a look at the deals you can get on them too:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fractal-De...lack-Window-ATX-MidTower-PC-Case/253665642269

In my mind, it is just a chunk of metal to mount things in, I don't care if it is latest and greatest, it does the job, but this guy is selling them just because he got the new R6 chassis instead. What? Really? Ok... I bought one for $38 plus shipping yesterday, different seller. Seriously.
Anyhow. There are two 5.25 bays, just put a hot-swap adapter in one of those.
Like this one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...m_re=hot_swap_bays-_-0VE-000W-00018-_-Product

I have two that are kind of like that in my desktop computer, I don't remember what brand, and they do good enough. I try not to swap them around too much because the connectors are only rated for so many insert cycles.

PS. Sometimes the forum manages to break the link, so try copy and paste with these if the ones above don't work:

Code:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fractal-Design-Define-R5-FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK-W-Black-Window-ATX-MidTower-PC-Case/253665642269

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0VE-000W-00018&cm_re=hot_swap_bays-_-0VE-000W-00018-_-Product

 

[diedrichg]

I will be creating a second vdev. That was the original plan. Added to which, there is no data on the WD drives, and if need be, I could start the build with more. It is more the mobo/CPU/RAM that I am concerned with. That's why I am grateful to everyone for their input.

Cool. Just wanted to make sure you knew the implications, all too often we get people in here who didn't know this because they didn't do their research and the next thing you know they have to figure out how to offload all their data so they can reconfigure the drives into a new vdev. Just read all the forum stickies and especially read the ZFS Primer thread. Have fun! P.S. I recently got a used Define R5 for $30 too, best purchase ever! No hot swap, but drive support for 10 drives, big slow, quiet fans.

 

[DJCounter]

Thanks for your input everyone - and as one last (and I promise, it IS last!) request, what are the implications of this mobo:

Supermicro X10SL7-F - what would the implications of having effectively an LSI2008 (I think) on the MOBO? would I just flash it into IT mode and connect SATA drives as usual?

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks for your input everyone - and as one last (and I promise, it IS last!) request, what are the implications of this mobo:

Supermicro X10SL7-F - what would the implications of having effectively an LSI2008 (I think) on the MOBO? would I just flash it into IT mode and connect SATA drives as usual?

Also, since it is a SAS controller, you can connect to a SAS expander and add even more drives without adding another controller.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[diedrichg]

Supermicro X10SL7-F - what would the implications of having effectively an LSI2008 (I think) on the MOBO? would I just flash it into IT mode and connect SATA drives as usual?

You would need mini SAS to SATA cables

1 x Mini SAS SFF-8643 to 4 SATA 1m Cable Blue
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/201805092466

 

[Chris Moore]

You would need mini SAS to SATA cables

1 x Mini SAS SFF-8643 to 4 SATA 1m Cable Blue
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/201805092466

Not for this board you don't need that...

It has ports that are made like SATA ports but they are blue and they are actually SAS.
The white SATA ports are SATA III and the black SATA ports are SATA II...

To connect drives directly to this board, you would use regular SATA cables.

If you wanted to connect the blue SAS ports on this board to a SAS expander, you would use reverse-breakout cables. It is important to get the correct cables because they look just like forward-breakout cables but the wiring is different so they are not interchangeable.

Norco Discrete SATA to SFF-8087 Mini SAS Reverse breakout cable C-SFF8087-4S NEW
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Norco-Disc...-breakout-cable-C-SFF8087-4S-NEW/111402848253

Code:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Norco-Discrete-SATA-to-SFF-8087-Mini-SAS-Reverse-breakout-cable-C-SFF8087-4S-NEW/111402848253

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c220/x10sl7-f.cfm