I've done a lot of research over the last month or two and I'm about to pull the pin on my first FreeNas Build. I'll be using it primarily for media storage and I'll be using plex, couchpotato and transmission. I'll also be upgrading my home network and using a dedicated Pfsense box as a firewall/router/VPN. I'm considering encryption but I haven't done enough research to decide so I would like to keep the option open.
My main goal is future proofing, security and reliability so I think I may have gone a little overboard with the hardware which I don't mind because when I learn more about FreeNas I don't want hardware to prevent me from doing something I may not know about at the moment.
So my build is as follows;
Mobo - Supermicro x11SSL-CF https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSL-CF.cfm
CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1220 V5 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117611
RAM - Crucial 32gb DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/x11ssl-cf/CT7982583
PSU - Seasonic X650 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
HDD - WD Red NAS 4tb x 4
Case - Lian Li PC-A75 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Pro...11112387&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-387-_-Product
Boot - sandisk cruzer 16gb x2 mirrored
UPS - yet to decide i need to do some more research here I would like to run both the Freenas and Pfsense systems off it.
I was originally going to go with an X10SLF-7 Mobo due to the fact the price difference was negligible chose the X11. I know the LSI 3008 isn't well supported yet but I do like the fact that in the future I'll be able to flash to IT and have 14 drives!!! without an additional HBA.
I was also considering to jump to the E3 1230 CPU but didn't think the extra cost justified it??
Again I was originally going to go with 6 3tb WD reds in RaidZ2 and then in the future expanding by adding an additional 6 drives in another vdev. However having done a bit of reading ( specifically http://jrs-s.net/2015/02/06/zfs-you-should-use-mirror-vdevs-not-raidz/ this blog) decided to go with a mirror vdev(s) with 4tb drives mainly for expandability. It allowed me (cost wise) to use 4tb drives, and hopefully in the future when I expand the cost of drives will have dropped saving money over time. As an added bonus 6x4tb in a 3 mirrored vdevs is the same amount of usable space as 6x3tb drives in RaidZ2 .
As this is my first build I would really appreciate any feedback/criticism before I pay anything for hardware.
Thanks :)
My main goal is future proofing, security and reliability so I think I may have gone a little overboard with the hardware which I don't mind because when I learn more about FreeNas I don't want hardware to prevent me from doing something I may not know about at the moment.
So my build is as follows;
Mobo - Supermicro x11SSL-CF https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSL-CF.cfm
CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1220 V5 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117611
RAM - Crucial 32gb DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/x11ssl-cf/CT7982583
PSU - Seasonic X650 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
HDD - WD Red NAS 4tb x 4
Case - Lian Li PC-A75 http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Pro...11112387&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-387-_-Product
Boot - sandisk cruzer 16gb x2 mirrored
UPS - yet to decide i need to do some more research here I would like to run both the Freenas and Pfsense systems off it.
I was originally going to go with an X10SLF-7 Mobo due to the fact the price difference was negligible chose the X11. I know the LSI 3008 isn't well supported yet but I do like the fact that in the future I'll be able to flash to IT and have 14 drives!!! without an additional HBA.
I was also considering to jump to the E3 1230 CPU but didn't think the extra cost justified it??
Again I was originally going to go with 6 3tb WD reds in RaidZ2 and then in the future expanding by adding an additional 6 drives in another vdev. However having done a bit of reading ( specifically http://jrs-s.net/2015/02/06/zfs-you-should-use-mirror-vdevs-not-raidz/ this blog) decided to go with a mirror vdev(s) with 4tb drives mainly for expandability. It allowed me (cost wise) to use 4tb drives, and hopefully in the future when I expand the cost of drives will have dropped saving money over time. As an added bonus 6x4tb in a 3 mirrored vdevs is the same amount of usable space as 6x3tb drives in RaidZ2 .
As this is my first build I would really appreciate any feedback/criticism before I pay anything for hardware.
Thanks :)
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