First NAS, which hardware to buy

[bodo]

Hi

I want to buy parts for a NAS with FreeNas.

Main thing is safety, no more losses of data and security, how about encrypton? (ok I learned -> roadmap -> 8.1)

I know linux (debian) and later maybe videostreaming in my home might be a topic.
HP 1810G-24 ProCurve Switch and some things like Dreambox8000 are in my zoo.
I want to buy good performing durable stuff with long-living qualities.

I learned ZFS needs more than 6GB RAM.

I thought about 6 harddisks with each 1.5TB.

I already use snapshot for backups.
1. How many extra harddisks shall i use for this, and can FreeNas handle these for me?
2. I know, they should be placed at a separate location. Maybe i need 2 NAS?

3. I read about 24/7 harddisks (price shoud not matter) is this necessary?
like: Western Digital RE4 1500GB, SATA II (WD1503FYYS)

4. I thought about standby (hibernation) for less powerconsumption, does this make sense?
(I'm working 9-5 so sometimes no traffic will occure.)

5. What about hardware-raid-controller, shall I buy one?

6. What are good and cheap 19" cases?

7. Which are good switching power supplies?

What about:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2390T, 2x 2.70GHz, TDP 35W

MB: Intel Socket 1155 (DDR3)
ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3, Z68 (dual PC3-10667U DDR3)
Intel Z68 • Speicherslots: 4x DDR3 • Erweiterungsslots: 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 (elektrisch nur x8), 1x PCIe

Sorry for my poor english.

Greetings bodo

PS nobody having a hint?

 

[bodo]

Hi

Ok. I'll look for myself and we will see. Thanks for reading.

Greetings bodo

 

[BakCompat]

well thats a tall order. In short, I'd make sure you get a high quality network card that is well supported by BSD. After that, plenty of RAM if you are going to do ZFS. That might dictate what motherboard/CPU you go with, being ddr2/3. I like Atom cpu's for low power consumption, but if that's not an issue for you, then pretty much any cpu will do the job. You only need a higher end cpu if you take advantage of the advanced capabilities of ZFS. For a stock ftp/network machine, I've run the prior version of FreeNAS on a p3-550 cpu. And under load, it wouldn't hardly spike.. I think average consumption was like 15% under ftp load. That's cuz it had a hardware ethernet card.

Mainly, you want hardware that is WELL SUPPORTED under BSD. Don't buy the latest thing because it looks cool. Get hardware that is WELL SUPPORTED and you won't have issues.

1> use as many hard disks as you like that can fit in your case.
2> If you wish, you can backup one NAS to another on a regular basis to keep your data secure. It just costs more money.
3> RE4's are superior drives, but not absolutely mandatory. Many people use the "green" drives. They have their own issues. I'd go with WD Black model drives. Best warranty.. 5 years.
4>standby is an issue with green drives and wearing their servos out early. WD20EARS in particular. You might need to alter the value of the drive to a higher number.. like 5 minutes.
5> If you go with ZFS, there should not be a need to use RAID. ZFS pretty much does all that and more in the file system. Just use a good quality hardware controller.
6> 19" ? That's a big case. I use regular mid tower ATX cases.. Whatever I recycle/repurpose.
7> In regular case, I'd buy the best 80+ rated power supply you can afford, just to be more power efficient. 80+ Platinum is best right now, but expensive.. like $150USD for a 550W power supply.

That cpu/motherboard is plenty powerful enough, as long as the chipsets are BSD compatible.

 

[bodo]

Hi BakCompat

Thank you for your reply, you helped me a lot.
I will look for BSD compatiliby and for a 80+ Platinum rated power supply.
Do you think standby >30 minutes would be ok? Or shall I just forget about standby?
19" cases usually are very long. My rack is not deep enough, I learned.
I was looking for cases like 19", 2HE, 13" (48x9x33cm) but I coud'n find.

Greetings bodo

 

[BakCompat]

standby: specifically with the WD20EARS model drives... They have a head park default time of 8 seconds. This is really low. I recommend using the wdidle3.exe utility and increasing it to 300 seconds, which is 5 minutes. This is the maximum supported value. When left at 8 seconds, these drives lead to ridiculous Load Cycle Count values within 6 months of use. They are only rated to 300,000 cycles. Will they work afterwards? Probably, but warranty can be run out before the 3 years rated value, just by this number going super high. I don't believe this issue exists for other model drives that I am aware of. However, the fix is easy and well documented. There are even people who have already inserted the utility into a bootcd you can download and run on each drive to change the value.

case: Are you looking for a rackmount case instead of a desktop case? If so, then I misunderstood. I generally have an empty case or two at any given time, so I try to reuse old gear before I buy replacements.