BUILD First NAS

[Attila91]

Hello, first of all thank you very much for these great articles on the forum, it helped me a lot to pick the right parts for a server. Probably most of the parts are compatible and good but if you have a better idea let me know.

Chassis: Fractal Design Define R4
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O
CPU: Intel 1230V3
Memory: Kingston KVR16E11K4/32I 32gb -- see update below
Power Supply: Seasonic SSR-550RM
Hard Drives: Western Digital WD40EFRX 4tb red

Im not sure about the memory, look at this review. I wanted to order curcial memory that is mentioned in this thread but unfortunately i couldnt find the exact same one at german amazon. I see curcial actually ships to germany, do you this i should rather take the curcial memory?

The other questionable item is the CPU, should i choose xenon or an i3 one? As far as i know the benefit of xeon processors is, it can run more virtual machines? Sorry if i wrote a too big nonsense, I should just search on it, but its always easier to ask. :D

Also, is it a really big problem if i only go with one hdd? Im still a big newb in raid systems and this whole redundancy topic. I already know i need at least two drives for specific raid systems like raid 0 and 1 ( one for speed one for mirroring ) and at least 3 -4 for those raid systems which combine speed and data safety.

I started to read and study about the software itself today, planning to read over this fine crafted ebook and the FreeNAS manual. I have basic experience with linux, im actually an ubuntu user and i used to setup my development environment in vagrant.

But for the first run i want to do only with one drive ( wont store any important data on it, just movies ). Is it possible to go with only one drive with FreeNAS? ( maybe i should just search on this one as well :) )

Actually right now I have a banana pi board computer, that i use as a nas server with an external sata 1TB WD green HDD and it works just fine, I just want something more powerful, not only for NAS purposes. I saw some really nice service that is integrated into FreeNAS and this jails 'virtual machine' looks really promising at FreeBSD. Anyway if someone is interested in how to setup a basic nas server on any linux distribution here is a guide i made for myself. It includes how to setup Transmission, Samba and OpenVPN. It also includes a VPN kill switch solution. Probably i will try out NFS because samba isnt support multi thread.

Anyway back back from off topic, I know the new broadwell intel processors arrive this december, does it worth to wait? Im not that into the price stuff, but maybe haswell chipset prices will drop? Also its worth to note broadwell aiming for lower power consumption and also for fanless solutions. It is really interesting.


Update: Based on this thread ill go with Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B.

 

[ALFA]

Please read Ericloewe Ram recommendations for this mobos

 

[danb35]

Yes, it's entirely possible to set up a FreeNAS server with only one hard drive. You will have no redundancy for your data, of course, so if that drive fails your data is gone. It is also possible to later add a second drive to mirror the first, though you can't currently do it through the FreeNAS GUI (I think I saw that this was due to be added in 9.3; you'd currently have to do it at the shell).

 

[Ericloewe]

Hello, first of all thank you very much for these great articles on the forum, it helped me a lot to pick the right parts for a server. Probably most of the parts are compatible and good but if you have a better idea let me know.

Chassis: Fractal Design Define R4
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O
CPU: Intel 1230V3
Memory: Kingston KVR16E11K4/32I 32gb
Power Supply: Seasonic SSR-550RM
Hard Drives: Western Digital WD40EFRX 4tb red

Im not sure about the memory, look at this review. I wanted to order curcial memory that is mentioned in this thread but unfortunately i couldnt find the exact same one at german amazon. I see curcial actually ships to germany, do you this i should rather take the curcial memory?

The other questionable item is the CPU, should i choose xenon or an i3 one? As far as i know the benefit of xeon processors is, it can run more virtual machines? Sorry if i wrote a too big nonsense, I should just search on it, but its always easier to ask. :D

Also, is it a really big problem if i only go with one hdd? Im still a big newb in raid systems and this whole redundancy topic. I already know i need at least two drives for specific raid systems like raid 0 and 1 ( one for speed one for mirroring ) and at least 3 -4 for those raid systems which combine speed and data safety.

I started to read and study about the software itself today, planning to read over this fine crafted ebook and the FreeNAS manual. I have basic experience with linux, im actually an ubuntu user and i used to setup my development environment in vagrant.

But for the first run i want to do only with one drive ( wont store any important data on it, just movies ). Is it possible to go with only one drive with FreeNAS? ( maybe i should just search on this one as well :) )

Actually right now I have a banana pi board computer, that i use as a nas server with an external sata 1TB WD green HDD and it works just fine, I just want something more powerful, not only for NAS purposes. I saw some really nice service that is integrated into FreeNAS and this jails 'virtual machine' looks really promising at FreeBSD. Anyway if someone is interested in how to setup a basic nas server on any linux distribution here is a guide i made for myself. It includes how to setup Transmission, Samba and OpenVPN. It also includes a VPN kill switch solution. Probably i will try out NFS because samba isnt support multi thread.

Anyway back back from off topic, I know the new broadwell intel processors arrive this december, does it worth to wait? Im not that into the price stuff, but maybe haswell chipset prices will drop? Also its worth to note broadwell aiming for lower power consumption and also for fanless solutions. It is really interesting.

I ordered my RAM from Crucial.com and it was painless (and a very reasonable price). You definitely do not want Kingston.

Still, you can buy it from Amazon, right here.
Straight from Crucial is cheaper, though.

 

[Attila91]

I read over your article, thanks for the information. I will definitely get the Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B (2 x 8gb) memory.

I will be able to go with one hdd, cool!


What about the next generation intel processors and the main difference between Xeon and I3?

 

[Ericloewe]

I read over your article, thanks for the information. I will definitely get the Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B (2 x 8gb) memory.

I will be able to go with one hdd, cool!


What about the next generation intel processors and the main difference between Xeon and I3?

Well, one HDD will not protect your data, but it's fine if you're just playing around.

What next generation? Broadwell? Broadwell on desktop is still very vague, maybe in a few weeks we'll have a clearer picture. Right now, everyone's busy with Haswell-E. Haswell (non-E) is the default option right now, this thread has general hardware recommendations.

Xeons have more cores and support VT-d. So, Xeons are better if you'll be doing processor-intensive stuff (like transcoding) or virtualizing (bad idea for most people). i3s are perfectly alright for basic file server use, with room to spare for a thing or two.

 

[Attila91]

Ohh okay, im not in a hurry i will definitely wait.