Free server given to me, what low hanging fruit would you upgrade (will it FreeNAS)

[AndrewParsons]

Hello Team,

So I am very fortunate to be given an old server server (not totally free I did help them terminate cat6 ends for a week). I have been using my existing system for almost 5 years now and have learned a pile (thanks to this community). If you would not mind I would like to borrow your expertise once again. Could you please take a look at the list below and recommend any changes that you would make.

System as it sits
-4U Supermicro 24 bay case with SAS3 Expander
- Supermicro x9Dri-F motherboard
- 2x Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2
- 128GB DDR3 (16 x 8GB - DDR3 - REG PC3-10600R)
- AOC-S3008L-L8e HBA 12Gb/s SAS controller (I will flash it to IT mode if it is not already)
- Dual Power supply (Do not know much more than that)
- 14x REF ST8000NM0065 SEAGATE 3.5" 8TB SAS-3 12GBs 7k RPM EXOS 7e8 4kn Drive 256MB Cache

Adding to system
- Chelsio 110-1146-40 T420-CR T420 CR 10GbE 2-Port
- Adata SU655 120 GB SSD (boot drive)
- Was thinking of adding some SSD for jail pool? perhaps raidz1?

Of course since the system is used and I have not idea what kind of a life it has seen I will be running cpu stress test, mem test, short/long smartest (all drives) and bad block test (all drivers).

Looking at the above, would you change anything? Add or remove anything? Since this is mostly free I am okay with putting some money towards it.

I am only looking to run a Plex server for the most part. Multiple streams and transcodes. With that in mind how would you guys handle the main pool? I was thinking 2 vdevs each with raidz2?

Please let me know if you need anymore information for you to make any suggestions.

Thank you so much for your time and help.

Andrew

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

Nice. It might be a little loud compared to a desktop-based system. You'll need to do a long SMART check on the hard drives to be safe.

 

[AndrewParsons]

Of course, I plan on doing one prior to the bad block test and after the bad block test on all drives. Thank god for tmux. Thank you

Andrew

 

[Jailer]

I think your plan and intended use case will work well. I would do 2 vdevs in RAIDZ2 as well but skip the SSD for jails and run the jails off your main pool. It's likely overkill for what you intend to use it for but you'll have room to grow if you want to add some jails and services and/or VM's.

 

[AndrewParsons]

Thank you very much for your info, I will do that. Would you run the boot device in mirror? And am I right to use the motherboard raid controller for this?

Andrew

 

[AndrewParsons]

Also would you be able to expand on the reasoning for running the jails on the main pool? Is it because all the drive would be faster than the 3 ssd in raidz? Thank you in advance.

Andrew

 

[Jailer]

I run a single SATA-DOM for my boot device. I'm of the opinion that dual boot devices are not needed for a home server especially if you are running a SSD of some sort. If you have ready access to the server boot drive replacement is relatively simple with a good config backup. Now if you have something where up time is critical then mirrored boot devices make more sense. But that's just MY opinion.

 

[Jailer]

Also would you be able to expand on the reasoning for running the jails on the main pool? Is it because all the drive would be faster than the 3 ssd in raidz? Thank you in advance.

Andrew

I think it's a waste of money and SATA slots. I have 13 jails running on my main pool that is RAIDZ2 of 6 disks and I have never experienced any performance issues.

But again that's another thing that is just MY opinion and I'm sure others will jump in with reasons to counter it.

 

[AndrewParsons]

You make a good point. I was thinking that having the jails run on a separate pool would save some wear and tear on the main pool and because low GB ssds are cheap to replace. Thank you for your input it is much welcomed.

Andrew

 

[AndrewParsons]

Seeing how I have much more horse power under the hood than I really need I was just thinking; would it make sense to move the nine 4 TB WD reds I have in my current setup over to the new server? thoughts? thank you in advance.

Andrew

 

[Bikerchris]

Thanks for the intro to tmux, that'll be handy.

I wonder if you should test the hard drives before committing to a config, so you know how many are throw aways before setting up?

 

[Inxsible]

I would not have any issues using the used hardware -- especially after going through stress testing of all components -- but I am usually wary of using used HDDs. Only because the minute i finish setting up the system and want to sit back and relax and enjoy the system, invariably a HDD will start throwing up errors and I will end up second guessing everything that I did during the system setup -- but that's just me.

 

[Inxsible]

Did I mention, you were lucky to get that system for the price of a few CAT6 cable terminations?

 

[HoneyBadger]

That is a fine system @AndrewParsons - I've seen small-business VMware storage running on less beefy hardware than that.

Watch out for your power bill and potential noise levels though - you've got two 130W processors, sixteen DIMMs, and fourteen SAS drives.

Those E5's are huge overkill for just TrueNAS (12c24t each) so you could consider pulling one if you're able to get away with half the RAM - or either creating a lot of VMs/jails/plugins and maybe even running vSphere as a base with TrueNAS as a VM (although that latter one requires a bit more familiarity and some specific guidance)

I wonder if you should test the hard drives before committing to a config, so you know how many are throw aways before setting up?

Agree with this - test those drives as you intend, and then decide on the layout - but for bulk storage, it's hard to go wrong with a multiple RAIDZ2 layout.

 

[Inxsible]

you've got two 130W processors,

Maybe I missed where @AndrewParsons said anything about the PSUs -- but 130W seems rather low for such a beefy server -- especially in a redundant configuration. Did you mean 1300W?

i have a 2U SC826 chassis that came with dual redundant 1280W PSUs (1K28, don't recall the exact model number right now)-- although the power draw is so low that it's around 14% -- so I keep thinking about selling my PSUs and getting some lower wattage PSUs that will fit my chassis -- say the 920-SQ ones or maybe even something in the 700W range.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Maybe I missed where @AndrewParsons said anything about the PSUs -- but 130W seems rather low for such a beefy server -- especially in a redundant configuration. Did you mean 1300W?

I'm talking about the TDP rating of the two processors (E5-2697v2) - while they certainly won't burn 130W each at idle, if they ramp up when handling Plex transcodes (or power-saving features are turned off to optimize for peak performance) then that's a healthy amount of consumption.

 

[Inxsible]

I'm talking about the TDP rating of the two processors (E5-2697v2) - while they certainly won't burn 130W each at idle, if they ramp up when handling Plex transcodes (or power-saving features are turned off to optimize for peak performance) then that's a healthy amount of consumption.

you said processors too --- I don't know where my mind was when I took that to be PSU.

 

[AndrewParsons]

Sorry team, I did not see these messages. I am very lucky to get this system. There are 2x 920Watt Power Supplys (PWS-920P-1R)

 

[Herr_Merlin]

Turn on all power saving features and be happy