Freenas homeserver build

[Cougar014]

Good day everyone,

I am looking for some feedbakc on my (possible) future server build.
First i was looking for a synology NAS, but price/performance wise it think it is better to go for a self build freenas.
I want it to perform as a storage server for phone, laptop, pc etc. and as a plex media server.
I also was wondering if freenas is capable of performing as a Teamspeak 3 server?
If possible I want to keep the costs around ~600 euros (without storage) and i dont want to expand my central heating.
further i am open for suggestions.

Currently I am aiming for these components

CPU: Intel Xeon 1220v5 + stock cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte X150m-pro ECC (m-ATX)
Memory: 2x 8gb ECC mem (kingston, samsung, curcial??)
PSU: Be Quiet pure power 9 400w
Case: Fractal Design node 804 OR Bitfenix Phenom m-ATX (prefer the phenom due to its size, but maybe its not capable enough?).
2x 16gb usb 2.0 + internal USB adapter.

The CPU is probably overkill, but the gigabyte motherboard costs only 110 euros (compared to the 200+ euros for supermicro boards)
the downfall is, it only offers ECC in combination with XEON cpu's.
So it basically is an expensive cpu with cheap motherboard + the benefits of a fast CPU or cheap CPU with expensive motheboard.

For storage i am aiming for 3x3tb WD red (in RAIDz1). I know the downfalls of RAIDz1. But is is such a risk even with a 3 hdd setup?

Can someone explain me if in this build is is usefull to expand it with an SSD? And if so, why?

Last but not least, can someone explain to me what are the benefits of having a dual/quad ethernet Nic?


Thanks in advance for your advice and answers!

 

[LT421]

Good day everyone,

I am looking for some feedbakc on my (possible) future server build.
First i was looking for a synology NAS, but price/performance wise it think it is better to go for a self build freenas.
I want it to perform as a storage server for phone, laptop, pc etc. and as a plex media server.
I also was wondering if freenas is capable of performing as a Teamspeak 3 server?
If possible I want to keep the costs around ~600 euros (without storage) and i dont want to expand my central heating.
further i am open for suggestions.

Currently I am aiming for these components

CPU: Intel Xeon 1220v5 + stock cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte X150m-pro ECC (m-ATX)
Memory: 2x 8gb ECC mem (kingston, samsung, curcial??)
PSU: Be Quiet pure power 9 400w
Case: Fractal Design node 804 OR Bitfenix Phenom m-ATX (prefer the phenom due to its size, but maybe its not capable enough?).
2x 16gb usb 2.0 + internal USB adapter.

The CPU is probably overkill, but the gigabyte motherboard costs only 110 euros (compared to the 200+ euros for supermicro boards)
the downfall is, it only offers ECC in combination with XEON cpu's.
So it basically is an expensive cpu with cheap motherboard + the benefits of a fast CPU or cheap CPU with expensive motheboard.

For storage i am aiming for 3x3tb WD red (in RAIDz1). I know the downfalls of RAIDz1. But is is such a risk even with a 3 hdd setup?

Can someone explain me if in this build is is usefull to expand it with an SSD? And if so, why?

Last but not least, can someone explain to me what are the benefits of having a dual/quad ethernet Nic?


Thanks in advance for your advice and answers!

 

[joeschmuck]

@Cougar014
What are you expecting to do with this NAS and what are your storage expectations for the next 3 years? Be honest here because it does matter on what you want to do. Here is how it goes... Lets say you think you need 6TB of storage over the next 3 years, now we double it because everyone will add more data and crap to the storage if it's just there, plus add 20% for speed. You are looking at 11TB of usable storage for the next three years. Three years is being used because the hard drive warranty is normally 3 years and hard drives typically will last 5+ years if they survive to the 3 year point. Anyway, getting off topic. Also what will you be doing with the NAS, just long term backups, streaming videos, HD videos, running a web server, etc... Think about what you will and might want to do. While the CPU may be overkill, it's okay if the price is right. The stock cooler works perfectly and is practically silent.

I have not looked into compatibility of the hardware but with respect to the Supermicro board over the Gigabyte board, you should be aware that the Supermicro board gives you fantastic stability and most are very proven here. I'm not trying to talk you into a Supermicro board but you should ensure you are thinking about things like how long you expect your system to last and that the motherboard is about the same cost as a single hard drive.

When it comes to RAM, always look to see what is listed in the motherboard docs for what works.

RAIDZ1, that is up to you and you should know the pitfalls of it and also understand that you can't just add another drive to expand the capacity. Well I guess you technically add another drive but it's bad news if you do.

 

[LT421]

Hi Cougar014,

I just completed a build recently. Attached are images and parts list with prices. Amazon is selling the following:

Here's the link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167MYNKC/?tag=ozlp-20

This is practically the same server that's in the parts list but with an E3-1226-V3 CPU vs the E3-1225-V3 CPU. I compared the two using Intel's ARK site and the only differences are 1) the 1226 is slightly faster (3.3GHz base freq vs 3.2GHz) and 2) Intel® Wireless Display technology that enables wireless streaming of movies, photos, websites, and more from an UltrabookTM or PC to an HDTV which the 1226 has.

It comes with a 4GB ECC RAM so if you purchase another 16GB kit of the Crucial RAM you can have 20GB of RAM. I decided to use 32GB so I purchased a set of 2. The crucial ECC RAM is available today for about $97US .
link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EMA5VU/?tag=ozlp-20)

Together that's $637US (~580 euro) + shipping.

Since the server has hot swap bays you'll need to buy the hot swap drive caddies ~$11.00US each.
link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OPBEM5Y/?tag=ozlp-20

To us ZFS you'll need and LSI/Avago HBA or an IBM ServeRAID M1015 (popular here) crossflashed to IT-mode. I used the M1015. You can buy either from Amazon on ebay. Price is around $85US. If you buy the M1015 not flashed to IT-mode note that I was unsuccessful cross-flashing it with this server. So I purchased another one that was already flashed to IP-mode with P20 fireware. That cost me $135US.

Caveat if you're looking for a server in a small case then this will be too large for you!

Gook luck on your build. In case you're new to FreeNAS, I recommend you read "Uncle Fester's Basic FreeNAS 9.10 Configuration Guide (FreeNAS wiki)", here's the link: https://wiki.freenas.org/index.php/Uncle_Fester's_Guide. I used this to configure my FreeNAS server. It's an excellent guide, imho.

Luis

 

[Cougar014]

Thanks everyone for your advice,

For the storage part I currently have around 1.8tb of storage (mostly media files) but with some cleaning this probably can be shrunk down to about 1+TB.
So that's why I think 6TB will be sufficient for the upcoming 3(+) years.
And I can always expand with another 2 or 3 drives (I know, this will become a separate vdev then).

About the motherboard, I have good experience with the gigabyte motherboard. I know this is subjective, but it feels good. Also the reviews on the internet for this mobo (and its bigger brother of the same series) are also fairly well.

Also about the Lenovo setup, price wise it is pretty much the same. And then I like to build it myself. This way I know what stuff I put into it. But thanks for the idea.

But LT421 can you explain the LSI/avago HBA thing.
This sounds pretty Chinese to me...

Thanks in advance