FreeNAS Mini XL? Or DIY?

[thedirtmerchant]

I'm willing to spend the coin either way, but what is the pro/con?

I plan to use it for picture/video/document storage and for streaming video to displays/tablets via Plex. Nothing strenuous, just for my kids to watch movies and/or me to be able to watching anything. I don't know if I'll ever push up to a full 4k, but HD streams and
transcoding without struggle would be nice. Is the XL up to that task?

I do like to tinker and DIY, but I also like the solid backing for the XL, would be nice if they gave the 3 year warranty standard though.

If I buy the drives along with the XL, do they do burn-in, drive testing at all? Mem tests? Or is that all up to me upon receipt?

 

[nemisisak]

FreeNAS mini will do everything you want it too. They will do a full server burn in before sending to you. The upside is obviously the support and warranty the downside is obviously the price (pre-built is always going to be more expensive). Building the server also which is an upside/downside depending on your preference. I personally like building servers/PCs.
Upside to DIY apart from mentioned above is you get to source the hardware you want specifying for future upgrades, its cheaper as you build it and can source the hardware at the cheapest market rate/ access to the second hard market. downside is you have to put in the effort of sourcing the hardware, deal with any issues that may arise, do all the burnin testing and re-order any faulty equipement. i.e. the main downside being time.
All in all, I would always recommend DIY as it lets you know your system alot better.

 

[Dice]

How much is the premium of purchasing by iX, compared to DIY with similar components?

 

[Ericloewe]

How much is the premium of purchasing by iX, compared to DIY with similar components?

Not significant, especially with the typical C2750 pricing.

The real cost is the somewhat dubious nature of the Marvell controllers. I imagine they're better these days, but their reputation is hard to get rid of.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Not significant, especially with the typical C2750 pricing.

The real cost is the somewhat dubious nature of the Marvell controllers. I imagine they're better these days, but their reputation is hard to get rid of.

What has the dubious Marvell controllers? The mini?
Is that a passive vote to go DiY? And avoid said controllers?

 

[Ericloewe]

What has the dubious Marvell controllers? The mini?

The ASRock C2750D4I motherboard used in all current FreeNAS Minis.

Is that a passive vote to go DiY? And avoid said controllers?

Not necessarily. However, if you're comfortable assembling your own system and follow the hardware recommendations guide (linked in my sig), it's fairly easy to get something that matches your needs more closely.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

I'm trying to price out a DiY and would really like a 6-8 bay hot swappable with microATX mobo.

I've found this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...366&cm_re=hot_swap_bay-_-11-163-366-_-Product

Any reason this wouldn't be any good?

I've seen the Norco 8, but don't want the mini-ATX (only to avoid the space and cooling concerns). But if the Norco 8 is perfectly fine and say, I only need to add another fan or something...well then at least I have 2 to choose from.

Thoughts? Other chassis possibilities?

 

[Ericloewe]

Any reason this wouldn't be any good?

That's a recent model. I don't think I've seen anyone use it yet.

The older DS380 was ok, but the cooling was notably crappy.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

That's a recent model. I don't think I've seen anyone use it yet.

The older DS380 was ok, but the cooling was notably crappy.

Better to rip your idea then and get a tower and put in the fatcages?

 

[Ericloewe]

Better to rip your idea then and get a tower and put in the fatcages?

It works well, but is on the noisy side without further modifications.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Any better if I was to get the Fractal Design R4 or Fractal Design R5
I could live w/o hot swap, but I don't want any issues with cooling.

 

[Ericloewe]

People are generally happy with them, I think.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

What is considered "medium usage" when it comes to the cpu? I expect
to use it for streaming video to displays/tablets via Plex. Maybe 2 HD streams that will need to be transcoded at once. For my kids to watch movies and/or me to be able to watching anything.

 

[Ericloewe]

What is considered "medium usage" when it comes to the cpu?

In what context?

Maybe 2 HD streams that will need to be transcoded at once.

C2750 is said to handle that well.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

In what context?

C2750 is said to handle that well.

I'm just going through the Community Hardware Guide that you maintain step by step. For CPU you have a breakdown between "Light", "Medium" and "Heavy" usage. Based on the simple explanation of medium usage therein, that's the context. What is considered medium? 5 HD streams? 7?

I think I'll probably add cpu headroom here
and spend an extra hundred or so to get an i3 or Xeon E3 chip...

I'll stay away from the C2750 and the ASRock mobo due to the previously mentioned controller issues and the mass die off.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Besides size and cost, is there any serious trade off between using a SSD or SATA DOM as a boot device?
Is boot mirroring simply to guard against boot device failure?
I see that Supermicro has a SATA DOM listed on their website, anyone know where to actually purchase one?
Can I mirror the boot device between an SSD and SATA DOM?
Is that really even necessary?

 

[Ericloewe]

Besides size and cost, is there any serious trade off between using a SSD or SATA DOM as a boot device?

SATA DOMs are cute and you may get away with not needing power cables.

Is boot mirroring simply to guard against boot device failure?

Yes.

I see that Supermicro has a SATA DOM listed on their website, anyone know where to actually purchase one?

Supermicro resellers. Other companies make compatible products: https://www.servethehome.com/innodisk-satadom-sl-3me3-v2-128gb-benchmarks-review/

Can I mirror the boot device between an SSD and SATA DOM?

Can? Yes. Should? No, there's no point to it.

Is that really even necessary?

Not really. SSDs are reliable enough not to matter most of the time.

 

[SavageAUS]

That Silverstone SST-CS380 looks nice, might get one when I upgrade my storage and add a m1015.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[nemisisak]

No need to buy a sata dom or ssd as a boot drive. Just get a couple of sandisk USBs, no need to waste money. Freenas launches the OS into RAM on boot so makes no difference to performance. I have an Intel Xeon CPU E5-1620 v3 and it handles 3 simultaneous HD streams without issue.

 

[Dice]

Any better if I was to get the Fractal Design R4 or Fractal Design R5
I could live w/o hot swap, but I don't want any issues with cooling.

I believe the R5 has upgraded the hddcages for improved airflow. Look closely and compare.
I've the "2 store" old Define XL which has the same cages as R4. They are definitely improved in the R5 model.

Any sort of issues you might run into (not that too many talk about it) is the useless dust filters. Even clean (as in - brushed off submerged in water) they still restrict airflow beyond belief. As usual, some creative work with gorilla tape and some sort of replacement to these fan grills is what I'd recommend.
Note - I've never read about anyone complain about this. It is just my own experience over a couple of years and multiple cleaning sessions. Comparing before, after, with and without filters.
At present, I run without filters, until I get my ass around to fix a suitable DIY solution. For example - front speaker fabric is excellent if given a lot of area. Aim for 2x the fan area. Should be applied to any sort of dust collector tbh.
Just gotta find the time and ...energy.

cheers.