FreeNAS Newb help picking hardware.

[eddie200112]

Hi im new to the whole server and freeNAS arena and would love some advice before I start.
Originally I was thinking the hardware setup below, but after taking a look at the hardware forum I feel I may not have picked hardware up to snuff. Is this hardware good? or should I really go with a supermicro board.

Im ultimately looking for something to stream my home media to 2 HTPC's and if its even possible stream the media over the internet to my brother.

PS. im not rich but I value data integrity so the most affordable way to safeguard and share my data is preferred.

OK so what does everyone think of this setup for my freenas rig?

ASRock X99 Extreme3 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
($194)

Intel Xeon E5-2603 v3 Haswell 1.6GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache LGA 2011-3 85W Server Processor BX80644E52603V3
($219)
(Some told me this CPU would be too slow)

SAMSUNG 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4-17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB
($195) maybe two of these..

And then I currently have all my 8x 4TB HDD's
But I have to have them empty I assume before I can add them to the NAS so I will buy a couple new 4TB WD Black HDD's to start it out. And then I can just add a single drive at a time to it as I back up data right?
Thanks again!

 

[danb35]

The motherboard you've selected really isn't designed for server use, and doesn't appear to support ECC memory. Something like the SuperMicro X10SRL-F would be a better choice if you wanted a Socket 2011 system. The ASRock EPC612D8A-TB also appears to be suitable based on its specs, but I haven't seen that board used much (if at all) around here.

You cannot safely add a single disk at a time to an existing pool. Check out this presentation for more information about how ZFS works--you'll need to be familiar with the basics in order to safely plan out your storage.

 

[Fraoch]

Im ultimately looking for something to stream my home media to 2 HTPC's and if its even possible stream the media over the internet to my brother.

If that's all you're looking to do, then the Xeon E5 route is overkill. Also as noted you have everything you need except for a proper server motherboard.

Are you transcoding (i.e. converting from one file format to another on-the-fly) or just streaming? Streaming is just file serving, it doesn't require a huge amount of power - a Pentium G3XXX would be fine for this. For transcoding, you should use at least a Core i3-4XXX. If you are inclined to get a Xeon, an E3-123X v3 would be all you need, though an E3-1220 v3 like I'm using would be fine as well.

 

[danb35]

The E5 is probably overkill, but that E5 plus the X10SRL-F isn't significantly more than the X10SL7-F plus an E3. The biggest advantage I see to the E5 build is the ability to expand the RAM well beyond the 32-GB limit for an E3 system. That probably won't be necessary with where the system is now, but future expandability is always a good thing.

 

[eddie200112]

Should not be doing any encoding. But I thought I want ECC RDIMM Ram so that's why I was going with xeon.

 

[danb35]

You want ECC, but not necessarily registered. Essentially, you want registered if your motherboard supports/requires registered, and unbuffered if your motherboard supports/requires unbuffered. Socket 2011 boards (Xeon E5) typically want registered, while Socket 1150 and 1155 boards (Xeon E3) generally want unbuffered.

From what you say of your application, the Xeon E5 is overkill, and you're pretty unlikely to need more than 32 GB of memory. A Socket 1150 board like the X10SL7-F with a Xeon E3 (perhaps an E3-1230v3) might save you a little bit compared to the build you're suggesting. You'd use ECC UDIMMs for that board. You could also use one of the G-series Pentiums in that board to save a little bit more, though don't expect to be able to do any transcoding with those CPUs. Intel said for a long time that the Core i3 CPUs supported ECC, but now they're saying they don't.

 

[eddie200112]

OK I know I for sure want ecc but thereal is no benefit then to use registered ecc in terms of data integrity?

 

[danb35]

Correct--registered ECC provides no benefit in terms of data integrity compared to unbuffered ECC.

 

[eddie200112]

If i go the E5 plus the X10SRL-F route, this may sound dumb but would i need a video card or does it have built in graphics as i see it has some vga ports?

 

[eddie200112]

The motherboard you've selected really isn't designed for server use, and doesn't appear to support ECC memory. Something like the SuperMicro X10SRL-F would be a better choice if you wanted a Socket 2011 system. The ASRock EPC612D8A-TB also appears to be suitable based on its specs, but I haven't seen that board used much (if at all) around here.

QUOTE]
I looked at the manual and support website and i was pretty sure it supported RDIMM

 

[Fraoch]

If i go the E5 plus the X10SRL-F route, this may sound dumb but would i need a video card or does it have built in graphics as i see it has some vga ports?

This board has an ASPEED AST2400 BMC which has integrated video. The same chip is responsible for IPMI - remote management including remote video plus the ability to mount virtual .ISOs remotely.

It's really a 400 MHz ARM computer-within-a-computer and can even be used to turn on the rest of the motherboard.

If you've never used IPMI before, prepare to be amazed.:)

 

[Ericloewe]

ASRock's non-Rack division does have a few supposedly ECC-capable motherboards, the X99 WS, WS-E and WS-E with dual 10GbE. My desktop has an X99 WS with an E5-1650 v3 and 16GB ECC RAM. Unfortunately, it's been essentially impossible to validate that ECC is working.

My point? Always go for proper server stuff if you're building a server. I can accept a little bit of uncertainty on my desktop, but not on a server.

 

[eddie200112]

Is this the same board as the X10SRL-F? It has a slightly different product name on newegg..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ESTMATCH&Description=X10SRL-F&N=-1&isNodeId=1

I think ill go with that board and an E5 as id like a bit of future proofing and ill probably want to use more features as I learn what I can do with this. And definitely will want to use IPMI.

 

[eddie200112]

whoa so I looked up the very few tested memory modules on newegg and the price is pretty high 299 for 16GB and 599 for the LRDIMM are there cheaper options?

 

[eddie200112]

OK so I think either of these 2 boards will do nicely
SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRL-F Server Motherboard LGA 2011 R3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3182927&cm_re=X10SRL-F-_-13-182-927-_-Product

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3182821&cm_re=X10SL7-F-_-13-182-821-_-Product

But a couple concerns. The first has 8DIMM slots, will I need to fill a certain number of them for it to boot or can I start with one while in the experimenting stage?

The second board uses SAS and I remember that u can interchange SATA but how exactly does that work? Can a sata drive just be plugged into a SAS port?

ALSO for either board will all the SATA or SAS ports be usable to the freeNAS software, I know on some consumer boards RAID would only be supported by one of the controllers or if even supported by both they could only work independently of each other.

Sorry for all the questions but I really appresciate the help!

 

[eddie200112]

I founf this board SuperMicro X9SRL-F im assuming its the predecessor to the X1SRL-f it uses DDR3 RAM would that be a cheaper option for ram but still be reliable and fast, or should I just suck it up and get DDR4 Ram and save myself upgrade trouble in the future?

 

[eddie200112]

Just an FYI I already have 20TB of data so I think that puts me close to the 32GB of RAM that I may want to go with a system that can upgrade past that. correct?

 

[eddie200112]

looking at the X10SRL-F manual I see this:

Ten (10) SATA3 ports

• AHCI controller supports six (6) SATA3 drives compatible with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10.

• sSATA controller supports four (4) SATA3 drives compatible with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10.

RAID array and volume(s) cannot span across the two (AHCI and sSATA) controllers.
that 3rd line worries me. does that mean I can only effectively use at most 6 or 4 disks in a Vdev?

 

[Fraoch]

Just an FYI I already have 20TB of data so I think that puts me close to the 32GB of RAM that I may want to go with a system that can upgrade past that. correct?

That's not a hard-and-fast rule past 32 GB, but if you already have 20 TB of data, yes, you should have the capability to expand past 32 GB and that means Xeon E5.

 

[eddie200112]

OK thanks the only last thing keeping me hesitant is my last post. Know anything about that? Do most people end up just buying controller cards or raid cards to expand larger than the onboard ports can handle?