Is Asus H87i-PLUS motherboard working?

[Knowltey]

Ah yep, I was mixing the two up.

 

[Z300M]

You can easily find a Mini-ITX that supports ECC and isn't restricted to using an Atom processor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=COaR6dmklbsCFTRo7AodUyMAfA&Item=N82E16813157466&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Server Motherboards-_-N82E16813157466&ef_id=UpA9ZAAABWfXA6w7:20131204001417:s

and this thread here about a mini-itx build that uses an i3 and ECC: http://forums.freenas.org/threads/mini-itx-c226-haswell-build.15371/

But for only about $40 more you can get the SuperMicro X10SL7-F-O, which will take up to 32GB of ECC RAM (which you might need later) and has an on-board LSILogic SAS controller capable of handling eight drives in addition to the other SATA ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

 

[cyberjock]

@Z300M

That's why I just said in another thread that FreeNAS servers aren't "built". They must be "engineered" because there's way more factors that go into building the machine than a typical desktop.

Plenty of people can't grasp the possible combinations, nor can they pick a good combination of stuff that is compatible(and recommended) for FreeNAS. :)

You should be ashamed Z300M. You probably made a few people's heads explode just now. :P

 

[Knowltey]

But for only about $40 more you can get the SuperMicro X10SL7-F-O, which will take up to 32GB of ECC RAM (which you might need later) and has an on-board LSILogic SAS controller capable of handling eight drives in addition to the other SATA ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

Or even save money and get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182820

 

[Z300M]

Or even save money and get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182820

Yes, you save money up front, but you miss out on the on-board LSILogic SAS/SATA controller of the X10SL7-F-O with its additional 8 ports that you might later wish you had. Although I already have an M1015, when I upgrade (no ECC capability at present) I may still buy the X10SL7-F-O to give me plenty of expansion options.

 

[JohnK]

or you can be real frugile and wait for specials...

1 x ($164.99) SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLM-F-O uATX Server Motherboard $164.99​

1 x ($-30.00) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE $-30.00​

Subtotal: $134.99

1 x ($249.99) SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard $249.99
1 x ($-37.50) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE $-37.50
Subtotal:$212.49

 

[Knowltey]

Yes, you save money up front, but you miss out on the on-board LSILogic SAS/SATA controller of the X10SL7-F-O with its additional 8 ports that you might later wish you had. Although I already have an M1015, when I upgrade (no ECC capability at present) I may still buy the X10SL7-F-O to give me plenty of expansion options.

In my current upgrade plan I'm using that cheaper of the two, but I think that should be sufficient for me.

I know I won't be growing that much that I'll need that many ports. I only really use 2 at the moment and I'm not a super-space hungry user. I might eventually upgrade to Raid 0+1 to extend space, but that's about it I'm pretty sure. Is the 8 SATA ports the only difference for that controller, or is there other advantages to it?

 

[engmsf]

BrandonS,

Below is not a recommendation and just my build. About a year ago I was searching for headless NAS software to use in a small and low power fanless environment. I had the same deciding factor as you, ITX. I have been on ITX for half a decade and would not considering anything bigger. I am starting to find even ITX is too big LOL. A few folks I know have there ESXi test lab on an Intel NUCs.

I settle on FreeNAS with an Asus c60m1-i (1.0Ghz) with three WD Red (3TB).

Strike 1 - ZFS Raid-Z1
Strike 2 - 8GB Non-ECC
Strike 3 - Shutdown the NAS quite frequently - so scrub runs whenever.

3 strikes and your out? This is an example of what not to do, but it seems to be working for me. I am waiting for an issue to occur literally, and nothing has happen yet. I am not worried as there is nothing important on this file server.

 

[cyberjock]

@engmsf,

That's where the real problems stem from with FreeNAS. You can build it completely wrong. You can even deliberately break just about every rule in the forum stickies and the system will still work just fine for you for days, weeks, or months. Just look at how many people have shown up with FreeNAS systems built by other companies that did hardware RAID on ZFS and other completely idiotic stuff.

But, eventually you may regret one or more decisions. You might get lucky and never have a problem. But I don't like trusting my data to "luck" and neither does most people.

 

[engmsf]

I look at IXSystems mini specs and my little box doesn't vary by much for home office use. It can't be all that bad, unless these guys don't know what they are doing either.
http://www.ixsystems.com/mini/

At less 15W idle I could easily leaving the unit running 24/7 and adding another drive for RaidZ2. I do plan to have a proper ITX build in the near future, possible in 2014. I am still waiting for that perfect Asrock C226 with hdmi, or whomever beats them to market with it.

 

[cyberjock]

I look at IXSystems mini specs and my little box doesn't vary by much for home office use. It can't be all that bad, unless these guys don't know what they are doing either.
http://www.ixsystems.com/mini/

There was a thread a few months back about the mini and its lack of ECC RAM. ixsystems is currently evaluating some C226 boards to replace the current mini since the current hardware doesn't support ECC RAM. The thread turned into a mess when the discussion went from "check out our mini on amazon" to "if you buy a mini you are obviously making concessions" to "its the server admin's responsibility to know what concessions they are making and if they choose to not use ECC RAM with ZFS that is their prerogative" to "how should we expect to believe this whole ECC vs non-ECC stuff if iX is selling systems without ECC?"

Then it just went downhill from there and was deleted.

 

[BrandonS]

As a follow-up, I have decided to RMA the ASUS H87i-PLUS and will be going with the ASRock E3C226D2I (thanks for pointing these out in the previous post) in its place. Unfortunately, its going to cost me a restocking fee and a Haswell Pentium LGA1150 that has never been opened (thanks to newegg's policy). I am going to run the 35w Core i3 in this board that will support ECC and AES-NI. I am going to do a 3-way mirror with 3x3TB WD Reds and extend it later with another similar vdev. 6TB of RAID10 ZFS in an ITX will work great for me.

What it mostly comes down to I've found between the Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX factors is:
Cost: ITX (in a similar board configuration) is more due to the availability of boards currently.
Memory: 16GB vs 32GB capable. (over 32GB takes you to Xeon E5's)
PCIe: additional 1-3 PCIe slots for future drives, NICs, or controllers on an ATX.

A ZFS FreeNAS can be done in an ITX factor, just don't expect to do it on this ASUS board with out understanding the risks.

 

[Richman]

There was a thread a few months back about the mini and its lack of ECC RAM. ixsystems is currently evaluating some C226 boards to replace the current mini since the current hardware doesn't support ECC RAM. The thread turned into a mess when the discussion went from "check out our mini on amazon" to "if you buy a mini you are obviously making concessions" to "its the server admin's responsibility to know what concessions they are making and if they choose to not use ECC RAM with ZFS that is their prerogative" to "how should we expect to believe this whole ECC vs non-ECC stuff if iX is selling systems without ECC?"

Then it just went downhill from there and was deleted.

But for only about $40 more you can get the SuperMicro X10SL7-F-O, which will take up to 32GB of ECC RAM (which you might need later) and has an on-board LSILogic SAS controller capable of handling eight drives in addition to the other SATA ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

I noticed the Storage Devices


Storage Devices

SATA​

4 x SATA 3.0Gb/s + 2 x SATA 6.0Gb/s

SATA RAID​

SATA3 (6Gbps) w/ RAID 0, 1
SATA2 (3Gbps) w/ RAID 0, 1, 5, 10

SAS​

8x SAS2 (6Gbps) ports via LSI 2308

SAS RAID​

SW RAID 0, 1, 1E, 10 support
Does anyone know how the SATA RAID is implemented on this board? In other words can the SATA RAID 2 and 3 that say w/RAID 0,1,5,10 be used without the hardware RAID enabled and is the LSI 2308 able to be used in IT mode?

 

[Richman]

There was a thread a few months back about the mini and its lack of ECC RAM. ixsystems is currently evaluating some C226 boards to replace the current mini since the current hardware doesn't support ECC RAM. The thread turned into a mess when the discussion went from "check out our mini on amazon" to "if you buy a mini you are obviously making concessions" to "its the server admin's responsibility to know what concessions they are making and if they choose to not use ECC RAM with ZFS that is their prerogative" to "how should we expect to believe this whole ECC vs non-ECC stuff if iX is selling systems without ECC?"

Then it just went downhill from there and was deleted.

I never knew this till this thread since I have looked at those specs but didn't hit me that it didn't say ECC. So what are they doing since all of them are doomed to fail in a couple weeks or a few month at the most? Oh come on before I get flamed it was rhetorical.