Is HP ML350 suitable to configure a high speed FreeNAS? [FreeNAS newbie]

[Gaurav]

Namaste from India!

I need to set up a NAS at my office for multiple people to work on large image files together. I was waiting for such an opportunity to try out FreeNAS, which I've been ardently reading about.

I was wondering if I could use HP Proliant ML350 server G9 (the one with Intel Xeon 2609 processor and having LFF - 3.5" SATA Disks). It seems to have all the right things (24 hard disk drive slots, 24 DDR4 ECC RAM slots) to build a high performance NAS. I tried looking for someone who might have implemented FreeNAS on such a machine, but without much luck. I found some posts discussing attempts of a build on older generation of this series, but they are too old to give me confidence.

FreeNAS is presented as something that can be attempted even by novices. While I am pretty comfortable in installing and managing nix based systems, I'd like to hear if building a high performance NAS is too complicated to get daunted by the task.

I intend to begin with low capacity (3x6 TB SATA HDDs) and scale up as the storage fills up. In the end i want to have a 144 TB NAS that my office will be happy to have permitted to attempt. Besides the general considerations of RAM, cache etc, what else do I need to watch out for? And again, does my hardware sound okay?

Wish me luck.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

From a very quick glance at the specs of the Ml350, it looks at least viable.

I intend to begin with low capacity (3x6 TB SATA HDDs) and scale up as the storage fills up. In the end i want to have a 144 TB

I don't think starting with 3 disks is a good idea if your goal is 24 disks. I suggest you plan for four 6-disk vdevs or three 8-disk vdevs, and therefore start with either 6 or 8 disks.

I also suggest you contact iXSystems for a TrueNAS quote.

 

[pocomo]

Never mind; misread your spec of 24 RAM slots as 24 GB or RAM :). Sounds like a very capable machine.

If you are comfortable administering Linux systems then you should have no trouble adapting to the FreeBSD/FreeNAS lifestyle.

BTW, what are you planning for backups/DR? IMO the easiest solution is to have a duplicate server with nightly replication and local recovery, plus a third tier in the cloud. Crashplan has a capable plugin for FreeNAS.

 

[Gaurav]

what are you planning for backups/DR? IMO the easiest solution is to have a duplicate server with nightly replication and local recovery, plus a third tier in the cloud. Crashplan has a capable plugin for FreeNAS.

I am not sure if I will be allotted with enough budget to have a duplicate server right-away, but if this thing performs as well as I dream it would, then I am sure I will be able to convince the administration to implement a duplicate server.

But this also makes me curious: what are the points of failure that I should be aware of, that are specific to FreeNAS? I mean, I understand the chance of failure of disks in RAIDZ, the power supply conking out, the motherboard/processors acting up etc. But is there anything specific to FreeNAS that I should watch out for?

Thanks again for considering my question.

 

[Mirfster]

But this also makes me curious: what are the points of failure that I should be aware of, that are specific to FreeNAS? I mean, I understand the chance of failure of disks in RAIDZ, the power supply conking out, the motherboard/processors acting up etc. But is there anything specific to FreeNAS that I should watch out for?

Usually the failures are from the admin lacking basic knowledge and diverting from recommendations that have be outlined and repeated (over and over) in these forums. For all those getting started (even those familiar) it would be best to go over certain materials at the very least. In my signature, I have added some of the items that I deemed as "Recommended Reading"; please take some time to go over them.

As far as backups, that should be always considered as part of a "solution". Yes FreeNas is great at redundancy; but nothing is a true replacement for keeping and maintaining backups. A lot of people only consider data to be "safe" if it is kept in three different places (On-Line, Near-Line and Off-Line). Always have a DR plan that has been tested, nothing worse than trying to count on a DR and it not working... ;)