Long time lurker, first time poster!

[Joo Chung]

I had been watching FreeNAS and ZFS for quite a number of years and finally took the plunge the past couple weeks with my first FreeNAS build. This is after having spent the better part of a decade using Ubuntu Server as my backup server.

My first FreeNAS build....

• Intel Core i3-4330
• Supermicro MBD-X10SAT-O
• 2 x 8GB DDR 1600 ECC SDRAM
• Rosewill RSV-L4411 case
• SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W PSU
• 2 x IBM ServeRAID M1015 (crossflashed to IT mode)
• 12 x 2TB SATA drives (Mix of WD and Samsung)
• 16GB USB Flash Drive to boot FreeNAS

I originally had specced out a consumer level motherboard and non-ECC ram, but after reading the posts on ECC and ZFS, I canceled that order and instead bought the Supermicro motherboard and the ECC ram.

I currently have 3 drives attached per SAS port on the M1015s. So 6 drives per M1015. I have them in two VDEVs of 6 x 2TB RAIDZ2. And the spool striped across the two VDEVs. From what I read, this seems to be a reasonable configuration. I have a couple spare 2TB drives lying around in case of drive failure.

I just finished putting it all together last night so haven't had much time to test and tune, which I expect to do over the next couple weeks before I put the server into service.

 

[cyberjock]

Welcome! Use the docs that are available at doc.freenas.org. I print out the full PDF and put it in a binder to use. You can do what you want. But the PDF is easy and searchable so you should have no problems if you get lost. :)

Glad you checked out the stickies. They can answer many questions and prevent many accidents. You'll be much happer with the stuff you bought than the stuff you almost bought.

 

[madrone]

Hi, I'm considering that board for my first build - how's it working out for you? any pros/cons I should be aware of? thanks

 

[Joo Chung]

The board has been working great for me. No cons that I can think of. Size isn't an issue because my case is quite large. I had originally intended to use the built-in SATA ports but I ended up getting the IBM controllers instead.

Although... I think in the future I would go with a motherboard that has IPMI to facilitate remote management. That way I don't have to go down into my basement as often. Not that I have to go down often now as it is.

 

[madrone]

great - thank you for the response!

 

[austin janey]

hi im also considering the SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SAT-O and wanted to check out how yours has served you still running? run into any issues?

 

[madrone]

I had to place my project on hold so haven't gotten it yet

 

[Joo Chung]

Sorry its taken me a while to reply. No issues so far. I just replaced a failing drive. But thats the drive and not the motherboard. Motherboard has been solid as far as I can tell. The resilvering of the replaced drive took less than 5 hrs.