BUILD Looking for advice (and encouragement...)

[mappo]

This is scary and I'd love for someone to hold my hand through it.
I'm ok experienced with PC hardware and I've been using Linux on my laptops since the Pentium III days, but NAS is new.

I'm looking to replace my current LAMP system and I'll need the following:
* Owncloud
* Plex (around 5 sinks)
* Some way of backing up phones and laptops (currently done with Bittorrent sync).
* not lose precious data

Let's divide the data into three levels of "preciousness"
A: personal stuff like photos - must not lose
B: rips of CDs and DVDs that I own - would suck to lose, but ok
C: stuff downloaded from ... err ... yargh! ... the "cloud" - redundancy would be waste of disk

How would this translate into pool and vdev configurations?
My naive research yielded that level A should be ZR2 and level B could be ZR1 (if "small" disks were used).
For level C, I could use single drives.
But I still haven't been able to work out if this means 3 zpools or 1 zpool with 3 vdevs!
To complicate things further I want the Plex jail to be able to reach both ripped and downloaded files (levels B and C).

And then there's the hardware...
I've been looking at the Supermicro X11SSM-F mobo with the Xeon E3-1220v5 on top. The specs look great, but I'm a bit weary of using the latest rather than the greatest. Advice much appreciated.
I'll use whatever RAM is recommended on Supermicro's website once I've selected with mobo to use; 2x8 GB to start with.
Somewhere on this site i saw the advice of picking drives of different makes, so I'll go for Seagate NAS and WD Red. I'll decide on how many and how large after I know more (hopefully through help on this forum) on the zpool/vdev configuration.

A side-order:
I have a bunch of 500GB IDE drives. Is there an IDE I/O card compatible with FreeNAS?

 

[Pitfrr]

Hi,

Here's my feedback on your situation:

• Storage-wise:

it depends on the amount of data you want to store. I assume a reasonable amout of data for a personal usage that could be achieved with a reasonable amount of disks (i.e. less than 10 disks with size of 2 to 4 TB).
So I'd go for a RaidZ2 pool of (6 or preferably) 8 disks.

For you "A" level data: on-site and off-site backup.
For you "B" level data: on-site (and if you have enough place off-site too).
For you "C" level data: no backup (or partly on site).

But in any case, for all of your data I'd go (and advise) a RaidZ2 volume. And in any case you should have backups (for A and B level data).

• Hardware-wise:

I'm not on the latest stand regarding hardware but I'd say a supermicro X11 seems a good choice. For the CPU, Plex recommends a passmark score of 2000 per 1080p transcode (the xeon E3-1220v (has a 7355 score). Maybe other members can give you more accurate advise here.
About the RAM, the minimum requirement is 8GB (ECC) and then roughly 1GB per terabyte, so it depends on your storage. But 16GB seems a good starting point for a personal or home usage. The X11SM can support up to 64GB, so I'd start with one 16GB (rather than 2x8GB) RAM module.
For the hard disks, it's a good thing to mix the brands. Some members on the forum would not advise Seagate (I'm not sure if this include the Seagate NAS drives?).
As a boot device you can also consider a mirrored USB stick or (preferably) a small SSD.
But you can forget about you 500GB IDE disks.... ;-) It is rather not advised to use any IDE to SATA-or-what-ever converter with FreeNAS.

Let's see what other feedbacks will come..

 

[Stux]

Pretty much agree with pitfrr,

The e3-1230v5 adds hyperthreading (iirc) and us good value compared to the 1220 if you want more grunt for plex.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I still haven't been able to work out if this means 3 zpools or 1 zpool with 3 vdevs

It looks like you're still not 100% clear on how the various layers fit together. One pool with 3 vdevs would not be a solution to storing different types of data with different levels of redundancy. The whole point of combining multiple vdevs into a pool is to deliver them as one filesystem (until you break it down into datasets). Only separate pools can deliver different levels of redundancy for different types of data (ignoring the ZFS copies property). Mixing different types of vdev within a pool is also strongly discouraged, which makes sense once you understand the structure.

So, if you're determined to have different levels of redundancy in your system, multiple pools are required, but for convenience you might still choose to go with one pool.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Don't bother with multiple pools. You want just one big pool. How many drives after you going to buy? How much storage do you need?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[mappo]

Wow! What a response. It's been a long time since the Internet was this friendly.

@Pitfrr & @SweetAndLow : if I understand your storage recommendations correctly, it's basically to get more disks and store A and B data in the same RZ2. The added "preciousness" of A then gets translated as back-up.

@Robert Trevellyan : you're absolutely correct. Hence the request for encouragement, the hand-holding (and the noobish question...)

About getting a single 16G RAM stick rather than 2x8: It's been a while since I built a desktop, but back then RAM performed better in even pairs compared to single sticks.

Thanks @Stux for the input on Xeon. It's easy go get lost in the enumeration, which is better: a higher E-number or a higher v-number?

 

[Pitfrr]

Exactly. And don't forget: backups, backups, backups! ;-)

Regarding the RAM: I think the performance difference would be negligeable anyway (and might make sense for a gaming computer but probably less for a server). And on the other hand the big advantage is that you would be able to maximize the RAM if needed in the future.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Don't worry about memory performance at this point. Memory can be dual or quad channel which means it will perform better in 2s or 4s but that doesn't matter as much as setting yourself up for better expandability options in the future. If using a x11/Skylake system get a 16GB stick so you can max out the system eventually if you want.

As for the CPU the v number is the version and usually you want a newer version. For example the 1220v5 if skylake and 1220v3 was hasewell. Both are good just one is newer. The e number like E3 vs E5 is completely different and different sockets that are not interchangeable. The 1220 number has to do with clock speed, core count and graphics included. Most people end up going with the 1230v5. 8 cores with good clock speeds.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk