mouseskowitz
Dabbler
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2017
- Messages
- 36
Where to start? Well my current storage solution is a 20 bay Norco case with the mobo from a TS140 as an ESXi host with a Server 2012 R2 VM that has the Essentials role installed and direct access to most of the 13 drives/ 34 TB, of formatted storage of which ~26 TB is used. There are currently 8 other VMs running for various other tasks as well. The plan is to build a storage solution that will server two ESXi hosts. The thought is to have a mirrored set of SSDs for OS drives via iSCSI. The mass storage would then be NSF that the OS connects to. The whole 50% usage limit for iSCSI seems to prohibit it's usefulness for mass storage. The storage would be used for media, file storage, NVR storage, and computer backups. It would make sense to run a Plex server directly on the FreeNAS, but most other things probably stay on my ESXi box or eventually two.
The goal with the underlying hardware is to have something that will be sufficient for at least 5 and hopefully more towards 10 years with just upgrading the sizes of drives.
There are two different directions I can go with this. One is to build the FreeNAS in my current Norco case and get a different one for the ESXi. Two is to keep the ESXi where it is and get everything new for the FreeNAS.
For option one I would go with the Supermicro X10SDV-4C-7TPF4-0 and 64 GB of RAM. I would need get a case, PSU and SPF+ card for the ESXi. Also migrating storage would be interesting as two mobos would be hooked into the storage in one case.
For option two I would get a ThinkServer RD450 with a Xeon E5-2603 v4 and 64 Gb of RAM. Since the case only has 8 bays I would add a ThinkServer SA120 to bring the total up to 20 bays. I would need SPF+ cards for both the FreeNAS and ESXi. I'm thinking of something like the Intel X520-DA2. I haven't quite figured out the HBA yet as I would need something with 2 external and 2 internal ports.
I'm still trying to figure out how to make the date transition. I'd like to make my current 8 x 3 TB drives into one z2 pool and add 5 more 4 TB drives to my current 3 for a media pool than I'm going back and forth between z1 and z2 for. I already have 2 x 500 MB ssds for the mirror. I'm thinking I'll have to down size my video and DVR collections to make the move, 20 TB and 4 TB respectively.
Does anyone see any issues with either of my plans? Any significant advantages of one or another? The cost difference would basically be the HBA and a SPF+ card. Any other things I may not have taken into account?
The goal with the underlying hardware is to have something that will be sufficient for at least 5 and hopefully more towards 10 years with just upgrading the sizes of drives.
There are two different directions I can go with this. One is to build the FreeNAS in my current Norco case and get a different one for the ESXi. Two is to keep the ESXi where it is and get everything new for the FreeNAS.
For option one I would go with the Supermicro X10SDV-4C-7TPF4-0 and 64 GB of RAM. I would need get a case, PSU and SPF+ card for the ESXi. Also migrating storage would be interesting as two mobos would be hooked into the storage in one case.
For option two I would get a ThinkServer RD450 with a Xeon E5-2603 v4 and 64 Gb of RAM. Since the case only has 8 bays I would add a ThinkServer SA120 to bring the total up to 20 bays. I would need SPF+ cards for both the FreeNAS and ESXi. I'm thinking of something like the Intel X520-DA2. I haven't quite figured out the HBA yet as I would need something with 2 external and 2 internal ports.
I'm still trying to figure out how to make the date transition. I'd like to make my current 8 x 3 TB drives into one z2 pool and add 5 more 4 TB drives to my current 3 for a media pool than I'm going back and forth between z1 and z2 for. I already have 2 x 500 MB ssds for the mirror. I'm thinking I'll have to down size my video and DVR collections to make the move, 20 TB and 4 TB respectively.
Does anyone see any issues with either of my plans? Any significant advantages of one or another? The cost difference would basically be the HBA and a SPF+ card. Any other things I may not have taken into account?