BUILD Nas for Business

[Borja]

Case: U-nas NSC800
Power Supply: 1U PS 400W
Motherboard: Supermicro A1SRi-2758F
CPU: OnBoard Atom C2758
Mem: 2x8GB DDR3 Unbuffered ECC Crucial CT5203803
HardDrives: 8xHGST Deskstar NAS 4TB
SATA Controller: Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 (This card is not recommended because marvell controller?, I'm not sure, I'm looking for a simple but reliable controller that adds 2 sata ports to the system)
Battery Backup: ?? I really appreciate suggestions.

FreeNAS 9.3 + Raid-z2.

60% of use is to store and modify ms office documents. 40% is to store and play zvi videos not bigger than 3GB.

I'm new to freenas so, any help or suggestion i appreciate. Thanks.

 

[anodos]

Get a different case. A ribbon cable for a PCIe riser seems like the definition of "terrible idea".

 

[Borja]

Get a different case. A ribbon cable for a PCIe riser seems like the definition of "terrible idea".

What do you recommend? Thanks.

 

[anodos]

I typically stick with rackmount equipment. Many people here use the fractal design define r5 case.

However, if it were me and 8 hotswap bays were a requirement, I'd seriously consider a thinkserver ts440 with 8 hotswap bays and an LSI 9211-8i add-on. Sometimes it's nice to use a product with some brand recognition.

 

[Fuganater]

There is a thread about RAM. You should avoid Kingston RAM.

 

[jgreco]

You don't want to use the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which is based on a Marvell SATA controller.

 

[Borja]

There is a thread about RAM. You should avoid Kingston RAM.

But is very difficult to find ecc ram so-dimm in my country. Do you know some shop where i can buy ecc so-dimm ram and ships to Spain?

 

[Borja]

You don't want to use the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which is based on a Marvell SATA controller.

Thank you. Is difficult to find a simple and inexpensive sata controller to add 2 ports to the system. I dont need raid modes, only 2 more sata ports. what do you recommend me?

 

[anodos]

Thank you. Is difficult to find a simple and inexpensive sata controller to add 2 ports to the system. I dont need raid modes, only 2 more sata ports. what do you recommend me?

I'd seriously consider the supermicro MBD-X10SL7 motherboard. It has an integrated LSI2308, which can be flashed with P20 IT firmware. Saves some money and the real-world power consumption won't differ too much.

 

[danb35]

Do you know some shop where i can buy ecc so-dimm ram and ships to Spain?

I believe I've seen that crucial.com will ship worldwide, or at least nearly so. They'll also guarantee compatibility with your board.

 

[jgreco]

Thank you. Is difficult to find a simple and inexpensive sata controller to add 2 ports to the system. I dont need raid modes, only 2 more sata ports. what do you recommend me?

Mostly we don't see people trying to do this anymore. It is usually better to add a high quality controller and then just disregard the mainboard ports. There aren't a lot of manufacturers of discrete SATA controller cards anymore as they've tended to be built into mainboards nowadays.

 

[Borja]

I believe I've seen that crucial.com will ship worldwide, or at least nearly so. They'll also guarantee compatibility with your board.

I cant find ddr3 sodimm ecc modules in their store. Thank you.

 

[jgreco]

I cant find ddr3 sodimm ecc modules in their store. Thank you.

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Supermicro/a1sri-2758f

 

[Borja]

What do you think about asrock rack motherboards?

 

[jgreco]

I think ASRock has looked more carefully at the sorts of applications us ZFS guys have and have tried to put out some compelling offerings. They came to market with their C2750D4I before Supermicro did, and at the time they had some other unique offerings that "fit" ZFS better than Supermicro's prebuilts. However, and this isn't ASRock's fault really, the C2750D4I has a bunch of Marvell powered ports on it, and those just don't work well with FreeBSD - sometimes. Also, they're rather newer into the market for server boards, and while they seem to have figured out that servers might play an important role in their business model going forward (as the PC market declines), their newness to the market sometimes shows. They learn quick from their mistakes, though, as the follow-up E3C224D4I-14S didn't have the Marvell parts.

I think the big question is whether or not the boards end up being of the same quality as Supermicro's or Intel's. I don't have that answer for you, but we've seen a fair number of people buying them over the last year or two without many unresolved complaints.

 

[danb35]

I don't see it mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but you're looking at a motherboard with the C2758 chip. It has some additional networking features that would be great in a router, but useless in a NAS. A 2750 chip (like in the A1SAi-2750F) would be a better choice.

 

[Borja]

I think ASRock has looked more carefully at the sorts of applications us ZFS guys have and have tried to put out some compelling offerings. They came to market with their C2750D4I before Supermicro did, and at the time they had some other unique offerings that "fit" ZFS better than Supermicro's prebuilts. However, and this isn't ASRock's fault really, the C2750D4I has a bunch of Marvell powered ports on it, and those just don't work well with FreeBSD - sometimes. Also, they're rather newer into the market for server boards, and while they seem to have figured out that servers might play an important role in their business model going forward (as the PC market declines), their newness to the market sometimes shows. They learn quick from their mistakes, though, as the follow-up E3C224D4I-14S didn't have the Marvell parts.

I think the big question is whether or not the boards end up being of the same quality as Supermicro's or Intel's. I don't have that answer for you, but we've seen a fair number of people buying them over the last year or two without many unresolved complaints.

Very clear and fast response. Thank you.
Because all responses of this post and the difficulties to adquire a inexpensive but reliable sata controller im thinking on changing the configuration.

Im thinking about supermicro X10SL7-F + Xeon E3-1230v3 + supermicro 745rq-r920b chassis. Is a very different config but i maybe is more convenient for this configuration with 8 sata disks.

The other option is add a ibm serveRaid m1015 to the 2750F.


What do you think?

 

[jgreco]

745rq? That makes no sense in the Supermicro part numbering scheme. Are you thinking 745TQ? I'm guessing that would be fine but ping Supermicro support before you buy to make sure there's no gotchas. Otherwise please clarify the part number.

 

[Borja]

745rq? That makes no sense in the Supermicro part numbering scheme. Are you thinking 745TQ? I'm guessing that would be fine but ping Supermicro support before you buy to make sure there's no gotchas. Otherwise please clarify the part number.

Yes, sorry, is 745TQ

 

[jgreco]

I don't see any reason it wouldn't be fine, but haven't touched one myself that I can recall. You should be aware that the chassis has multiple versions, including some without redundant power which should be much less expensive - maybe by 25% or more.

Be aware that there's a newer version of the E3-1230v3 called the E3-1231v3, which may be a slightly nicer part. The X10SL7 and E3-1231v3 combo is very popular here.

The Avoton parts are also competent, but are about half the CPU power (Geekbench ~6000) of an E3-1231v3 (Geekbench ~13000). The Avoton's a fine choice if you know you don't need a massive fileserver that is also running other services like Plex video transcoding. For basic fileservice, that's probably the way to go, and that seems to be what you're after. The E3 route may be a little more expensive, but it will also leave you with a lot of potential to run a virtual machine or some jails if you ever decide you need some other services running 24/7.