BUILD Nearing Completion - Help Needed for a Few Details...

[Sliphorn]

Hello, there.

Firstly, thank you in advance for any help provided. You'll also get my undying gratitude after advice, so there's that, I suppose.

Below is a list of my proposed build. My hopefully trivial questions follow.

Motherboard (Micro ATX): SuperMicro X11SSM-F ($210) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3183013&cm_re=X11SSM-F-_-13-183-013-_-Product

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 ($110):http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...yMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

Processor: Intel Xeon E3 1240 v5 ($295) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=Intel_E3_v5_xeon-_-19-117-614-_-Product

HDD ($900) - WD Red 4TB (x8) - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EHBERSE/?tag=ozlp-20

PSU - Seasonic G-750 ($95) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817151132
Or, Seasonic X-series ($130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817151087

SSD (OS) - Old Intel SSD (128GB)

RAM - Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CPB (x2, $160 total) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018CZWVVU/?tag=ozlp-20

Total ($1800ish)



My main concern revolves around the fact that I'll not be able to use USB for my boot drive on account of the X11. I'm still confused about what this really means. Will FreeNAS 10 fix this limitation? I'd love to just use a USB and call it a day, since I'm planning on using 8 HDDs. Or I could use the SAS, but am unclear on how to actually go about it. I realize I can buy a SAS card (usually around $150) to increase the number of SATA ports and then use my old SSD for boot, but that seems expensive and overly complicated when you consider that a simple USB is really all that's required. Or I could do what I saw in another thread and get a SAS-SATA crossover cable straight off the board to the SSD and call it good, unless I'm misunderstanding. I have a few more questions, too, but let's see what happens.

Thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

My main concern revolves around the fact that I'll not be able to use USB for my boot drive on account of the X11.

How do you figure? FreeNAS 9.10 has excellent support for the Skylake platform's USB hardware.

Will FreeNAS 10 fix this limitation?

FreeNAS 10 won't change a thing, it's the same OS in the background.

I'd love to just use a USB and call it a day, since I'm planning on using 8 HDDs.

Sure, but you should probably get two and mirror them, if going with USB.

 

[Sliphorn]

Thanks for your rapid response. Yes, I'll mirror them for sure. I was confused by the 9.3.1 Skylake problem I had read about. Glad to hear this is working.

Do you see any failings in this build?

 

[Ericloewe]

No, looks good. But you can downsize to a Seasonic X-650 and get the best of both worlds (price and X-Series quality) and still have enough headroom for 16 drives.

 

[Sliphorn]

Great. I was thinking about that myself but just wanted to not run into a power ceiling in the foreseeable future. Thanks, again!

 

[Sliphorn]

Oh yeah. One more thing. The USB support is good news. That's a very simple solution for my build, but not superior to an SSD. What would be the cheapest, easiest, and most reliable way to implement an SSD (I have one) into the build? Or just stick with USB?

 

[Ericloewe]

Oh yeah. One more thing. The USB support is good news. That's a very simple solution for my build, but not superior to an SSD. What would be the cheapest, easiest, and most reliable way to implement an SSD (I have one) into the build? Or just stick with USB?

Either upgrade to an X11SSL-CF to get an on-board LSI SAS 3008 controller or get a separate LSI SAS 2008, 2308 or 3008-based card.

 

[Sliphorn]

Another great and informative reply. Thanks for it.

I've never worked with SAS so I'm unfamiliar with the connectors. I know that they should be Mini-SAS and should handle 4 SATA drives each with a cable like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BPLYJC/?tag=ozlp-20

Am I understanding things right so far?

If this all works, I'd probably opt to populate the SAS interfaces with the 8 HDDs first, then stick my SSD in one of the onboard SATA ports, leaving 5 open ports for possible later expansion.

Assuming I'm understanding all of this correctly, is this markedly preferable to simply buying the cheaper board with no LSI SAS and 8 SATA ports and using USB?

Sorry for the questions if they seem a bit undereducated. I'm pretty new to all of this, especially SAS.

Thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

Am I understanding things right so far?

Yes.

Assuming I'm understanding all of this correctly, is this markedly preferable to simply buying the cheaper board with no LSI SAS and 8 SATA ports and using USB?

I'm not convinced it's worth the extra cost just to move the boot device to SSD.

 

[Sliphorn]

In that case, consider my build finalized and this thread wrapped up. Thank you very much for your help, Ericloewe.