New Build Advice (Media Server)

[Christopher Ward]

Im looking to completly upgrade my 2015 FreeNAS build as im running low on space and need some advice on the latest parts. Im currently running 10 x 10tb WD RED Drives in RaidZ2 (66TB USABLE, 10TB remaning). I only really use the server as a media server and a backup server for my PC.

My current specs are below

Case	Node 804
CPU	Intel Xeon E3-1230V3
Motherboard	Supermicro X10SL7-F
RAM	Crucial 16GB DDR3 ECC MEMORY
PSU	Corsair AX650
OS Drive	32GB SanDisk USB
Fans	Corsair ML120 Pro
Storage Drives	10x 10TB WD RED

HARD DRIVES; The first upgrade i would like to do is change from 10x10TB drives to 8x18TB WD Reds in Raidz2 giving me 91TB usable capacity and that will also open up a wide range of smaller cases.

CASES; I have looked at a few a few cases - U-NAS NSC-810A / SilverStone SST-CS381 / Silverstone DS380B. I have my heart set on either the DS380 @ £140 or the the U-NAS case which will cost £235 to have it shipped to the UK. Going by the spec sheet for the U-NAS it looks ike it can support Micro ATX motherboards so should i just keep the same motherboard and CPU? but then again my parts are 6 year old. The DS380 supports an SFX power supply making it probably quieter and easier to find a good power supply.

Cost is not really an issue to redo this build. I really like the Supermicro IPMI as my monitor is not connected to the NAS and i like having ECC ram etc. Can someone give me advice on parts. Im guessing i really should upgrade the ram.


Many thanks in advance

Case	U-NAS NSC-810A
CPU
Motherboard
RAM
PSU
OS Drive
Fans
Storage Drives	8x 18TB WD RED

 

[AdrianB1]

It is quite clear why you want new disks (more capacity, no much life left running 6 years), but not why or what you want from CPU & RAM. You can replace the disks and keep the rest, maybe change the case if you like that one so much, but there is no recommendation for a CPU and RAM that can come from no requirements.

If cost is no issue, look for another Supermicro board, a compatible, low power modern CPU, at least 32GB of ECC RAM and you are good to go. If you want VMs or apps to run on the box, you need to size according to that. It is also not specified what network speed you want, some boards today have either 2.5Gbps or 10 Gbps on board, in case you don't want to buy an extra NIC.

 

[Etorix]

Do NOT go for the DS380: It is impossible to properly cool eight 3.5" HDD in there and the tight space is an absolute pain to work with. It also strictly requires an SFX power supply, not even SFX-L, which leaves very few options.

Actually, unless you're not satisfied with your Xeon E3 and/or the Node 804 I see no reason to change the motherboard and case. Just replace the drives… (And add some RAM if possible.)
If you do want to build another NAS, a second Node 804 is a reasonable option. If you do want hot-swap bays, go for the U-NAS.

 

[salty_penguin]

I mean, if cost isn’t really much of an issue, consider the benefits of SSD’s. Much more reliable, higher iops, faster throughput, and a smaller space footprint, and lower energy consumption.

You could reasonably do the SUPERMICRO SuperChassis CSE-216BAC4-R1K23LPB with the EL2 backplane. Just make sure to get 3 LSI HBA’s for 24 independent connections.

I’d recommend 24x2.5” 8Tb SSD’s in 3 vdev’s of 8 drives each, in a raidz2 for roughly 96TB of usable space. A Chelsio T520-SO-CR will give you dual 10gbe for either failover or nic teaming, but you could upgrade to a 40Gbe or a 100gbe model if you didn’t want the network to be your bottleneck.

128Gb of DDR4 ECC paired with dual xeon gold 6252 processors will make a total of 96 logical cores, enough to tear through any stress you subject the machine.

The motherboard of course needs 4x pcie 3.0x8 slots for the cards mentioned, plus any additional add-ons you wish to add, such as gpu’s for virtualization or as a dedicated video encoder for plex.