New FreeNAS Build - general nas + plex

[Defaultstring]

Greetings,
i've outgrown my current Synology NAS, so something bigger and better has to take its place.

I'm new to FreeNAS/FreeBSD and server hardware so bear with me(yes i've read the starter guide's an I've stalked the forums for a while...)

This NAS will be used as a backup target for several pc's(about 7), general network storage, plex- and nextcloud docker and whatever else I come up with ;)

I plan to use this nas for the coming years so some components are chosen with future expansion in mind.

Parts will be purchased in Germany, so some hardware is not as easily found as in the US, also I've had trouble finding used parts(that arent the same price or more expensive than new).

Hardware:
Already purchased:
Case + PSU: Supermicro CSE-846E16-R1200B (4U, 24Bay, 1200W Redundent PSU, 1 Expander)


Planned:
MB: Supermicro X11SSH-CTF (LSI 3008, 2x 10Gbe)

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5

RAM: 32GB DDR4 ECC (2x16GB) Crucial or Samsung (whatever I can source cheaper)
Crucial
Samsung

BOOT: probably some ssd(dont really like the idea of usb-sticks, although some users report years of use without issue, satadoms are just to expensive for what they offer imho)
maybe mirrored
had these in mind(resonably cheap):Patriot Flare 120GB

Storage: 8x 8TB WD Red in RAIDZ2


Notes:
- No 10Gbe at the moment(no switch or nic), just planned for futture upgrade
- 4k streaming in the future
- A relatively quiet operation would be preferred
- Backup of the important documents on the old nas, media files are replacable

Questions:
1) What cable do I need to connect the LSI 3008 to the backplane?(I know this question is asked a lot, I just dont want to get the wrong one, maybe a link would be nice)
2) Is the LSI3008 enough to handle all bays(for future expansion)?
3) Will 64gb be enough(add another VDEV the same size)?
4) Did I miss anything on the hardware front? - any recomendation?

thank you for your time :)

 

[lukyjay]

RAM: 32GB DDR4 ECC (2x16GB) Crucial or Samsung (whatever I can source cheaper)
Crucial
Samsung

I have a similar motherboard (X11SSM-F) and the same CPU, I have no problems with this RAM and found it to be cheaper in Australia: Kingston 16GB KVR21E15D8/16 DDR4-2133MHz ECC CL15

BOOT: probably some ssd(dont really like the idea of usb-sticks, although some users report years of use without issue, satadoms are just to expensive for what they offer imho)
maybe mirrored
had these in mind(resonably cheap):Patriot Flare 120GB

Waste of money in my opinion. You'll hardly read/write to them and you'll be sacrificing a SATA port also. A USB drive will do fine, then you can use these SSDs as caching drives for performance.

- A relatively quiet operation would be preferred
3) Will 64gb be enough(add another VDEV the same size)?
4) Did I miss anything on the hardware front? - any recomendation?

I hope you have replacement fans for that chassis :) 64GB should be fine for your use case. You could even get away with 32GB now and upgrade later when/if needed. For your CPU choice, I have this exact CPU and find it to be mint, very good choice and price. The v6 has been released but the jump in price doesn't seem worth it.

Your motherboard seems a bit costly. My X11SSM-F seems a bit cheaper at least where I live, and you would have extra PCI-E slots to use for a 10gbe NIC when they come down in price.

 

[Defaultstring]

Kingston 16GB KVR21E15D8/16 DDR4-2133MHz ECC CL15

I don't know about Kingston Ram...i've seen a lot of people on this forum recommend not to use them for FreeNas(maybe that's just for x10-boards?).
Additionally they're not on the QVL by Supermicro...and it's about the same price here, so....

Waste of money in my opinion. You'll hardly read/write to them and you'll be sacrificing a SATA port also. A USB drive will do fine, then you can use these SSDs as caching drives for performance.

I know some people would disagree with this, again hardware recomendations prefer ssd's, ist it a waste not to have to worry? ;)
Sata Ports should not really be a problem with the LSI Controller.

I hope you have replacement fans for that chassis :) 64GB should be fine for your use case. You could even get away with 32GB now and upgrade later when/if needed.

Is this case one of the older ones? I thought newer Supermicro cases should be alright on the noise levels. I'll just see when it gets here.
As stated, starting with 32GB, planning to upgrade to 64gb when more storage is needed.

Your motherboard seems a bit costly. My X11SSM-F seems a bit cheaper at least where I live, and you would have extra PCI-E slots to use for a 10gbe NIC when they come down in price.

The X11SSH-CTF is a little costly in comparison to the X11SSM-F, but it already has 10GBe oboard, and a LSI Controller so I don't need as many PCI-E slots.
I could go with the X11SSM-F and add a HBA. And when the time to upgrade to 10GBe arrives I could add the NIC then....dunno

 

[ph0ton]

Note that Intel has released a new V6 generation of E3s. It doesn't bring a lot in terms of performance but what it does bring is 10 bit decoding of HEVC "x265" video material. This might come in handy later when hw support in Plex has matured more.

Also note that 4k material can be very CPU intensive, if transcoding is needed. I have some test clips coded in 4K HEVC which abolutely tanks my 6700k desktop machine. Plex reports max 1.5x transcode speed, when converting them to more suitable formats. So don't expect more than 1 stream transcoded, when using 4k HEVC material.