New FreeNAS user coming from Synology

[Wiggum]

Hi all,

I probably should have done this from the start but you live and learn. I have a Synology 4 bay NAS. I have had some issues with it as of late and had to RMA it twice. Needless to say I'm without a unit for nearly two weeks at a time. With a freeNAS system I can be up and running rather quickly.

I figured I would build my own NAS and use the synology for a backup or something else.

This is 99.9% for a media server. I'd like to run NFS and play videos off my Dune players, and my HTPC in other rooms. 3 Dune Media players, 2 HTPC

I plan on doing ZFS

I currently have 4 HD204UI 2tb HDD in a Raid 10 on the Synology and would move those to the FreeNAS system (I know I'd have to reformat them). I'd like to in the future be able to add two more drives either as an add-on to the volume or just create a separate volume.

I have a spare SDD on hand in my house and have an 8gb Flashdrive.

I'm a bit confused on the hardware aspect of what to get. Should I be looking at ATX, mATX, Micro ATX, etc?
Processor i3 or something else?
8gb, 16gbm, 32gb ram?

I'd like to be able to store this in a closet out of the way to avoid the noise and heat.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Just to clarify, you CANNOT add to a volume, the only way you could add to your current drive pool of 4 drives would be adding a vdev to the zpool. vdevs are stripped together to form a zpool. So what I suggest you do is create a zpool with 2 sets of mirrors (with your current 4 drives). This is basically your RAID10 now but with the advantages of zfs. With HD204UI's MAKE SURE TO 'FORCE 4K SECTOR SIZE', add update the firmware (incase you haven't yet).

When you buy your 2 new drives you'd add them to the zpool as another mirror. The zpool grows in performance and size as you add these vdev's. Just remember you are adding a small amount of risk as you keep adding mirrors (but i think with mirrors you are very safe).

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You could even add your spare SSD to the zpool as a zlog(write) or cache(read) device. This doesn't add to the size of the zpool but can add to the read or write performance. Curently I suggest using your SSD as a cache drive because zlogs can cause complete zpool data loss with our current version of zfs. This will be fixed once FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD 8.3 (hopefully soon).
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size of board doesn't matter. I prefer larger cause I get more pci-e/pci's to play with (for nic/sata cards).
CPU usually isn't a factor with a fileserver, in my opinion i3's are over kill and if I were to build a system with a replaceable cpu's I'd use the new celerons (super cheap!). Ram is what you want to maximize, the more the better zfs can cache. eventually when we upgrade zfs versions you could even use spare ram for deduplication.

If you want to reduce noise / heat may I suggest a e-350 motherboard, my build is very silent and doesn't need a fan (though I suggest fans on your harddrives). Checkout my build http://www.joshuaruehlig.com/nas

 

[Wiggum]

Very informative video. Thank you so much. I had been reading on the SSD usage and most likely will take your advice.
Thanks for the advice on the drive setup. I definitely want the best protection I can get for it.
Instead of adding to a volume can I just create a second volume at any time with the additional disks if I add? This way I don't have the risk?

I keep my file server in a closet in a bedroom so the more silent the better. I'm going to look into the E-350. I actually just bought a Atom 2700 mini ITX setup to use as a cheap HTPC to use in my exercise room. I was going back and forth with the E-350. (At least that is the complaints)

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

If I were you and were adding 3 sets of mirrors I wouldn't really worry about protection. unless you lose 2 drives from the same mirror your safe. But this is up to you.

Yeah you can always add additional volumes (zpools). though they wont be added together so you'd need to manage the files a bit more then if they are all in 1 zpool, you also loose a bit of performance from not having the vdevs stripped.

I really want to go d2700 but the no linux support means I can't do it. I'll wait till I can get a hold of a fanless board with flawless 1080p playback, and hopefully an intel NIC (for reliable network booting). If your going windows for your htpc though d2700 looks awesome (except no 64bit...)
I'd say e-350 for FreeNAS over atom cause you can load them up with 2x8GB ram, while atoms max at either 4GB or 8GB.

 

[fisheater]

Hi I looked at your build. Here is the official specks - for your mobo: you may have exceeded tho mobo ram limit. Otherwise nice build!


Memory 2 x DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR3 1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Single Channel memory architecture
Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Well it's working, I have tested 16GB ram on 2 different e-350 motherboards and both have worked. Guess I defied the specs Asus blindly put on their site, lol

Please do not misinform people fisheater, you can use the mobo+ram combo I have posted to get 16GB of ram, several people have tested.

 

[Wiggum]

I might just buy two more HD204UI's now and just be done with it. I don't anticipate needing more then 6 2tb hdd drives in the near future. With the money I'd save by dropping the Mobo and CPU for an I3 I could buy two of the HDD's

The DS411+ has an Atom D510 in it so I have no doubts that the E-350 will be plenty for me.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

if you get the newly made HD204UI's they're no longer made by Samsung but by Seagate. Different model reported by system, I don't think they need the usual firmware update.

 

[cyberjock]

Well it's working, I have tested 16GB ram on 2 different e-350 motherboards and both have worked. Guess I defied the specs Asus blindly put on their site, lol

Please do not misinform people fisheater, you can use the mobo+ram combo I have posted to get 16GB of ram, several people have tested.

Joshua,

You've been very helpful around the forum, but please be careful with your words. You pretty much accused fisheater of misinforming people. He referenced the manufacturer which is the best anyone can hope for without actually having the hardware. Please be more careful with your words. I'm sure you didn't mean to sound hostile but it sounded bad. ;)

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I was not trying to be hostile, and sorry fisheater if it came of that way. Thank you for looking up the manufacturer specs, I just really want to people to not get misinformed by the manufacturer's documentation which is clearly wrong. Once again, sorry for coming off as hostile, I'm not the best with words.

 

[Wiggum]

Is anything new and upcoming from AMD or ATOM near future that is worth waiting for? I may have to build another room on my house just to house a file server in the future.

 

[cyberjock]

I've seen many situations where the manuals incorrectly state the maximum allows RAM. I've wondered if they list a given amount because the regulators can't handle more than that amount of load and you risk burning out the board sooner if you exceed that. Of course, I had a laptop where I installed 4GB instead of 2GB and didn't have a problem for the 3 years I had it.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I bet they just assumed 2x4GB. I believe when they first started designing these boards 8GB ram sticks were fairly uncommon. Now they are just $50 each or less.

I have a feeling 2x16GB would work but I don't want to risk spending $200+ on ram that may not work.

 

[jgreco]

This has been common for years. Many manufacturers will list what their boards have been tested with, not what the technology's capable of. This can reduce buyer anger when they say the board can handle X but it turns out that X cannot be handled without a slight hardware tweak.

Way back in the sort-of old days, we had the ASUS P/E-P55T2P4D boards, eight memory slots, and EDO RAM was brand new ... we knew the boards (and the 430HX) were theoretically capable of a massive 512MB of RAM, but to get there you needed 64MB DIMM's (double-sided 32's), when the biggest thing available was 32MB. So we took a risk and had some modules custom manufactured for us, and it worked, but let me tell you, if it hadn't, we'd have been better off getting some 32MB SIMM's and dipping them in gold plating, for what it cost. Fortunately that was just early-adopter stuff, and as the platform matured, 64's became available and even somewhat common. I think we exchanged some interesting e-mails with ASUS engineering on that one, trying to make sure we weren't going to have any problems with things like necessary pins not having gotten routed on the PCB.

More recently, consider what's happened with the Mac mini. Apple's specs still indicate it is only capable of up to 8GB, even though OWC has been shipping a 16GB kit for a year ... it started out costing $1400, or more than the Mac mini itself. Now there are several approx.-$100 kits. One can contemplate why Apple might do this ... for example, perhaps to avoid eating into Mac Pro sales?

Now as far as I know, the E-350 handles a max of 16GB, and that's going to be something that's baked into the silicon, so putting more RAM in isn't likely to work. However, it is very likely that 16GB will work.

 

[Wiggum]

I think that for a Streaming video to my Dunes, and my HTPC the E-350 with 16gb of ram might be enough for me. Similar to a raid 10 do the drives need to be in equal pairs?

 

[fisheater]

Well it's working, I have tested 16GB

This is happy news, I was lamenting the fact that my MOBO was limited to 8 GB RAM and 5 SATA ports. Looks like I can squeeze a bit more out of it with a trial of 16 GB RAM and re purposing the eSATA to my 6th HD. I set up the system by the produce guide book, nice to find these workaround. Thanks for all you insights!

FE