SOLVED Once again, will it FreeNAS?

[Juliean]

I keep planning a FreeNAS build, then life interferes, then things change, then back to the drawing board. One more try, I think it'll happen this time.

This will be a a home mass storage server, mostly music (for Plex), photos, general backups, etc. Not planning on running any jails at this time - I already have another house server, running ESXi with various VMs, and Plex and such will live there. Three people in the house, so not too many concurrent connections.

I got some feedback on two passes over the hardware earlier, and have respecced again, this time using a Supermicro X11 board and a Coffee Lake Xeon-E. Advice very welcome. The Xeon-E system seems to be cheaper than the older LGA1150 X11 boards, with faster processors and more space to add RAM.

Case: Supermicro 825TQ-R700LPB (Rack mount 2U case with 8 3.5" hot-swap bays and two more non-swap bays). Already own this, so building around it.
MB: Supermicro X11SCL-F I went with a board without an on-board RAID controller as it seems easier to buy a pre-flashed expansion card rather than cross-flashing the on-board to IT mode. Looks like it's cheaper, too.
CPU: Intel Xeon E-2124G - I probably don't really need a Xeon, and can save money here, but it just feels wrong putting a non-Xeon into a server like this... the 2124 seems to be the price/performance sweet spot, and I'm assuming I need the on-chip graphics as there won't be a separate GPU. Is this correct?
CPU Cooler: Supermicro SNK-P0046A4 - this is the cooler SM recommends for this board in a 2U case.
RAM: Samsung module from the MB approved vendor list. Single 32GB modules, ECC. MB can support up to 4 of these, but I think 32GB will be plenty to start with.
HBA: Plan to buy a pre-flashed HBA such as this one: LSI 9240-8i . Don't want to deal with flashing.
Boot device: 2x Supermicro SATADOM SSD-DM064-SMCMVN - 64G each. The 32G is probably enough, but the price difference is negligible. Again, probably overkill, but these seem a better bet than USB sticks or even small SSDs.
Data drives: 8x WD Red, 10TB, in a RAIDZ2 configuration. Shucked Elements drives. Already got those sitting on the shelf waiting to be shucked.

I believe that there is no need for SLOG or L2ARC drives for my application.

Thoughts?

I'd especially appreciate confirmation that I need a -G CPU here, as the non-G versions are a bit cheaper.

 

[Heracles]

Boot device: 2x

Overkill indeed. To mirror the boot device is more important for USB sticks. Nothing bad doing it with SSD, even less when you know it is overkill, just confirming that it is indeed overkill.

Data drives: 8x WD Red,

Be careful here... Some of these WD Red are SMR drives. I did not checked these ones directly and did not searched your previous posts, so you may have checked for that in the past... Just be sure here. SMR are to be avoided at all costs.

I believe that there is no need for SLOG or L2ARC drives for my application.

I agree on that one. 32G of RAM will be enough and if not, expand the RAM before looking for an L2ARC or an SLOG.

in a RAIDZ2 configuration

RaidZ2 is clearly an option here, mirrors being the other. Should you plan to host VM Storage, do iSCSI or similar, mirrors will have higher IOPS and better performance for random RW. Your first description is closer to the Raid-Z2' role but often, when things progress, the tendency is to go more and more where mirrors will be better. Because it is hard to change that configuration (you must empty your pool, destroy it and re-create it), just be sure that this need is not only your actual need, but that it will remain your need for the future.

Did you planned anything for backups ? Onsite ? Offsite ? Online ? Offline ? No matter how strong a single FreeNAS server is, it is and remains a single server. You always need backups for anything you consider important.

Good luck with your setup,

 

[JohnnyGrey]

... and I'm assuming I need the on-chip graphics as there won't be a separate GPU. Is this correct?

You do not need a CPU with onboard graphics, as the motherboard has a low-powered onboard VGA controller, and you can access the display output from the IPMI interface via another networked machine (or the VGA connection). There is the possibility of using Intel Quick Sync for Plex transcoding, but the drivers do not currently support an Intel CPU that new. There are other caveats and hoops to jump through with Quick Sync anyways. You'd be fine using a CPU without an integrated GPU.

 

[NickF]

Hi,

My only recommendation is based on similar experience with that case, plus a little friendly advise.
I would suggest the LSI 9207-8i IT mode adapter, rather than the one you have selected. The reason being is the positioning of the connectors will play nicer for cable routing purposes. In addition, you get the added benefit of PCIE 3.0 rather than 2.0, which your motherboard supports.
LSI 9207. I'm not sure you will be able to get the lid to close if you buy the card you linked.

Also, with that server board, you do not need to buy the G varient, as the ASPEED AST2500 will handle the basic graphics output just fine. The only benefit of the G would be had a requirement for quicksync and were not running FreeNAS baremetal.

 

[Juliean]

Thanks everyone.

Good to know I don't need the G. I have no plans to transcode on this box, so that's not an issue at all.

I will look for a 9207 instead, that makes a lot of sense.

They are not SMR drives. None of the Easystore drives are SMR, this was just a rumor. I went by the r/datahoarders guides and verified their exact model with the various utilities. They are WD100EMAZ drives, which are white label equivalents to WD Red, and are helium filled.

I have no plans to host VMs on this NAS, so not planning on iSCSI at this time. Going mirrored with a 2-disk redundancy seems awfully expensive, no? You'd need 3 actual disks to get 1 disk's "worth" of space? So 9 of these disks would give me just 30TB of storage capacity. Whereas with Raidz2, the 8 disks I have should give me around 60TB. Unless I'm missing something?

My backup plan is Azure's or Backblaze's cheapest storage plan. (Azure because I already have some experience with them, but I rather like some of Backblaze's offerings). Haven't worked out the logistics of how to make it actually work.

 

[Juliean]

My only recommendation is based on similar experience with that case, plus a little friendly advise.
I would suggest the LSI 9207-8i IT mode adapter, rather than the one you have selected. The reason being is the positioning of the connectors will play nicer for cable routing purposes. In addition, you get the added benefit of PCIE 3.0 rather than 2.0, which your motherboard supports.
LSI 9207. I'm not sure you will be able to get the lid to close if you buy the card you linked.

Follow-up question: you mention the 9207, but the link is to a 9217. Are they the same thing or is one of those model numbers incorrect?

 

[NickF]

9217 flashed to IT is the same as 9207 out of the box :)

 

[Juliean]

Thanks everyone. Finally pulled the trigger and ordered the parts. Stay tuned for newbie "how do I" questions to replace the current "will it freenas" questions. :)