Please check my proposed build

[Fuzzywinkle]

Hi there,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Please check my new build and provide feedback?
Thanks in advance.

My requirements:
Reliability>Cost>Speed.
My primary aim is to build a rock-solid reliable fileserver. Therefore I've pretty much narrowed it down to XEON + ECC + ZFS.
Workload is typically less than 1 dozen devices connected at any one time, 2 xbmc pc's steaming simultaneously, a few small databases, nightly rsyncs, perhaps some transcoding and nothing else particularly demanding.
Needs to be rackmounted.
10-15 TB should keep me going for a couple of years.
Bandwidth and IOPS are not really a concern, anything that can saturate gigabit ethernet is fine with me. Therefore Raid-Z2 with 5400's will do with WDTLER and WDIDLE3 tweaks?
Hoping to get away with the system for less or about $3,000 AUD.
8-bay would be absolute minimum. I definitely plan on increasing capacity as funds allow.

Fellow IT mates have tried to steer me towards Synology devices. I've looked into the following devices such as the RS2424+, RS3412xs, RS3614xs+. Of which, the only one with Xeon and ECC is the latter, starting at over $5,000 sans HDD!!!. I guess the cheap soho devices don't care bout data integrity?

Here is what I've come up with so far:

Software: Freenas $FREE :)
Board: Supermicro X10SLM-F $310 AUD
CPU: E3-1220v3 $245 AUD
Memory: 2x8Gb ECC - Kingston KVR16E11/8L $316 AUD
HDDs: 6x4TB WD Red - WD40ERFX (Raid-Z2) $1,410 AUD
Case: Supermicro CSPC-825TQ-740LPB $769 AUD

Total $3,050 AUD

A few of my concerns with the MB:

1. Would the X10SL7-F ($389 AUD) be a wiser investment for future compatibility? Can the additional SAS ports be used for additional pleb sata drives when it comes time to increase capacity?
2. I worry that IMPI would be an additional vulnerability. Should I be concerned?

And some concerns with the Case:

1. I suspect the case PSU is overkill. Range and affordability for cases is not great in Australia. Any other/cheaper recommendations?
2. I suppose rails for the Supermicro case are excluded?
3. Is the Supermicro case overly loud? If so, I will need to include the cost of replacement fans.
4. Will the case come with backplane and all i need to get SGPIO working?

Thanks for reading. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I've setup countless desktops, however server grade gear is a bit new to me.

 

[cyberjock]

Things that came up off the top of my head:

1. That board is a bit more expensive because of the SAS ports. But you said that the current build should last you a few years. If you don't need those SAS ports now you may want to forego that feature. You may decide that when you'd go to add capacity you'd rather build a new system anyway.
2. IPMI is an added vulnerability if you plan to connect it to the internet. If you don't plan to do that, there's relatively little risk.
3. You *may* be able to buy a used Supermicro case for cheaper than the one you are getting. If used is good, buy some used Supermicro server, gut it and put your stuff in. Cheap $300 case. ;)
4. Supermicros are known to be pretty loud. Replacing the fans with non Supermicro fans can be... difficult. The fans on my case go into a proprietary little 'cage' that can't always be easily replaced with %somefan%.
5. A backplane should be included. But check with the model to make sure of that.
6. The PSUs may be overkill. That's kind of the burden with buying Supermicro though. They build it extra rugged to ensure you aren't blowing up PSUs. It's not the end of the world though and I wouldn't necessarily worry about this.