Hi all,
I am new to TrueNAS and wanted to check if my hardware would be compatible to run it, and if not - what would be things which I must change before it works. Specifically, I want to change as little as possible, so it should be something that absolutely won't work before changing it. To be fair I am kind of getting annoyed with how specific the controller has to be for it to work...
I am sure this question has been asked many times, so sorry if it sounds repetitive, but I have seen a lot of "recommended hardware" threads that are from 2012 or 2016 etc. and I am sure that by now that advice may be outdated. Besides I am not looking to get the best possible hardware in each slot, merely the hardware which works at the lowest possible price.
So, to start with - I already have the following and I ideally I don't want to change any key components:
System 1#
MB Asus KGPE-D16
CPU 2x6386 SE
RAM 128GB ECC REG (8GBx16)
PSU 1000W DELL H1000E-00
System 2#
MB Asus Maximus III Extreme
CPU Xeon X3480
RAM 32GB (8GBx4)
PSU 860W Corsair AX860i
I have purchased 10x4TB SEAGATE SAS drives (ST4000NM0023) - my end goal here is a relatively fast array of 8x4TB with 2 cold spares, or maybe I get another 6 drives and make it 16x4TB.
As well I have a bunch of SSDs for SLOG and OS, or to aid configuration where SSD may be useful - old 60GB/120GB SSDs of various brands, 250/500GB Samsung 840s, 860s Pro/EVOs, some M2 SSDs.
Initially, I wanted to build on System 1# using ASUS PIKE, but then I realised that I would need either SATA to SAS cable (expensive), or SATA drives (even more expensive) and in the end ASUS PIKE may conflict with TrueNAS and it is hard to flash into IT mode. At this point, I was not yet decided if I want to go for RAID, unRAID or TrueNAS, so just grabbed myself the cheapest SAS adapter which could connect 8 drives and in hindsight probably made not the best choice (PERC H700) and for time being just use System 2# to play around with it until I find the configuration which I am happy with. Like that is not enough I picked an integrated version over an adapter version of H700 - it could be flashed as LSI 9260 8i, or H700 Adapter, but it seems that would be waste of time anyway as TrueNAS won't work on it without questionable workarounds. And on top of that, I can't even find where to get the right firmware anymore.
So far my assumption is that as far as TrueNAS is concerned the main issue I have is SAS controller? I assume any SAS drives should be fine, whenever to use SDD for SLOG I can decide later, TrueNAS itself I can put on some older SSD, or in the case of System 1# MB even has a dedicated USB slot for OS. So as far as drives goes I should be ok?
What would be the best and the cheapest SAS adapter I could get, or could I still do something with ASUS PIKE or PERC H700?
At this point in time I don't have NICs, as I am not decided on 10GbE switch or whether it is going to be SFP or RJ45 connections, so will use integrated 1GbE for time being and will worry about 10GbE LAN later.
Anything else I may be missing?
I am new to TrueNAS and wanted to check if my hardware would be compatible to run it, and if not - what would be things which I must change before it works. Specifically, I want to change as little as possible, so it should be something that absolutely won't work before changing it. To be fair I am kind of getting annoyed with how specific the controller has to be for it to work...
I am sure this question has been asked many times, so sorry if it sounds repetitive, but I have seen a lot of "recommended hardware" threads that are from 2012 or 2016 etc. and I am sure that by now that advice may be outdated. Besides I am not looking to get the best possible hardware in each slot, merely the hardware which works at the lowest possible price.
So, to start with - I already have the following and I ideally I don't want to change any key components:
System 1#
MB Asus KGPE-D16
CPU 2x6386 SE
RAM 128GB ECC REG (8GBx16)
PSU 1000W DELL H1000E-00
System 2#
MB Asus Maximus III Extreme
CPU Xeon X3480
RAM 32GB (8GBx4)
PSU 860W Corsair AX860i
I have purchased 10x4TB SEAGATE SAS drives (ST4000NM0023) - my end goal here is a relatively fast array of 8x4TB with 2 cold spares, or maybe I get another 6 drives and make it 16x4TB.
As well I have a bunch of SSDs for SLOG and OS, or to aid configuration where SSD may be useful - old 60GB/120GB SSDs of various brands, 250/500GB Samsung 840s, 860s Pro/EVOs, some M2 SSDs.
Initially, I wanted to build on System 1# using ASUS PIKE, but then I realised that I would need either SATA to SAS cable (expensive), or SATA drives (even more expensive) and in the end ASUS PIKE may conflict with TrueNAS and it is hard to flash into IT mode. At this point, I was not yet decided if I want to go for RAID, unRAID or TrueNAS, so just grabbed myself the cheapest SAS adapter which could connect 8 drives and in hindsight probably made not the best choice (PERC H700) and for time being just use System 2# to play around with it until I find the configuration which I am happy with. Like that is not enough I picked an integrated version over an adapter version of H700 - it could be flashed as LSI 9260 8i, or H700 Adapter, but it seems that would be waste of time anyway as TrueNAS won't work on it without questionable workarounds. And on top of that, I can't even find where to get the right firmware anymore.
So far my assumption is that as far as TrueNAS is concerned the main issue I have is SAS controller? I assume any SAS drives should be fine, whenever to use SDD for SLOG I can decide later, TrueNAS itself I can put on some older SSD, or in the case of System 1# MB even has a dedicated USB slot for OS. So as far as drives goes I should be ok?
What would be the best and the cheapest SAS adapter I could get, or could I still do something with ASUS PIKE or PERC H700?
At this point in time I don't have NICs, as I am not decided on 10GbE switch or whether it is going to be SFP or RJ45 connections, so will use integrated 1GbE for time being and will worry about 10GbE LAN later.
Anything else I may be missing?