Suggestion: Domestic NAS, more than enough

[Kiko Hernandez]

After have reading for a few days I have made a budget for my first NAS. I hope you can help me to fit and define it for improve. I think it is appropiate wirte post putting first previous considerations, next budget and after all specific doubts.

Considerations:

• What it will be the use: It will be a domestic NAS server for storage all kind of multimedia data. It is a need a jail for PLEX, and others to management torrent for example are deseirable... (And I am thinking in a pi-hole VM...) But mainly, multimedia storage and PLEX server.
• Hardware: It has been dificult for me to decide between a lot of possibilities and suggestions, compatibility, versions... But your hardware suggestions and topics have show me the way. Important, my budget look overkill but I want the possibility to increase the server/storage in a short-middle time. Plus, I want it more than enought to dont worry about hardware in many time. Any case, I going to put any questions about it in this post.
• Cost: I know this is (most) important, but my priority is define an efficience machine that cover confortably waht I want. If we have talk of money It would like it wolud be for alternatives components that correct the overkill but keep the build strong.

Build:

• MotherBoard: ASRock C236 WSI (ntel Xeon E3-1200, Supports Dual channel DDR4 2133 ECC/Non-ECC UDIMM max 32 GB,Support 8 SATA3 by C236)
• Storage: 2 x WD Red 4 TB
• Case: Fractal Design Node 304
• RAM: 2 x Samsung 16GB DDR4 2133MHz (32GB total)
• CPU: Intel Core i3-6300, 3.8 GHz, LGA 1151, Intel® HD Graphics 530
• FAN: Corsair CS450M
• Boot: Kingston SSD Now UV400 - 120 GB

*Edit (after Inxsible and wblock indications):
The build and Questions have been change after Inxsible and wblock indications, for which I am very grateful. I hope be more near of an appropriate build. After their notes, I have considered put a MoBo mini-ITX having carefull with compatibility between MoBo-CPU-RAM paying attention to LGA 1151 and DDR4. The Fan is simply the mencioned by Inxsible, whitch looks fine. For boot I have decided to put a Sata SSD for boot for reliability. As they barely offer 64GB, I have chosen a 128GB. I would like to have 2 in (mirror) but I think it is something that could be improved later.

Questions:

1. Is there any big failure in general? Is it consistent?
2. Cables: Do you know if I would need any specific extra cables?
3. Fan: Any other suggestion? Would you think I wold need more considerations?
4. Storage: I want start witch only 2 drives of 4TB because actually I do not need more, but I think to increase it in a no far future. Any suggestion about the best configuration for it? I assumed, as said inxsible, that for the time being simply mirror.
5. MotherBoard: Although I want to enlarge the server, I think that both MoBo and CPU would be adequate if I decide to add 2 or 4 more hard drives in the future. Am I on the right track?

Please, feel free to comment and critics all you want about this. All your opinions are being very interesting for me.

I hope this be enought clearly for understanding and I will try add comment or edit post to update, clarify or add conclusions.

P.S.: My english is not very good. I am sorry if you find somenthing dificult to understand.

 

[Inxsible]

• MotherBoard: Supermicro X11SSM-F Intel C236 Micro ATX

• Case: Fractal Design Node 304

Those two won't go together. Node 304 does not support m-ATX form factor. It only supports mini-ITX. You will need to either change the case or the motherboard.

CPU: Intel BX80662I36300 (LGA1151, 2 x 3.8 GHz, 4 MB Box, Intel HD Graphics 530, DDR3L-SDRAM, DDR4-SDRAM)

Is that an i3-6300? The CPU should be fine with what you want to do with it.

Boot: 2 x Supermicro SATA DOM 64 GB SSD

Boot device: Big doubt. I was thinking in 2 Sata SSD disk 64GB (mirror). But actually there is not much offers... All are with more GB... I have found this "Supermicro SATA DOM 64 GB SSD" wich are connected directly to the Motherboard. Do you think it is a good idea? It will have problem of space between connetors? About 64GB, I have read 32GB is enought, but I am not sure if its permit me create some Jails... And, in general, asuming I want Sata SSD instead USB, and 2 device for mirroring it, what could be the best option?

I don't think the X11SSM has a DOM port and it definitely doesn't have 2. You might have to get an add-on card if you want to use DOM disks. Rather I would suggest you just use a regular SSD on one of the 8 on-board SATA ports.

Fan: I am not sure if just fan "Seasonic G-Series G-450" is enought. Any cosideration about it?

I use a Corsair CS450M in my node 304. But like I mentioned before, your MB and case are not compatible. So if you end up changing your case, then you will need to adjust your PSU as well depending or how many disks that case can fit and how many you are planning on using.

Storage: I want start witch only 2 drives of 4TB because actually I do not need more, but I think to increase it in a no far future. Any suggestion about the best configuration for it?

Use mirrors. Don't use RAIDZ because you won't be able to change any RAIDZ configuration. For RAIDZ2, you need a minimum of 4 disks anyway. With mirrors, you can keep adding mirrored vdevs to increase storage capacity.

MotherBoard: As I want keep the possibility to upgrade the server, I understood that this MotherBoard could (apart of other things) to connect 4 sata disks (plus 2 sata disk for boot) and increase to 64GB. It is a good idea?

Your chosen board has 8 onboard sata ports. And yes it will support 64GB but for your use case, you don't need to. I have 16 GB RAM and I use my box for Plex, CouchPotato, Radarr, Transmission and I have not had any issues.

 

[wblock]

Don't bother with a SATADOM unless there is physically no space for normal SSD. It's just a small form-factor SSD. As I've been saying for a while now, having more space on an SSD boot device is not a problem or a waste. It leaves more room for boot environments and the larger amount of space also helps reliability and life by providing a larger pool for wear leveling. So I would go with one or two consumer-grade 120G SSDs for the boot device. The price difference of that with SATADOMs is negligible.

I don't have statistics on common failures. My impression is that disk failure is the biggest one by far. After that, it's not as clear.

It is unlikely that you will need 64GB of RAM for a domestic NAS unless you are using a really serious set of VMs. Even then, probably not.

 

[Kiko Hernandez]

I am impressed. I didn't expect so faster and extensive aportations.

I see my idea was a litle bit (absolutly) wrong. Let me make some change and I will try do it better. I am newbie but motivated.

Thanks you very much.

 

[Inxsible]

I am impressed. I didn't expect so faster and extensive aportations.

I see my idea was a litle bit (absolutly) wrong. Let me make some change and I will try do it better. I am newbie but motivated.

Thanks you very much.

If you don't want to change a whole lot of things, I would suggest going with the Fractal Design Node 804 which supports m-ATX.
It would also support 8(3.5") + 4(2.5") HDDs. or 10 (3.5")+2(2.5") HDDs

If you do end up using 8 disks, I would also suggest upgrading the power to at least 550 or 650W.

If you want to save some cash and also are NOT planning on running a whole lot of VMs, then save the money in the CPU and go with a Pentium G4400 instead of i3-6300.

 

[Kiko Hernandez]

If you don't want to change a whole lot of things, I would suggest going with the Fractal Design Node 804 which supports m-ATX.
It would also support 8(3.5") + 4(2.5") HDDs. or 10 (3.5")+2(2.5") HDDs

If you do end up using 8 disks, I would also suggest upgrading the power to at least 550 or 650W.

If you want to save some cash and also are NOT planning on running a whole lot of VMs, then save the money in the CPU and go with a Pentium G4400 instead of i3-6300.

At the moment, my idea is to increase it to 4 or 6 disks, but do at short-medium time... Because it, I thouhgt that a deep change to a mini-ITX could be better idea, thinking that if I make in the future signifcant advances (8 or more disks) I could build a completely new NAS. Do you think it is well thought-out?

 

[Inxsible]

At the moment, my idea is to increase it to 4 or 6 disks, but do at short-medium time... Because it, I thouhgt that a deep change to a mini-ITX could be better idea, thinking that if I make in the future signifcant advances (8 or more disks) I could build a completely new NAS. Do you think it is well thought-out?

In that case you will need to change the motherboard. Some mini-ITX boards that I have seen around the forums are:

1. Tyan S5533 (I use this one)
2. MSI S0891
3. AsRock C2750D4I
4. AsRock E3C224D2I

If you find any other server grade mini-ITX board, please post back. Lots of people want to use mini-ITX, but the choices are relatively fewer compared to m-ATX -- at least for server grade hardware.

The C2750DI is a SoC -- so you might save the money on the CPU. The other 3 are all LGA1150 sockets, so not the latest one, but for a FreeNAS application, they are perfectly suitable. I use the Tyan with a Pentium G3240.

 

[Kiko Hernandez]

In that case you will need to change the motherboard. Some mini-ITX boards that I have seen around the forums are:

1. Tyan S5533 (I use this one)
2. MSI S0891
3. AsRock C2750D4I
4. AsRock E3C224D2I

If you find any other server grade mini-ITX board, please post back. Lots of people want to use mini-ITX, but the choices are relatively fewer compared to m-ATX -- at least for server grade hardware.

The C2750DI is a SoC -- so you might save the money on the CPU. The other 3 are all LGA1150 sockets, so not the latest one, but for a FreeNAS application, they are perfectly suitable. I use the Tyan with a Pentium G3240.

Thanks you very much for your help. You can see that I have change the first message adapting all for mini-itx... But, I have tried do all with LGA1151 socket and DDR4. If I change to AsRock E3C224D2I I must change for LGA1150 CPU and DDR3 RAM. Am I wrong? Said this, I am seeing that you think It even so would give me the the experience I want with clearance, correct?

 

[Inxsible]

MotherBoard: ASRock C236 WSI

This seems like a decent board but I don't understand why AsRock has jammed irrelevant(to a server application) ports like the audio, optical audio, display port and hdmi on it.

But yeah, if you want to have a LGA1151 socket AND mini-ITX, then this board seems to be the way to go.

 

[Kiko Hernandez]

This seems like a decent board but I don't understand why AsRock has jammed irrelevant(to a server application) ports like the audio, optical audio, display port and hdmi on it.

But yeah, if you want to have a LGA1151 socket AND mini-ITX, then this board seems to be the way to go.

Well, following your suggestion... Do you think that chose LGA1150 socket and DDR3 RAM will cover my expectatives and will work fine a lot of time?
Example (but think in general):
MotherBoard: asRock E3C224D2I
CPU: Core i3 i3-4360
RAM: 32GB DDR3

 

[wblock]

This seems like a decent board but I don't understand why AsRock has jammed irrelevant(to a server application) ports like the audio, optical audio, display port and hdmi on it.

Audio... possibly because it could be used as a small workstation board. Displayport and HDMI do no harm and can come in handy, depending on your monitor.

 

[Inxsible]

Do you think that chose LGA1150 socket and DDR3 RAM will cover my expectatives and will work fine a lot of time?

Yes.

 

[Inxsible]

Audio... possibly because it could be used as a small workstation board. Displayport and HDMI do no harm and can come in handy, depending on your monitor.

For server applications, most times you only use the video port for the initial installation and if the board has IPMI/iLO, you don't even need that.

But you might be right in that AsRock wants to target desktop as well as server applications with that board.

 

[Stux]

In that case you will need to change the motherboard. Some mini-ITX boards that I have seen around the forums are:

1. Tyan S5533 (I use this one)
2. MSI S0891
3. AsRock C2750D4I
4. AsRock E3C224D2I

If you find any other server grade mini-ITX board, please post back. Lots of people want to use mini-ITX, but the choices are relatively fewer compared to m-ATX -- at least for server grade hardware.

You forgot the Supermicro Xeon-D X10SDV range

 

[Ericloewe]

This seems like a decent board but I don't understand why AsRock has jammed irrelevant(to a server application) ports like the audio, optical audio, display port and hdmi on it.

Because it's a workstation board. The WS is in the model number.

 

[Inxsible]

Because it's a workstation board. The WS is in the model number.

I see. I was not familiar with how the AsRock nomenclature works.

 

[Kiko Hernandez]

Thanks you all very much.

It isn't being easy for me to find the combo MoBo mini ITX LGA1150 - DDR3 RAM 32GB. So... despite of desktop ports, Do you think that this build is consistent and no to much overkill?

Considering I want be ensure that hardware isn't a problem, it will work fine for 4 o 5 years with 4 or 6 HDD?

• MotherBoard: ASRock C236 WSI (ntel Xeon E3-1200, Supports Dual channel DDR4 2133 ECC/Non-ECC UDIMM max 32 GB,Support 8 SATA3 by C236)
• Storage: 2 x WD Red 4 TB
• Case: Fractal Design Node 304
• RAM: 2 x Samsung 16GB DDR4 2133MHz (32GB total)
• CPU: Intel Core i3-6300, 3.8 GHz, LGA 1151, Intel® HD Graphics 530
• FAN: Corsair CS450M
• Boot: Kingston SSD Now UV400 - 120 GB

 

[Inxsible]

The build is good. It will do everything that you have listed quite well.