Supermicro 8 Bay FreeNAS project, suggestions and tips needed

[mrgeeza]

Hello FreeNAS Community!

I'm Toby (AKA MrGeeza), I'm relatively new to the world of freenas, I've been running it as more of a hobby than in a production environment, until I had my fingers burnt, the HDD in my PC unfortunately unexpectedly gave up a few weeks ago and I nearly lost EVERYTHING.

So, enough is enough, I've got to be serious and invest in a proper backup solution that I can rely on. I've been looking into buying an off the shelf NAS solution for one of my 3 backup locations, but A they are quite costly for a good one and B, where's the fun in that. :D

I've spent a LONG time watching videos, reading articles and tutorials on freenas and I've taken the jump to building my own. I hope I've not made a monumental mess up with my hardware choice, but I'm sure you can tell me :)

Here are the specs:

Model: Supermicro SYS-6026T-URF
Motherboard: Supermicro X8DTU-F (Flashed with Latest Firmware)
Power Supply: Redundant 720W
Processor: 2 x 4 Core Intel E5620 2.4Ghz
Memory: 24Gb 1333Mhz DDR3 ECC
Storage: 8 x 3.5 Hot Swap Drive Trays (Currently 8 x 3TB SAS 10K drives 3.5" on their way)
Storage Controller: Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8e 6Gbps HBA (Flashed to IT Mode with Latest Firmware)
Boot: 2 x USB 3 16GB Thumb Drives, direct on motherboard.
Network: Dual 10/100/1000
Form Factor: 2U Rackmount

Hopefully that's everything :)

My Questions:

1. I have 8 drives, is it better to have them all as one big pool or reduce the overall NAS capacity, but have 4 mirroring the other 4?
2. Baring in mind this is a brand new setup so I can have it setup however I want, is there anything I need to bare in mind, or anything that I can setup from day one that will ensure i've got everything in place to keep my data safe?
3. I've got 2 boot drives, am I correct in thinking I can mirror them or add in some kind of redundancy?

I really look forward to hearing from you all and getting some feedback about my hardware choices, I won't be offended.

MrGeeza

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

1. If you're just looking for bulk storage, especially bulk, offsite storage where performance is secondary to capacity, go ahead and put all eight drives in an RAIDZ2 pool. Using 3TB drives, that'll give you 18TB of useable storage space. (For bulk storage, most people would buy less expensive WD Red, 5400 RPM SATA drives rather than 10K SAS drives.)

2. FreeNAS is pretty darn reliable and doesn't require a lot of care and feeding. Make sure to setup email notifications so that, when there is a problem, it'll tell you. Otherwise, no, it looks like you have a fairly solid (if loud and power hungry) configuration. I don't see a UPS on your shopping list; get one, please.

3. Yes.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Chris Moore]

Boot: 2 x USB 3 16GB Thumb Drives

Not a good choice, USB 2 is more reliable. The USB 3 drives tend to burn out under constant use. I have seen a lot of people having problems with them. Even better is to use a small, inexpensive, SSD like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-320-Series-40GB-Internal-2-5-SSDSA2CT040G3-SSD/323548302120

Currently 8 x 3TB SAS 10K drives 3.5" on their way

Am I understanding correctly that you have already ordered all this? You should ask these questions before ordering so you don't get the wrong thing.
Live and learn. There is no need for SAS 10k drives. You would be better off with slower SATA drives. One of the fantastic things about SAS controllers is that they are so smart they can use SATA drives. The reverse is not true, SATA controllers are so dumb they can barely do SATA. I always suggest using a SAS controller to operate the drives, but SATA drives are good enough and slower spin rate makes less heat and noise. If you were trying to use the server to host virtualization and you needed speed, then 10k might be a thing or even 15k, but for a backup, slow is fast enough.

PS. This 2U server is going to have high RPM fans to get the air flow it needs to stay cool. You can't change them out for slow, quiet fans, because there will not be enough air flow and it will overheat. It is another thing you should have asked about if you were not sure.

 

[mrgeeza]

Thanks for the feedback! :)

I'm lucky enough to be able to get the drive a hell of a lot cheaper through my job, which put them inline with SATA drives. I knew the heat and power thing could be an issue, but I see it as a hobby/interest too and I'm not majorly concerned about this.

With regards to noise, yes its loud! But thankfully I've got them ramped down to ECO which has helped and the server is in my rack which I keep away from our living spaces.

Interesting about the USB2/3 thing, I will look into that, no bother for me to change it.

Oh and I have a UPS :p