TrueNAS Scale Build using old hardware

[br0d0]

Hi all,

I’ve got an old server that I’d like to repurpose for TrueNAS and wanted to get some advice to see if it’s worth it or if I should upgrade the hardware.
Goals: I’m building a VMware home lab and wanted to connect to some TrueNAS storage.
Budget: I’ll spend more if I must.

TrueNAS Scale Box (mostly using old hardware I already have):
MB: Supermicro X10SRL-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2630L v3 (could buy something like a E5-2630 on ebay instead?)
Ram: 128 GB (8x16GB) Crucial DDR4 2133 RECC CT16G4RFD4213
Case: Norco 4224
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 750W PSU
RAID Cards: 2 x IBM M1015 flashed appropriately
OS: 2 x 256GB sata ssds for boot pool (have to purchase these)
VMware iSCSI lab storage: Some striped mirrored SSDs? Not sure yet as have to research SLOG, L2ARC (have to purchase these)
Data: 8 x 4TB WDRED HDDs in 1 dev RAIDz2 (I think)
Nic: Dual 10GB of some sort (have to purchase these)

What do you think? Should I try to salvage any of this or build from scratch?

Thanks

 

[sretalla]

Hardware looks like it could do the job at least to some degree.

Since it's a lab, maybe consider no SLOG and just go with sync=disabled (if occasional backups are enough safety to not lose work).

If it's not 24x7 operations critical, also a single SSD boot drive is fine, just back up your config when you make big config changes.

 

[ChrisRJ]

This is a pretty nice system in my view. Without more details on the performance requirements I would definitely give it a try.

 

[br0d0]

This is a pretty nice system in my view. Without more details on the performance requirements I would definitely give it a try.

Thanks. I do have a bit of research to do to come up with a proper plan but I can work on that now knowing that it's viable, with a bit of tweaking.

I did research a TrueNAS system back when the hardware was current but elected to go another route for all data including media. I think I'd like to keep my other NAS to use as: (1) storage for media and; (2) backup for personal files/photos and documents.

This TrueNAS system would then have two storage pools: (1) iSCSI VMware lab storage, and; (2) storage for personal files/photos and documents (with another backup for those in Google Drive or something as well as the other NAS). I'm not too worried about backup up media.

Now I guess I'll do the research and sort out exactly how I can build this thing.

Cheers