What will happen if during backup my RAM dies?

[Arman]

Hello people, as you've already guessed im new here. So excuse me for my nooby questions. I've just been wondering about a few things recently, and so i'll just start with this one first: What will happen if your ECC ram suddenly dies while you are making a backup or transferring files? Will you lose/corrupt all the data? Since ZFS is really robust so I would have thought it would halt the processes safely when it detects an error and wait until the ram is replaced and the continue it's tasks. Is that correct?

Now, the reason this question came to my mind is because I was trying to find a suitable RAM for the NAS i'm planning to build and they are really expensive. But I managed to find a cheap ram: "SAMSUNG 8GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model M393A1G40DB0-CPB" for only £41.99 per stick!
Are samsung RAMs reliable? Is it okay that it is registered ECC and not unbuffered ECC?
If you're wondering what motherboard i'm planning to use, it is the Gigabyte MW21-SE0. The reason I chose this mother board is because it allows me to later upgrade from the i3-6100 to the E3-1275 V5 when I need more processing power...

 

[SweetAndLow]

That RAM will not work. You need unbuffered, normal size ecc memory. Your motherboard choice reason is strange because you could switch CPUs with any similar motherboard. You know skylake had issues booting of USB? You will need another HDD/ssd for the OS.

Also Samsung is a great memory manufactured. Top 2 around here are probably micron(crucial) and Samsung.

 

[Arman]

What is the reason that unbuffered is required instead of registered? Is it because of the motherboard? Thanks for letting me know skylake has usb boot issues! Will I be able to use a SATA SSD instead?

That RAM will not work. You need unbuffered, normal size ecc memory. Your motherboard choice reason is strange because you could switch CPUs with any similar motherboard. You know skylake had issues booting of USB? You will need another HDD/ssd for the OS.

Also Samsung is a great memory manufactured. Top 2 around here are probably micron(crucial) and Samsung.

What do you mean by "Normal size"? What is the reason that unbuffered is required instead of registered? Is it because of the motherboard? Thanks for letting me know Skylake has usb boot issues! I guess I need to find a small cheap SSD, then...
What motherboard would you recommend if you were to choose one for the two CPUs I mentioned above? I'm building mine in a Node 804 by the way.

 

[Mirfster]

What is the reason that unbuffered is required instead of registered? Is it because of the motherboard?

I believe that @SweetAndLow is trying to tell you that per the motherboard specs, it does NOT support Registered ECC:

UDIMM supported up to 16GB per module

Will I be able to use a SATA SSD instead?

Yes, you can use SATA SSD as a boot device

 

[Arman]

I believe that @SweetAndLow is trying to tell you that per the motherboard specs, it does NOT support Registered ECC:



Yes, you can use SATA SSD as a boot device

So If my motherboard supported registered ECC will it be okay to use with freenas? Or does freenas only accept unbuffered? Are i3-6100 and E3-1275 V5 compatible with both registered and buffered?

 

[Mirfster]

Yes, you are fine with using Registered ECC if your motherboard only accepts that type. All of my Servers have to use Registered ECC (Dell PowerEdge C2100/FS12-TY)...

There is a slight performance decrease in using Registered ECC, but to be honest I don't have a comparable system running Unregistered ECC to benchmark against.

As far as I am aware, the CPU does not differentiate between Registered or Unregistered; that is handled by the memory controller on the Motherboard (Please correct me if I am wrong). So basically you want to ensure that the CPU and Motherboard support ECC. As to if it is Registered or Unbuffered, that is dependent on the Motherboard (Memory Controller).

You can check Intel processor specs at: http://ark.intel.com/

Example of the i3-6100 CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/88181/Intel-Core-i3-6100TE-Processor-4M-Cache-2_70-GHz

 

[Arman]

Yes, you are fine with using Registered ECC if your motherboard only accepts that type. All of my Servers have to use Registered ECC (Dell PowerEdge C2100/FS12-TY)...

There is a slight performance decrease in using Registered ECC, but to be honest I don't have a comparable system running Unregistered ECC to benchmark against.

As far as I am aware, the CPU does not differentiate between Registered or Unregistered; that is handled by the memory controller on the Motherboard (Please correct me if I am wrong). So basically you want to ensure that the CPU and Motherboard support ECC. As to if it is Registered or Unbuffered, that is dependent on the Motherboard (Memory Controller).

You can check Intel processor specs at: http://ark.intel.com/

Example of the i3-6100 CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/88181/Intel-Core-i3-6100TE-Processor-4M-Cache-2_70-GHz

Thanks for the info! :) Are there any new motherboards you would recommend for building a high quality NAS?
Also, do you have any ideas about my initial question?
"What will happen if your ECC ram suddenly dies while you are making a backup or transferring files? Will you lose/corrupt all the data? Since ZFS is really robust so I would have thought it would halt the processes safely when it detects an error and wait until the ram is replaced and the continue it's tasks. Is that correct?"

 

[SweetAndLow]

If your RAM goes bad a single flipped bit will just be fixed without you knowing. If something worse happens the system will halt and reboot. In either case your data will be fine because it either got fixed or rebooted.

When buying hardware all motherboard tell you what CPUs will work and what memory will work. If it's not on the motherboard list don't buy it. A good motherboard to choose is anything by supermicro.

 

[Arman]

If your RAM goes bad a single flipped bit will just be fixed without you knowing. If something worse happens the system will halt and reboot. In either case your data will be fine because it either got fixed or rebooted.

When buying hardware all motherboard tell you what CPUs will work and what memory will work. If it's not on the motherboard list don't buy it. A good motherboard to choose is anything by supermicro.

Thanks!

 

[Arman]

By the way, can someone explain to me what "SuperDOM" is? I see it on some motherboards, but I cannot find any explanation for what it is online...

 

[Mirfster]

Are there any new motherboards you would recommend for building a high quality NAS

Will have to leave that to others to address since I run old school stuff. However, feel free to take a look at @cyberjock's "Hardware recommendations (read this first)"; which is linked in my signature.

 

[Mirfster]

By the way, can someone explain to me what "SuperDOM" is?

DOM = Disk On Module
Example: http://supermicro.com/products/nfo/SATADOM.cfm

 

[danb35]

A good motherboard to choose is anything by supermicro.

Not necessarily. Any of their server boards, sure. Workstation or desktop boards, not so much--they're still (presumably) quality boards, but the feature set isn't ideal for FreeNAS.

 

[Arman]

DOM = Disk On Module
Example: http://supermicro.com/products/nfo/SATADOM.cfm

Ohh! So can I put the OS on the superdom (if the motherboard has it) instead of buying a separate SATA SSD? (since I cannot use a USB drive?) If I were to put the OS on the superdom or a sata SSD how would I do it?

 

[Arman]

Not necessarily. Any of their server boards, sure. Workstation or desktop boards, not so much--they're still (presumably) quality boards, but the feature set isn't ideal for FreeNAS.

I think ill go with Gigabyte...

 

[danb35]

I think ill go with Gigabyte...

Do as you wish, but you'll be largely on your own with that brand--there just isn't much experience with them here as a FreeNAS platform.

 

[Arman]

Do as you wish, but you'll be largely on your own with that brand--there just isn't much experience with them here as a FreeNAS platform.

Mhm... I'll look into it further, then... I thought gigabyte would be more ideal because they are really popular. I had never heard of supermicro before.

 

[Mirfster]

I think ill go with Gigabyte...

You may want to post what the system will be used for and I am sure you would get responses for recommended setups. There are even some systems that are mentioned a lot on these forums that are pretty much "turn key" and easy on the wallet.

Edit: Think that the Dell T20 and Lenovo TS140 are the systems mentioned here a lot...

 

[danb35]

Mhm... I'll look into it further, then... I thought gigabyte would be more ideal because they are really popular. I had never heard of supermicro before.

Gigabyte is fine for desktop boards, but pretty much unknown for server boards. Supermicro certainly aren't the only makers of server boards, but they're a good combination of price, performance, stability, features, and availability (at least in the US).

 

[Arman]

You may want to post what the system will be used for and I am sure you would get responses for recommended setups. There are even some systems that are mentioned a lot on these forums that are pretty much "turn key" and easy on the wallet.

Edit: Think that the Dell T20 and Lenovo TS140 are the systems mentioned here a lot...

I'm planning to build my own NAS inside a Fractal Design Node 804. I would like my NAS to backup my Macbook, iphone, my external HDD, Camera... I would very much like the NAS to be fast at transferring files to and from my Macbook. I would want to edit quality videos on premiere pro straight from the NAS instead of copying it over to my Macbook first. I'd like to occasionally stream content to my iphone (videos)...