BUILD x10SLL-F first build for photo-videographer (4x3TB RaidZ2 + 2x3TB)

[davydden]

Hi all,

I am looking into building my first NAS. For two users, the main application would be to:

1. store and have access to quite big amount of photos and videos for processing/editing (important, unique data)
   
2. Time Machine backup for 2 MacBooks
   
3. iTunes server to store and watch movies

Price-wise, I would like to stay in the range of ~1000 Euro with drives.
I think a 6-drive FreeNas build would work fine for these needs.
In particular, i was thinking about:

• a pool of Raid-Z2 6 x 3 Tb with 3 DataSets (2 with quotas for TimeMachine)
• a pool of Raid-Z2 4 5 x 3 TB for (1)
  
• single 3 TB drive for (2) and (3)

Reading about hardware on this forum and other places, i came up with the following setup (approximate prices in Germany):
- Supermicro X10SLL-F (2 x Sata3, 4 x Stat2) ~ 190 Euro
- 2 x Samsung M391B1G73QH0-YK0 8Gb ~ 2x50 = 100 Euro
- Intel i3-6100 I3-4160 ~ 110 Euro
- Fractal Design Node 804 ~ 100 Euro
- Seasonic SSR-450RM ~ 90 Euro
- 2 x SanDisk Cruzer 32Gb USB-Stick ~ 20 Euro
--- total: 610 Euro

- 6 x HGST Deskstar NAS 3TB ~ 120x6 = 720 Euro
I choose this instead of WD Red based on www.extremetech.com/computing/228497-backblaze-releases-billion-hour-hard-drive-reliability-report

Do you think the configuration I describe suits the needs? Any major flaws?
One could also do Raid-Z2 5 x 3 TB (8.2 TB usable) for (1) + a single 3 TB drive for (2) and (3) (don't really need Raid there).


I would also be happy to get some advices on the archiving workflow with FreeNAS. When I will be close to ~90% of space usage in (1) i was thinking of moving the old data (>2-3 years old) to other HardDrives for archiving purposes and just store them somewhere.

Thanks in advance,
Denis.

 

[Dice]

hello and Welcome to the forums.

There are numerous things to address in this post.
-i3-6100 + x10SLL are not compatible.
- RAM is compatible with the motherboard, but not the CPU.
-Are you aware that you cannot expand a vdev from 3 drives to 5 drives?
If you haven't read the Newbie guide (see my description), it is time to do it now.

Cheers /

 

[davydden]

Right, i was too quick about processor. I suppose I3-4160 would do fine?

I am reading the Newbie guide now, but why would i care about expanding vdev from 3 drives to 5 drives?
I was planning to do 4 drive pool Raidz2 or 5 drive pool Raidz2 (which goes against 2^n+2 rule).

hello and Welcome to the forums.

There are numerous things to address in this post.
-i3-6100 + x10SLL are not compatible.
- RAM is compatible with the motherboard, but not the CPU.
-Are you aware that you cannot expand a vdev from 3 drives to 5 drives?
If you haven't read the Newbie guide (see my description), it is time to do it now.

Cheers / dice

 

[Spearfoot]

I was planning to do 4 drive pool Raidz2 or 5 drive pool Raidz2 (which goes against 2^n+2 rule).

A 5 drive RAIDZ2 pool is fine because the "power of 2 plus parity" rule doesn't apply anymore:

http://blog.delphix.com/matt/2014/06/06/zfs-stripe-width/

I run 7 x 2TB disks in a RAIDZ2 pool on my main system with no problems or performance issues whatsoever (see 'my systems' below).

 

[davydden]

A 5 drive RAIDZ2 pool is fine because the "power of 2 plus parity" rule doesn't apply anymore:

http://blog.delphix.com/matt/2014/06/06/zfs-stripe-width/

I run 7 x 2TB disks in a RAIDZ2 pool on my main system with no problems or performance issues whatsoever (see 'my systems' below).

That's good, i would then go with 5 x 3 TB RaidZ2 setup.

 

[Dice]

http://www.servethehome.com/raid-calculator/

* https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/zfs-raid-size-and-reliability-calculator.28191/

I am reading the Newbie guide now, but why would i care about expanding vdev from 3 drives to 5 drives?

I'm trying to potentially catch uninformed expectations regarding expansion routes for FreeNAS.
It is an ever so frequently occuring overlooked aspect which typically is indicicated by statements like: 'X drives now, +y drives later'.

Cheers /

 

[davydden]

I'm trying to potentially catch uninformed expectations regarding expansion routes for FreeNAS.
It is an ever so frequently occuring overlooked aspect which typically is indicicated by statements like: 'X drives now, +y drives later'.
Cheers / Dice

I see. In my case, luckily, i was not thinking to do so :).

 

[davydden]

what i have not though about is boot device. In order to save SATA port, i suppose i have to go with DOMs? Quick search revels the following brands available: Delock, Mach, Supermicro. The price ranges from 10 to 50 Euros. Any recommendation here?

 

[Spearfoot]

what i have not though about is boot device. In order to save SATA port, i suppose i have to go with DOMs? Quick search revels the following brands available: Delock, Mach, Supermicro. The price ranges from 10 to 50 Euros. Any recommendation here?

DOM devices require an SATA port... so you might want to consider booting from a USB stick.

 

[Dice]

In order to save SATA port, i suppose i have to go with DOMs?

This is incorrect. You will not save a port by using a DOM.
Typically you'll get a better bang for the buck when getting a standard cheap SATA drive.

 

[Dice]

Damn, @Spearfoot beat me to reply :D

 

[davydden]

This is incorrect. You will not save a port by using a DOM.
Typically you'll get a better bang for the buck when getting a standard cheap SATA drive.

But then i suppose i would have to sacrifice one SATA for booting drive in any case, right? (unless i go with USB which is not recommended, as far as I can tell). Would it be ok to use a normal 3 TB disk for that and partition it for booting plus un-important storage (TimeMachine / iTunes, see OP)? Or is it better in this case just to go with USB?

 

[Dice]

Or is it better in this case just to go with USB?

Yes.
The bootdrive's space cannot be used to anything else than FreeNAS OS.
that's the beauty of USB's ;)

 

[davydden]

Yes.
The bootdrive's space cannot be used to anything else than FreeNAS OS.

oh, i see. Thanks for clarifying this. Then i will stick with a SanDisk Cruzer USB.

W.r.t. CPU, I3-4160 is an ok choice and shall have ECC support, right?

 

[Ericloewe]

- 5 x HGST Deskstar NAS 3TB (will buy another 2 later)

How do you plan to manage this? And how do you plan to attach the seventh drive?

 

[davydden]

How do you plan to manage this? And how do you plan to attach the seventh drive?

that is a typo. The very first version was 4+2, which I edited to 5+1 after it became clear that it is ok to do Raidz2 on 5 drives.

 

[Bidule0hm]

A 5 drive RAIDZ2 pool is fine because the "power of 2 plus parity" rule doesn't apply anymore:

http://blog.delphix.com/matt/2014/06/06/zfs-stripe-width/

I run 7 x 2TB disks in a RAIDZ2 pool on my main system with no problems or performance issues whatsoever (see 'my systems' below).

Plus this rule is broken anyway... https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/misaligned-pools-and-lost-space.40288/ :)

 

[Ericloewe]

that is a typo. The very first version was 4+2, which I edited to 5+1 after it became clear that it is ok to do Raidz2 on 5 drives.

Ok, but what do you plan to do with that extra drive? Is it just so you have a spare? Because that's about the only thing you can do with the extra drive.

 

[davydden]

Ok, but what do you plan to do with that extra drive? Is it just so you have a spare? Because that's about the only thing you can do with the extra drive.

I plan to create 3 DataSets: 2 for TimeMachines and 1 for iTunes movies (see (2) and (3) in OP). It if fails, it is not a big deal as TimeMachines are backups of original and iTunes movies I can always re-download.

An alternative is to leave 2 drives for this (raid 1, mirror) and use the remaining 4 for critical data (point (1) in OP) in Raidz2.

 

[Spearfoot]

I plan to create 3 DataSets: 2 for TimeMachines and 1 for iTunes movies (see (2) and (3) in OP). It if fails, it is not a big deal as TimeMachines are backups of original and iTunes movies I can always re-download.

An alternative is to leave 2 drives for this (raid 1, mirror) and use the remaining 4 for critical data (point (1) in OP) in Raidz2.

Well... datasets are not pools... you'll be be better off creating a single RAIDZ2 pool with all 6 of your 3TB disks connected to the 6 SATA ports on your motherboard. Plan on booting FreeNAS from a USB stick; if you're paranoid, use 2 USB sticks and mirror the FreeNAS installation (the installation program allows you to do this).

Then you can create datasets on this pool for media, apple time machine backups, and whatever else you need. You can configure quotas on the apple time machine dataset to limit how much space it uses. Realistically, this is the only quota you need to worry about.

For a home user, there really isn't any good reason to create multiple pools when you only have 6 disks to work with.