BUILD Business computer purchase

[larzeb]

I want to purchase a computer for use in a business with about 15 Windows PCs running in a A/D domain. Much of its use will be as a file server, but also it will be used to stream video to about 4 Raspberry Pis.

I am considering a quote from Supermicro of their SuperServer 6027R-TRF. It consists of their X9DRi-F motherboard, a Xeon ES-2603V2 processor, 4 x MEM-DR380L-HL06-ER16 Hynix Memory (32G registered) and 6 WD3000FYYZ disks.

I would like to run RAIDZ2. Do you think this hardware is sufficient for its intended purposes? Should I request un-registered memory? Why do you think they suggested registered, especially since I told them it would be used with Freenas?

Thanks for any help, Larry

 

[danb35]

FreeNAS doesn't care about registered vs. unbuffered memory; both are ECC. Which one to use depends on the requirements of your CPU and motherboard.

Have you considered getting a quote from iXSystems?

 

[Ericloewe]

Registered vs. Unbuffered is simply a matter of required capacity and doesn't affect the OS (other than by how much RAM can be installed). Registered allows for a lot more RAM (and may be slightly slower, but it doesn't make a difference).

How much storage do you want in the future? You'll want to have enough headroom to upgrade RAM to allow for smooth scaling of capacity. That board will take a ton (close - 1TB) of RAM, but it's a dual-processor board, which is overkill on the CPU side. If your future upgrade needs are more modest, a single-processor Xeon E5 board that takes registered RAM would be more appropriate. You'll want at least 1GB of RAM per TB of disk space, so 32GB will be more than enough for now.

RAIDZ2 is appropriate for file server duties and video.

FreeNAS doesn't care about registered vs. unbuffered memory; both are ECC. Which one to use depends on the requirements of your CPU and motherboard.

Have you considered getting a quote from iXSystems?

It may be worth it - it's said that their pricing is reasonable, and they're more familiar with the specifics of FreeNAS and ZFS.

 

[larzeb]

Thanks for your suggestion. I did contact iXSystems and they were very helpful. Unfortunately they told me that the quote I had from Supermicro was below their cost.

 

[DJ9]

Here's the thing with iX. They actually test all of your stuff prior to shipping it out with a extensive burn in process.

Sometimes it's just worth not worrying about stuff, and you just know it works when it arrives. You can't say that often now days.

 

[danb35]

The other big thing with iX is, since they're the main (perhaps only) FreeNAS developers, they know the product well and will support it on their hardware. They can evaluate your use case and recommend hardware that's suitable based on your specifics. I have to admit this is all second hand--I have not personally dealt with them, but I've heard a number of reports to this effect (including one of their developers taking a several-hour drive to a customer's location, on a holiday weekend, to sort out a server problem). I'm using FreeNAS for personal use, but if I were using it to run a business, I'd be looking hard at buying from iX, particularly if the cost is anywhere close.

But none of that is what you were actually asking. The hardware you're proposing looks entirely adequate for what you're describing as your needs, and SuperMicro has a good reputation for doing stuff right.

 

[larzeb]

What would I use for a boot device in this system, an SSD? If so, do prepare a USB key with the Freenas distribution, but it up and load the OS to the SSD?

If not SSD, do I leave the USB key hanging out the front or back?

Also, the specs state there are two SATA ports at 6Gbps and 8 at 3Gbps. I plan to start with 6 Western Digital WD3000FYYZ disks. Should I purchase an IBM M1015 to get the maximum speed?

Thanks Larry

 

[Ericloewe]

What would I use for a boot device in this system, an SSD? If so, do prepare a USB key with the Freenas distribution, but it up and load the OS to the SSD?

If not SSD, do I leave the USB key hanging out the front or back?

Also, the specs state there are two SATA ports at 6Gbps and 8 at 3Gbps. I plan to start with 6 Western Digital WD3000FYYZ disks. Should I purchase an IBM M1015 to get the maximum speed?

Thanks Larry

Use one USB drive to install and one USB drive as a boot device.

HDDs barely saturate SATA 1.5Gb/s at best. 3Gb/s is more than enough for all mechanical drives.