General 101 tips

[papanoel87]

I'm building my first server and I wish to avoid most of the rookie mistakes. Things like "I could've arranged better the cables", "Buy this stuff before building. It'll make your life easier" or whatever come up to your mind when you recall your first experiences in this area I will apreciate.

I don't want to limit the recommendations but I'm not looking for hardware advices (I've made this post already for that porpouse).

I'm all eyes...

 

[anodos]

Plan how you will backup the data you are storing on your NAS.
Plan your network. Decent quality gigabit switch is nice. Use CAT5e/CAT 6 (as opposed to wireless) wherever possible.
Get a decent quality UPS that is compatible with NUT.

 

[Ericloewe]

Cyberjock's guide has a number of tips that aren't immediately obvious, so it's always a good read.

Hardware-wise, the build pic thread has a number of ideas for cable management and some insight into that kind of thing.

 

[anodos]

If you're getting a server with hotswap bays, then try to get one with a backplane that accepts SFF-8087 (rather than requiring breakout cables). It reduces the amount of cables inside your chassis.

 

[papanoel87]

-I'll buy extra drives for the snapshots.
-I've bought CAT6 cable. I've got a nice switch but it doesn't support link aggregation.¿Should I buy another one?
-Should I use redundant PS? I'll look into ups also.

-I've seen these sata cables... "stacked" I think they're called. ¿Are they useful? May I use regular sata cables instead?

Keep going, I'm avid of tips.

 

[anodos]

-I'll buy extra drives for the snapshots.
-I've bought CAT6 cable. I've got a nice switch but it doesn't support link aggregation.¿Should I buy another one?
-Should I use redundant PS? I'll look into ups also.

-I've seen these sata cables... "stacked" I think they're called. ¿Are they useful? May I use regular sata cables instead?

Keep going, I'm avid of tips.

How many users do you have? If less than 10 users, then link aggregation is not worth it.
Redundant PSU is mostly pointless in a home setup.
If you purchase an HBA, then you will need to get SFF8087 -> SFF8087 or SFF8087 breakout cables. Otherwise, a cable is a cable.

 

[papanoel87]

Thanks! I'll have 10 users, maybe 11 but they'll work in disjoints schedules. Why would I want to purchase a HBA?

 

[gpsguy]

A HBA would allow you to add additional hard disks, once you exceed the number of ports on your motherboard.


Sent from my phone

 

[diedrichg]

Buy a spare hard drive (or two) to keep on the shelf for when (not if) a drive dies, that way you can just quickly swap in the new drive and rest at ease knowing that you won't have to wait for a replacement to be shipped and that your data is at risk of being lost if another drive decides to bite it.

 

[papanoel87]

I've bought 2 extra disks for that =).

Are there any tips to replace (no hotswap) disks?

 

[diedrichg]

I've bought 2 extra disks for that =).

Are there any tips to replace (no hotswap) disks?

Despite my mobo supporting hot swap, since my NAS is strictly a home file server, I can afford <5 minutes of powered-off downtime for the paranoid part of me who can't afford to screw up our data. I suggest following the docs line-by-line.

 

[CSP-on-FN]

(....) and I wish to avoid most of the rookie mistakes (....)

My tip is ... for those of us not using the FreeNAS default "English US" language or locale settings ...

During a fresh FreeNAS installation - at the pre-GUI phase when we accept the first opportunity to enter the root password - avoid using any keyboard characters or keystroke combinations for that password which might change when the GUI is eventually launched.

For example, I "cleverly" used the UK currency symbol "£" as part of my initial root/setup password, but then discovered that the GUI LOGIN phase of the installation refused to accept it (the "£" was the only non-basic alpha-num character I'd used in that password) ... and as hard as I tried (with ALT+nnnn keystroke substitutions for example) I could not discover how that initial "£" character had been interpreted at the pre-GUI phase.

Happily the console Menu includes a "reset root password" option, but for a while I thought I would need to start a whole new installation!

Colin P.