BUILD Small Team Server / VM Hosting Server

[mka]

<div class="bbWrapper">Hi, I'm currently selecting parts for a FreeNAS server for our developer team (roughly 20 users). Mainly hosting workspaces and some Virtual Box VMs via NFS and CIFS ...and I would love any hints or insights on the setup. I'm planning on using a 16TB Pool with a RaidZ2 setup. The current Hardware selection is:<br /> <br /> <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">6x <b>HGST Ultrastar 7K6000</b> 4TB SAS 12Gb/s</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><b>Supermicro X10SRH-CLN4F</b> (2011-3 socket, 4x GbLAN, 10 SAS ports)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><b>Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3</b> 8x 2.40GHz (socket 2011-3)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><b>128GiB Crucial LRDIMM</b> ECC Ram (4x32GB, DDR4-2133)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">ZIL/SLOG: <b>Intel SSD DC P3600</b> Series 400GB (PCIe 3.0 x4, low profile, NVMe)<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Cache/L2ARC: <b>Intel SSD DC S3500</b> Series 600GB (2.5&quot;)<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><b>Supermicro 823TQ-650LPB</b> (2HE, 6-bay Hot-Swapping, 650W redundant PSU)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><i>or: </i><b>Supermicro 835TQ-R800B</b> (3HE, 8-bay Hot-swapping, 800W redundant PSU)</li> </ol><br /> Is this machine in combination with the 7200rpm HGST drives, the RAM and the SLOG/L2ARC balanced for running multiple VMs? Are any hardware incompatibilities excepted (mybe with the NVMe SSDs)? I wish to use 4x GbE link aggregation cause there is no 10G infrastructure. Maybe a seperate10GbE card is added with the combination of an additional backup server if 10GbE is needed over 1GbE; but probably not.<br /> <br /> I like the option of upgrading the machine to 256GiB of RAM when necessary.<br /> <br /> I also havn't made up my mind upon getting a 2HE 6-bay chassis or a 3HE 8-bay chassis and maybe use some hot-standby drive.<br /> <br /> Next step: I'm planning on building a stripped down backup machine beeing the nightly backup partner of this host machine.</div>

 

[mka]

<div class="bbWrapper">Any ideas? I don't wanna spent 8000€ with maybe obvious mistakes in it.</div>

 

[depasseg]

<div class="bbWrapper">If that is your budget, give Ixsystems a call. <br /> Are your NFS exports going to be configured to use sync ? If not, the slog is a waste. <br /> <br /> Also you likely need more drives and use the Raid10 equivalent (striped mirrors). I would be worried that Raidz2 could really slow things down even with that large of an l2arc.</div>

 

[Ericloewe]

<div class="bbWrapper">Honestly, it looks like massive overkill for a 16TB pool.<br /> <br /> Keep in mind that SAS3 stuff is still unstable. YMMV with SAS3.<br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="member: 33135" data-quote="mka" data-source="post: 215590" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=215590" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-215590">mka said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> <b>Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3</b> 8x 2.40GHz (socket 2011-3) </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I'd probably go with 6 faster cores instead (like a Xeon E5-1650 v3 - 6 cores @3.5GHz nominally).<br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="member: 33135" data-quote="mka" data-source="post: 215590" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=215590" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-215590">mka said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> 16TB Pool </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>Keep in mind that 4x&quot;4 drive manufacturer TB&quot; is less than 16TB. Plus overhead, not filling the pool beyond 8%, ...<br /> <br /> <blockquote data-attributes="member: 33135" data-quote="mka" data-source="post: 215590" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=215590" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-215590">mka said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I wish to use 4x GbE link aggregation cause there is no 10G infrastructure. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>Don't get your hopes up. It might work, but it's something that sounds better on paper than it works.</div>