I'm a long time reader of the forums and have only recently built a freenas box. I've been very pleased with its feature-set and performance and am hoping to get some feedback for an enterprise level build.
Usage
Deployment as an offsite disaster recovery storage server to store replicated file server backups from multiple remote offices.
- Replicated backups will be sent from 7+ remote offices using StorageCraft ShadowProtect
- Transfer protocol will be FTP
- DR Site will have 100Mb connection total bandwidth with individual remote offices having 10-20Mb connection to DR
- Current backup data size is 35TB and growing
- Daily transfer size is roughly 1-10GB, more often on the low end
- All data will be verified once a week through SMB by ShadowProtect MD5 checksum running on a Windows server
Test Build
1 x Fractal Design R5
1 x Supermicro X10SL7-F
1 x Intel Core i3-4370
1 x Supermicro 16GB SataDOM
4 x 8GB Crucial DDR3 ECC
1 x Seasonic SS-520FL2
8 x WD Green 1.5TB
Following Cyberjock's hardware guide, a test system was built to validate the solution and familiarize myself with the interface. Having only used it for a month or so, I'm already very happy with the results and now researching for a full scale build.
Proposed Initial Build
1 x Supermicro SuperChassis 846XE2C-R1K23B
2 x Intel Xeon E5-2620v3
1 x Supermicro X10DRX
8 x 32GB MEM-DR432L-SL01-ER21
2 x Supermicro SataDOM 32GB (RAID1)
24 x HGST 8TB SAS (3x8 drive RAIDZ2)
2 x LSI 9207-8i
1 x APC UPS (model TBD)
Future Expansion Options
Add HBAs as required
Add Memory as required
Add Supermicro 4U JBOD Chassis(s) (45, 72 or 90 bays) as required
Add HDDs as required
Comments
- Primary concern is long term data reliability and integrity
- Performance requirements for the system are low as throughput is limited by the inbound connection speed
- I have contacted IXsystems and have received quotes for both FreeNAS and TrueNAS builds. Reason for custom build is ability to have greater expandability (i.e. X10DRX with 10 PCI-E 3.0 x4 slots) and lower cost
- No deduplication or encryption will be used
- Server is OK to be shutdown at any time for maintenance
Questions
- In the event of a bad drive, does FreeNAS have the capability to indicate failed bay or is the only solution to write down the serial number of each drive and which bay they are in?
- Is a SSD ZIL and L2ARC necessary for this usage scenario?
- The (2) 9207-8i cards will be connected to the SAS backplane in a redundant configuration. If one card fails, will FreeNAS notify about this?
- Are the pair of E5-2620v3 (2.4GHz/3.2GHz turbo) fast enough?
Any enterprise level experiences and feedback is much appreciated! Thank you!!
Usage
Deployment as an offsite disaster recovery storage server to store replicated file server backups from multiple remote offices.
- Replicated backups will be sent from 7+ remote offices using StorageCraft ShadowProtect
- Transfer protocol will be FTP
- DR Site will have 100Mb connection total bandwidth with individual remote offices having 10-20Mb connection to DR
- Current backup data size is 35TB and growing
- Daily transfer size is roughly 1-10GB, more often on the low end
- All data will be verified once a week through SMB by ShadowProtect MD5 checksum running on a Windows server
Test Build
1 x Fractal Design R5
1 x Supermicro X10SL7-F
1 x Intel Core i3-4370
1 x Supermicro 16GB SataDOM
4 x 8GB Crucial DDR3 ECC
1 x Seasonic SS-520FL2
8 x WD Green 1.5TB
Following Cyberjock's hardware guide, a test system was built to validate the solution and familiarize myself with the interface. Having only used it for a month or so, I'm already very happy with the results and now researching for a full scale build.
Proposed Initial Build
1 x Supermicro SuperChassis 846XE2C-R1K23B
2 x Intel Xeon E5-2620v3
1 x Supermicro X10DRX
8 x 32GB MEM-DR432L-SL01-ER21
2 x Supermicro SataDOM 32GB (RAID1)
24 x HGST 8TB SAS (3x8 drive RAIDZ2)
2 x LSI 9207-8i
1 x APC UPS (model TBD)
Future Expansion Options
Add HBAs as required
Add Memory as required
Add Supermicro 4U JBOD Chassis(s) (45, 72 or 90 bays) as required
Add HDDs as required
Comments
- Primary concern is long term data reliability and integrity
- Performance requirements for the system are low as throughput is limited by the inbound connection speed
- I have contacted IXsystems and have received quotes for both FreeNAS and TrueNAS builds. Reason for custom build is ability to have greater expandability (i.e. X10DRX with 10 PCI-E 3.0 x4 slots) and lower cost
- No deduplication or encryption will be used
- Server is OK to be shutdown at any time for maintenance
Questions
- In the event of a bad drive, does FreeNAS have the capability to indicate failed bay or is the only solution to write down the serial number of each drive and which bay they are in?
- Is a SSD ZIL and L2ARC necessary for this usage scenario?
- The (2) 9207-8i cards will be connected to the SAS backplane in a redundant configuration. If one card fails, will FreeNAS notify about this?
- Are the pair of E5-2620v3 (2.4GHz/3.2GHz turbo) fast enough?
Any enterprise level experiences and feedback is much appreciated! Thank you!!