Very Small Backup Server Hardware

[Realfire]

Hello,

I've been reading the forums for some time now, and i've pored over hardware builds, and read Cyberjock's suggestion thread, and built a fairly modest, if not very efficient, freenas server last year.

<X8SIL, Xeon X3430, 16gb ddr3 ecc registered, 6x 1Tb WD Red>

Now, I have started looking into building a small backup server to colocate at work for offsite backups of the actual, important data.

In the meantime, these embedded server boards came through my work, and they seem to check all of the important boxes for BSD support, with a really good price.

I am wondering if anyone has looked past these before, as at first glance, they should be more than sufficient for a pair of 1tb disks running weekly backups.

The cliffnotes are:
Core 2 Duo T9400 embedded version (ecc supported)
Intel E3100 server chipset
8gb ddr2 ecc memory
Dual Intel Nic (82573V, 82574IT)
6 sata II ports
And two x4 pcie sockets

The only part that I didn't spend time checking compatibility for is the video chipset, which is not really a concern.
Just hoping to get a "sober second thought," as it were, as to whether or not I should try and put one of these through its paces with Freenas.

-Realfire

 

[anodos]

Hello,

I've been reading the forums for some time now, and i've pored over hardware builds, and read Cyberjock's suggestion thread, and built a fairly modest, if not very efficient, freenas server last year.

<X8SIL, Xeon X3430, 16gb ddr3 ecc registered, 6x 1Tb WD Red>

Now, I have started looking into building a small backup server to colocate at work for offsite backups of the actual, important data.

In the meantime, these embedded server boards came through my work, and they seem to check all of the important boxes for BSD support, with a really good price.

I am wondering if anyone has looked past these before, as at first glance, they should be more than sufficient for a pair of 1tb disks running weekly backups.

The cliffnotes are:
Core 2 Duo T9400 embedded version (ecc supported)
Intel E3100 server chipset
8gb ddr2 ecc memory
Dual Intel Nic (82573V, 82574IT)
6 sata II ports
And two x4 pcie sockets

The only part that I didn't spend time checking compatibility for is the video chipset, which is not really a concern.
Just hoping to get a "sober second thought," as it were, as to whether or not I should try and put one of these through its paces with Freenas.

-Realfire

Core 2 Duo hardware has a FSB. Probably not a good choice for hardware. I'd go no older than Nehalem for FreeNAS.

 

[Sakuru]

How bad is the performance with FSB? I would imagine it would still work for a backup server.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Core 2 Duo T9400

No sign of ECC support either, according to ark.intel.com.

 

[Arwen]

Also, I checked the PDF and it does not say what chipset is used for the LAN
ports. Intel, Chelsio and Broadcom are preferred over Realtek for reasonable
speed and reliability.

 

[Realfire]

No sign of ECC support either, according to ark.intel.com.

I was worried about that, but the board comes as a package with 8gb DDR2 ECC memory.
I managed to find this brief about the embedded processors confirming support.

Also, the network interfaces are Intel, and the models are listed in my first message.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and pick up one of these boards. If the Freenas performance is poor, it should do nicely as a new Sophos box.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

OK, it appears to be the separate memory controller that determines ECC support in this case.

Could be just fine as a small backup server. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Arwen]

...
Also, the network interfaces are Intel, and the models are listed in my first message.
...

Sorry, I missed that. Fighting the flu, so a bit fuzzy headed.