don't look a gift horse in the mouth?

[bambuko]

Hi guys, my proposed build is all about trying to do it on the minimal budget.
To that end, the starting point of my project is the motherboard I was just given (hence the title of the thread).
It is ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0
Would it do? or should I save some money for something better/different?
I realise it is ATX so it is going to be larger than most people want, but this doesn't bother me.

 

[Jailer]

Well two big hits against it right off the bat are no support for ECC memory and a Realtek NIC. While ECC memory is not a requirement it is strongly suggested if you care about data integrity. The Realtek NIC's are just crap all the way around and have proven troublesome to some users.

 

[bambuko]

Thank you!
Just back from searching interweb to understand ECC and NIC (yes, that's the level of ignorance you are dealing with :D).
Sounds like my idea was a crappy one - just downloaded Hardware Recommendations Guide and off to read it...
Appreciate your help!

 

[BigDave]

As long as it's more or less to play with and not to store and protect important data, go for it. You should run 8GB minimum RAM for FreeNAS.
We understand budget constraints, but using less than recommended hardware will cause you to possibly lose your data without the possibility
of recovery. Years ago, FreeNAS was used by many (the many youtube videos show this) on outdated hardware, but FreeNAS has not been this
type of software for MANY years.

 

[bambuko]

No, it is not to play with ...
I have a small 2bay NAS (bought) that is struggling a bit with what's demanded of it, so I am looking into building my own replacement and this motherboard seemed like a good idea...(NOT).
Sounds like I will have to do a lot of searching to try to come up with something good on a budget.

 

[Jailer]

Look at a Dell T20 or T30 or a Lenovo TS140 if you want something on a budget.

 

[bambuko]

So, what you are saying is, that rather than try to build something, I should get ready made tower server with no OS installed and use them with FreeNAS.
I guess the cost of all components, if I were to buy them individually will always be higher than ready made volume production, out of the box thingy...

 

[Dice]

So, what you are saying is, that rather than try to build something, I should get ready made tower server with no OS installed and use them with FreeNAS.
I guess the cost of all components, if I were to buy them individually will always be higher than ready made volume production, out of the box thingy...

In some cases (no matter if it is entry level or higher demand applications) it makes the most sense.

 

[BigDave]

So, what you are saying is, that rather than try to build something, I should get ready made tower server with no OS installed and use them with FreeNAS.
I guess the cost of all components, if I were to buy them individually will always be higher than ready made volume production, out of the box thingy...

The two products recommended by Jailer are built by companies that receive deep discounts when buying large bulk shipments of component parts
and can therefore resell at much lower price point.

 

[Jailer]

So, what you are saying is, that rather than try to build something, I should get ready made tower server with no OS installed and use them with FreeNAS.
I guess the cost of all components, if I were to buy them individually will always be higher than ready made volume production, out of the box thingy...

There are users on the forum that have purchased these systems and been very happy with them. The included case for each can be a bit limited in the number of drives that you can install but that shouldn't be an issue unless you are trying to build a large multi drive system.

 

[bambuko]

Well... guys, I am glad I came here and asked questions, because things are a lot clearer now!
(also helped by reading How Much will a proper home FreeNAS setup cost me)

My current 2bay NAS is running RAID1, but I am not sure how would this work with FreeNAS and 4 drives on (for example) Dell PowerEdge T30?

 

[Dice]

Well... guys, I am glad I came here and asked questions, because things are a lot clearer now!

My current 2bay NAS is running RAID1, but I am not sure how would this work with FreeNAS and 4 drives on (for example) Dell PowerEdge T30?

You might pick up some clues and can be a little more specific after digesting:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

 

[bambuko]

You might pick up some clues and can be a little more specific after digesting...

That sounds like a serious homework for tonight ;)
Off to do more reading...
Thank you!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I am not sure how would this work with FreeNAS and 4 drives on (for example) Dell PowerEdge T30

With four data drives in a T30 the options break down like this:

• striped mirrors - best for flexibility
• RAIDZ1 - best for capacity, but not generally recommended for drives larger than 1TB
• RAIDZ2 - best for reliability

Your boot device would be either a USB stick plugged into one of the 10 USB ports (perhaps a mirrored pair), or a small, cheap SSD installed in one of the 2.5" bays. The latter also requires a SATA power extension and an add-on disk controller, e.g. a PEXSAT32. You wouldn't use that for data drives, but it's OK for the boot device.

 

[joeschmuck]

Well two big hits against it right off the bat are no support for ECC memory and a Realtek NIC.

Well yes and no. It does support ECC (In the QVL RAM list) but the Realtek NIC will be problematic. This is a newer board than my ASUS M5A87L and my board supported ECC. The issue was that you needed to install ECC RAM and I could not figure out how or if my motherboard would notify me of an ECC issue and ASUS was not helpful at all. I had to install an Intel NIC eventually to fix my throughput stability problems.

So the M5A97L may be fine for the ECC, just not the NIC.

Would it do? or should I save some money for something better/different?

Yes it would do providing you add an Intel NIC but speaking from experience I would hold out for a better piece of hardware. While this would get your foot in the door right now, if you hold out for something a little nicer then you will end up being much happier in the long run. Also realize something, the motherboard, CPU, and RAM should last you at least 10 years if not longer. Buy smart now and you won't need to replace them due to some compatibility issue down the road. The hard drives will likely be your most expensive single item unless you only get a few.

So just to clarify, I'm not promoting the ASUS motherboard, just voicing a correction to a previous posting.

Enjoy your reading, there is a lot of it to do. And my last piece of advice... When you do get a system up and running, play with it for a few weeks. Create pools, destroy pools, add and remove plugins, pretend a drive has failed and figure out the correct way to replace it (this is invaluable training).

 

[iammykyl]

Well yes and no. It does support ECC (In the QVL RAM list) but the Realtek NIC will be problematic. This is a newer board than my ASUS M5A87L and my board supported ECC. The issue was that you needed to install ECC RAM and I could not figure out how or if my motherboard would notify me of an ECC issue and ASUS was not helpful at all. I had to install an Intel NIC eventually to fix my throughput stability problems.

So the M5A97L may be fine for the ECC, just not the NIC.


Yes it would do providing you add an Intel NIC but speaking from experience I would hold out for a better piece of hardware. While this would get your foot in the door right now, if you hold out for something a little nicer then you will end up being much happier in the long run. Also realize something, the motherboard, CPU, and RAM should last you at least 10 years if not longer. Buy smart now and you won't need to replace them due to some compatibility issue down the road. The hard drives will likely be your most expensive single item unless you only get a few.

So just to clarify, I'm not promoting the ASUS motherboard, just voicing a correction to a previous posting.

Enjoy your reading, there is a lot of it to do. And my last piece of advice... When you do get a system up and running, play with it for a few weeks. Create pools, destroy pools, add and remove plugins, pretend a drive has failed and figure out the correct way to replace it (this is invaluable training).

What a great reply and advice. As a beginner to FreeNAS, ferreting out different perspectives on builds, it was very useful.

Thanks.

 

[joeschmuck]

Everyone here wants to provide the best advice they can. Sometimes I get it wrong even with the best of intentions. Hopefully this did help you out.

 

[bambuko]

I had an interesting time reading all the recommended stuff - most of it was like a bucket of cold water over my head
I have moved on from "hardware" question, to questioning whether it is a right project for me, whether I can dedicate time and effort needed for it to succeed.
It's not that I have any problem with what is being suggested it's just that is all not as simple as I thought/hoped it was.

I need to ponder.... read and think and do my homework properly - see you in couple on month time.
Once again - thank you all!

 

[SweetAndLow]

The pre built options are pretty darn simple. Dell and Lenovo can even be found on sale. Then you get 4x6TB WD reds and setup a raidz2 so you have 12TB usable. Then setup emails warnings and smart tests. A ups would be another suggestion. But that's about all it takes.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[gpsguy]

I have moved on from "hardware" question, to questioning whether it is a right project for me, whether I can dedicate time and effort needed for it to succeed.

If you'd like to study the documentation offline, you can download a PDF or ePub version of it via a link in my signature.