15TB File Server.. Something tells me this is way too powerful for what I need.

[darkryoushii]

Hey all,

Been wanting to build a NAS/file server/downloader for a while now and settled on 15TB of storage and FreeNAS as the OS of choice (or Server 2012 since I have licences and if it is a better choice for me?)
With all this in mind also note that I am in Australia so pricing and part availability is a little different.

Hardware:

Code:

AMD A6 5400K 2-Core Processor
ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M Motherboard
Fractal Design Define Mini
Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M4A1600C9 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
Seasonic G-550 80Plus Gold 550W
Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter PCIe
Intel 330 Series 60GB SSD (freeNAS boot)
5x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX
Total Cost: $1388

Needs:

• File Storage
• Samba Sharing
• Sab/sb/cp/nginx in a Jail
• Bridging of the second NIC to a nearby Boxee Box
• SILENCE. Must be silent as it will be in living room
• LOW POWER. Mustn't waste power. That's expensive.

I have a few questions and would love some opinions on the build.

1. Is bridging a NIC possible if I have a jail that has network access? (I think it also uses a bridge that's why I'm asking)
2. Is this build overkill? and if so.. what should I be looking for instead?
3. I'm guessing I won't be needing stellar performance to meet my needs. Would making a domain at home and using Server 2012 be a better choice for me?
4. Is the whole 1GB of RAM for each usable TB of storage actually accurate? Would I be able to get away with 8GB? Even if I can, should I or should I just stick with 16GB?

All opinions welcome! Thanks very much for your time!

 

[louisk]

I would suggest you refine your requirements a little.
For example, you mention you want file serving capabilities. This should be quantified. Something as small as 1G or as large as 100T would fit that description.

If focusing on low power and noise, there was a recent post on the FreeNAS mini, and how to build one yourself that you might check out. Depending on whether you want to solve problems yourself or pay for support could make your decision.

If you have a 60G SSD, I would use it for ARC cache instead of installing FreeNAS on. I would install FreeNAS on a USB thumb drive.

With out knowing more details about what you are wanting to do with this machine (again, work out your requirements above), its difficult to predict the kind of performance you will need, and thus we can't tell you whether you can get away with less RAM, or if server 2012 would be a better fit.

 

[darkryoushii]

Thanks for the reply Louisk,

Currently I have 3TB of media spread over 6x 1TB portable hard drives. Obviously this is a very bad solution but it's because we have been keeping all our storage separate and sharing only what we need.

I want something that is able to hold all of our files (90% media) and have room for the future (around 10TB minimum I'd predict).
Something that can give out permissions for files based on your identity, I would be using local accounts on freeNAS and saving the connection info on all the static PCs
Something that can act as a central downloader/organizer for new media. (plugins jail)
Something that can stream to my boxee box in the same room over ethernet and samba.

With all this being said and done.. I think I will probably build a freeNAS box over Server 2012 simply because it give me more control without having to resort to an AD environment, which would be annoying should I need to take my PC to a friends house.

New parts list:

• CPU: AMD A6-5400K
• Motherboard: ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M
• Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz
• PSU: Seasonic G-550 80Plus Gold 550W
• Case: Fractal Design Define Mini
• Boot USB: Patriot Supsonic Pulse 8GB USB3.0
• HDDs: 5x Western Digital 3TB Green EZRX
• Second NIC: Intel 100/1000 CT Gigabit PCIe

Total Cost: ~$1300

 

[louisk]

OK. You probably don't need a terribly high-end system to do that. I would skimp on the CPU, and get as much RAM as you can. There is a reason that best practice is 1G/1T. While you may be able to get away with it, you certainly won't be able to complain about performance if you don't follow best practices.

It looks like you're intending to use RAIDZ, which will give you 12T (perhaps 11T after formatting and swap space). Thats not much more than your minimum statement. Are you sure that will be sufficient? When I build systems, I try to figure out how much I expect to use and then build it to handle double the space so that I can go at least a year and a half before replacing components.

If you're considering moving your NAS around, I'd suggest you make backups first. Moving a computer is a huge oppertunity for things to fail.

 

[darkryoushii]

Will definitely be using RAID-Z1 and 10TB is how much usable space minimum I'd want in this server, since I've only got about 3TB now, that allows me to triple my entire storage 'network' before needing to think about more storage.. and if it took me 2 years to get this far, I decided I'd want a minimum 10TB if I were to build a server.

My alternative build to all this was get something a little more powerful, intel based with 32GB of RAM and what not then put ESXi on it and run both freeNAS and server 2012 for testing.. but then I decided it's risky to put all media and personal files in the same thing as my test/lab/uni study OS so I'm gonna build two separate machines where one is a freeNAS storage and one is a diskless ESXi box.

I wouldn't be moving the NAS, I'd be moving my desktop but if it were in a domain configuration then things start to break when it's taken away from the domain controller. That's what I've always assumed anyway. Much easier to deal with local accounts on the NAS and mix it in with anonymous access for guests.

Are you able to give any insight on the NIC bridging? I ran FreeNAS in a VM and it definitely bridged the physical NIC to a virtual NIC for the jail to use.. can I then bridge it again to the second physical?

 

[survive]

Hi darkryoushii,

My one thought is that it takes a brave man to put everything on a raidz of 3TB drives.

Since you are going with a 6 bay case I would urge you to get a 6th drive & do raidz2.

-Will

 

[louisk]

I would never suggest virtualizing something whose primary use in life is storage. Virtual IO is rarely as good as physical, and frequently much worse. I would go the route of ESXi on one machine and FreeNAS on another. If you're planning on doing your VM storage on your FreeNAS, I would suggest striped mirrors for performance. A single RAIDZ(1/2/3) volume does not have the performance capabilities that will make you very happy if you run more than 1 or 2 VMs at a time. If do want to go the route of VMs stored on FreeNAS, I would strongly suggest you get two SSDs, one for L2ARC, and the second for ZIL. The L2ARC SSD should be large enough to hold all the VMs you want to run at the same time. This will give you a significant speed boost.

Moving a box that is bound to a domain shouldn't be a huge deal. Laptops do that on a regular basis in business environments. That said, if you don't have an actual need for a domain at your house, I'd skip it.

If you have a jail, and you assign an IP to it, it will share your logical network interface. For example, say you have a machine with interface em0 and an IP of 192.168.0.250. You create a jail through the webby, and assign it an IP of 192.168.0.251/32. You can communicate with the jail by using that IP address. Additionally, if you were to have a logical interface of lagg0 (created with em0 and em1), you could do the same thing. Please note that link aggregation probably doesn't work the way you think it does, and you should read up on it before a) asking why it doesn't work, b) getting frustrated.