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:

• Backup file and Media Storage
• Samba Sharing
• Sab/sb/cp/nginx in a Jail
• Encryption. Full Disk in FreeNAS 8.3.1
• 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 and I'm not sure Internet > NIC > Jail (virtual NIC) and NIC at the same time is possible)
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!

 

[darkryoushii]

One other option, which I'm not sure is possible with the hardware I chose, would be to run ESXi free edition and use raw device mappings to pass the drives to a freeNAS host. Keeping all OS data on the SSD.

Thoughts on that?
To be honest I have so many ideas and would at some point like to incorporate a Windows Server 2012 box just because I'll be learning Windows Sys Admin fairly soon.

 

[guldan]

I am actually a windows sysadmin, personally in your situation I would build the freenas box and keep it seperate from your windows / server testing environment. You'll want to play around with things and I wouldn't want to mess with my important data. I personally have a rack with a couple servers, one being an ESXI box.. I can spin up a bunch of 2012 server VMs and create a domain then destroy it the same day without affecting my critical storage.

Your build is a bit overkill, some random notes below:

- Fractal Design cases are awesome (I have two)
- I achieved silence using intelligence fan controls in the BIOS
- I think making a domain will add complexity and is unnecessary for you situation
- If you want redundancy you won't have 15TB but closer to 11 or 8 (raidz1 or raidz2)
- ZFS requires 4GB of ram I believe unless you are running dedupe
- WD Greens aren't meant for RAID, Reds are a better option if you have the $$
- Skip the SSD and use a memory stick for Freenas, I don't know about virtualization.. another layer of complexity
- Why bridge 2nd nic to boxee? not sure if Freenas can do that but you could always use a switch w/ VLANs

 

[darkryoushii]

Thanks for the insight!

- Fractal design cases are indeed awesome, this will be the first time using one but it looks quite sleek.. though I'll probably pull out the power LED since it's probably going to be too bright for my lounge room.
- That's an excellent point, I was planning on just leaving it all hooked up to the case fan controller but maybe not..
- Domain idea has been scrapped, as you said it's better to have a storage box and a esxi box.. so that's what I'll do.
- I'll be using raidz1 and am aware that I'll have around 11TB usable after formatting.
- I've added 1GB of RAM for each 1TB of usable space as per the freenas requirements, leaving 5GB for freeNAS itself to work off. To be honest I think that is why the build seem so overpowered, but it's not just because of the RAM requirements from freenas itself.
- Switched drive choice to Toshiba's new 3TB option. It's a rebranded Hitachi Deskstar 3TB running at a full 7200rpm.
- Switched boot device to a Patriot Supersonic Pulse 8GB usb3 drive

The boxee bridge. This storage box will sit in my lounge room and I am renting. I only want minimal cables running down the hallway or outside (though the window) so I hoped to run a single cable to the nas, and then bridge from the NAS to my tv to save having to buy a switch. I know you can do that, but not sure how it works when the NIC is already being bridged to a jail (since that is what is setup when you configure the plugins jail) so I'm wondering if I can bridge the NIC in a 3 way split sorta config, or if I should bridge the virtual nic to create a chain or what.. I'm sure I'll figure something out but it's unnerving to not know before hand.

 

[guldan]

Well RAM is cheap these days, no harm getting 16GB. Also what are you storing? if you do a raidz1 you only have 1 disk redundancy, if you lose 2 disks all your data is gone. You are probably constrained by physical space so I would make sure to backup any critical data in that array separately as well.

Not sure what the Toshibas are like, it's not the speed I would be concerned about but if they have a TLER option which stops the drive from going into a low power state and wearing it down prematurely. I'd google around and do some research on that.

Oh and having Freenas on a usb is a no-brainer imo. I made sure I found one as small as possible so it wont get damaged or pulled out by accident, beyond that just make sure to backup your config and if anything goes wrong just download freenas again and load the config onto new OS..

Regarding the bridging I'm not sure as i've only done it in windows environments not with Freenas.

 

[Stephens]

Not sure what the Toshibas are like, it's not the speed I would be concerned about but if they have a TLER option which stops the drive from going into a low power state and wearing it down prematurely. I'd google around and do some research on that.

That's not what TLER does. You may be thinking the equivalent of WDIDLE.

 

[guldan]

That's not what TLER does. You may be thinking the equivalent of WDIDLE.

ahh correct, mixed up somethings in my brain
http://www.storagereview.com/how_to_stop_excessive_load_cycles_on_the_western_digital_2tb_caviar_green_wd20ears_with_wdidle3