1st FreeNAS server build for my Friend and I

[Rocco Speranza]

I've done a fair amount of research so far, but just want to finalize everything with the awesome people here!
I would plan to use Plex, crashplan, bittorrent sync, transmission, and maybe sickbeard / couchpotato.

I will be re-using my 4130t and my friend plans to use a G3258. Currently I can stream (2) 720P and (1) 1080P or (3) 720P with by 4130T in Windows. Would I expect the same performance using FreeNAS?

We plan to start with (2) 8TB Red drives in Mirror. Down the road we'll backup our data, purchase 4 more drives and create a Raidz2 array with 6 drives total.

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX
Crucial ECC 16GB (2 x 8GB)

We plan to re-used an old PC case or 1u server for a chassis. (For future reference, what 12 bay rack mountable chassis is currently recommended?)
The 1u case linked is nearly identical to what I have a few of. (Old servers from work)


A few more questions:
I got this one answered in this thread, but want to be double sure.
1. Say, if I purchase this motherboard in the future w/ new ram of course. Would I be able to reconnect all my drives and it boot normally?
2. Sounds like video editing directly from this won't happen?
3. Once we upgrade to 6 drives, will it be critical to upgrade to 32GB of ram?

Edit:
I don't have much experience with VMs, but would it be possible to visualize a linux distro and host a Killing Floor 2 or Minecraft server from it?

 

[joeschmuck]

Would I expect the same performance using FreeNAS?

All things considered equal, I would expect you to have similar results. Equal means the same or similar applications running. You can't expect to run six applications that may be taking up a lot of the CPU and then hit Plex up for streaming three 720p movies.

1) Absolutely. You can trust me on this. You will likely need to make one change and that is your NIC configuration, but that is all.

2) I answered that further on the previous thread. Bandwidth (your LAN) would be the limiting factor at this point in time. The other people who wanted to do video editing were actually editing 4K or 8K video content in a professional environment and it was multiple users, not a single one. So if you are the only one doing the editing and you don't need the ultra higfh speed throughput of a better LAN, then a standard FreeNAS setup would be fine.

3) These do not go hand in hand. If you are fine with 16GB initially then you should be fine with 16GB always. The reason you would increase your RAM is if you find out you are using the SWAP partition a lot which could slow down your system. This would generally be casued by running too many applications.

There are some people who do host a Minecraft server on FreeNAS. I don't have details but try a Google search for "freenas minecraft" and see what you come up with. And if this is what you think you will do, pay attention to the hardware these people use. You may need a faster CPU and more RAM.

 

[Rocco Speranza]

Hey, just wanted to thank you again! Got side tracked for a few days, just ordered some drives yesterday!

 

[joeschmuck]

If you have any questions, of course try to do some research yourself but if that doesn't work, just post your question and someone will likely answer it.