20TB First Timer Build

[Johnny5]

Background:
As someone that works in the tech industry, my home hardware is completely out of date. Our home "server/htpc" is running on hardware whose newest component is over 5 years old. It runs Kodi, serves files via Samba, runs rTorrent/CouchPotato/SickBeard, along with a few useful one-off scripts. It has ~ 2TB of storage space, which means I regularly have to go through and delete media. There is no redundancy, no backups, nothing. If it gets turned off, I say a quick prayer before turning it back on, and try my best to ignore the warnings Debian spews at boot. It's time to stop the madness.

Build Reasoning:
My wife and I bought a house last year, and now that our funds have replenished a bit, it's time to upgrade some of our broke-college-student-budget hardware. First up is a NAS, so we can kill off the ticking time bomb that is our current "server". Ideally, I want a single FreeNAS box that can do a few things:

• Run FreeNAS w/ 16TB+
• Serve files for our (currently) 3 computers, including 2 devices at once using Kodi
• Run a torrent client, CouchPotato, and SickBeard
• Act as a DNS server for our home network
• Possibly run ZoneMinder or some other software for security cameras - ZM has fairly heavy CPU usage
• Run a database instance for Kodi
• Run nginx and a small (non-public) site
• Possibly run a VM or two for home automation and personal projects

I very much want to make sure my hardware purchase will support everything Freenas 10 has to offer, as I'd love to be able to spin up home automation/personal project services either in Docker containers and/or on Debian VMs - I'm very familiar with Debian/Linux, not so much with FreeBSD.

Hardware:

Code:

Drives:	   7x WD Red 4TB				$980
Motherboard:  SuperMicro X11SSM-F		  $209
Memory:	   2x Micron 16GB 2133 DDR4	 $200
Processor:	Intel Xeon E3-1240 v5		$290
Case:		 Fractal Design Node 804	  $100
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-550			   $60

Total Cost: $1,839

Initially, I was going to go with a more expensive board like the X11SSH-CTF, so I could buy a new case/PSU, more drives, and add another vdev to the pool. I also looked at the X10SRH-CLN4F. The X10 would give me the same ability to add another vdev, as well as a more powerful e5 processor. However, I don't think I'll utilize 20TB of space before it's cheaper just to replace all the drives or build a new system. I also *think* that the E3-1240 v5 will be enough processor for my use case. Scaling back a bit knocked a few hundred off the price, which I'd rather not pay if it's just going to be wasted.

I do plan on splitting up my HDD purchase, buying half WD Reds and half whatever NAS drive is reasonably priced, to avoid all the drives failing around the same time. None of the prices above have been shopped around, it's just a ballpark using NewEgg and Amazon.

Does my build look alright? I'm new to FreeNAS, but have spent quite a few hours going over the various guides, looking at hardware features, etc. Planning on putting all the disks in one raidz2, which should give me 20TB. Will this build fully support all the new virtualization hotness in FreeNAS 10? Do I need a bigger PSU? I know I'll probably have to pick up some extra fans, any recommendations for that case? All my hardware choices are very provisional, I'll gladly take any and all advice. Thanks.

 

[JohnDigital]

Hilarious post.

Background:
As someone that works in the tech industry, my home hardware is completely out of date. Our home "server/htpc" is running on hardware whose newest component is over 5 years old. It runs Kodi, serves files via Samba, runs rTorrent/CouchPotato/SickBeard, along with a few useful one-off scripts. It has ~ 2TB of storage space, which means I regularly have to go through and delete media. There is no redundancy, no backups, nothing. If it gets turned off, I say a quick prayer before turning it back on, and try my best to ignore the warnings Debian spews at boot. It's time to stop the madness.

That is me, to a "T".

Anyways thought I would chime in. What you explain is almost exactly what I am doing with my machine, only I do Usenet as well as torrent. I run a Musicbrainz VM and sometimes others rarely. I still have not gone into running Zoneminder yet, mostly because I dont have IP cameras yet, im still rocking BNC style. It indeed does appear possible tho.

You are right on target for a smoking machine. I cannot further comment on FN 10, I have yet to run it, but am following closely. With all that said, I think you could start with the WD drives as you planned and go with a board and CPU more along like what I am running. (See sig) Its very easy to add drives later via the very awesome LSI 9211 M1015 card. With one to start you could have 14 drives out of the box. Then later you can take the board and old Xeon processor and throw them in the recycle bin for the 60 bucks total you spent on them, and upgrade your main hardware at that point. You will already have the M1015, case, PSU and the most important of it all, the drives. The only bad thing about this scenario is that DDR3 ECC is as or nearly as expensive as DDR4 and getting tougher to find. From experience you would not have any trouble recouping the costs of the DDR3 RAM on the secondary market when upgrade day does come.

My wife and I love this setup. We even have Plex streaming remotely alot of the time as well. The X8SIL is great for entry level FreeNASing, and like I said when it comes time its no issue to throw it in the recycle bin. The main issue with it, is it only has 6 SATA ports. I was just telling a guy on these forums almost this same thing, and im no X8SIL fanboy or anything, it just works, great. HERE is one with CPU and some RAM I just saw on eBay. A whopping 50 bucks. A reworking of your estimate with my revisions.

Code:

Drives:	   7x WD Red 4TB				$980
Motherboard:  Supermicro X8SIL-F		$50
Memory:	   4x Crucial 8GB 1600 DDR3	 $212
Processor:	Intel Xeon x3450 QC		$FREE
Case:		 Fractal Design Node 804	  $100
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-550			   $60
HBA:	   LSI 9211 IBM M1015			 $60-$100

Total Cost: $1496

Anyhow, it saves you 400 bucks off of jump street and is more than capable of doing what you immediately need it to. I am proof of it.

 

[Stux]

Looks like a good build. Would suggest a 1230 instead of 1240.

4% slower, 10% cheaper. Your call ;)

 

[Johnny5]

Hilarious post.


That is me, to a "T".
...

Thanks for the feedback, John. I think I'll stick with the higher upfront cost, just so I don't have to redo things later. I was initially looking at boards with a built in HBA, but decided against it. I don't need the space now, and can't foresee needing it anytime in the next few years.

Looks like a good build. Would suggest a 1230 instead of 1240.

4% slower, 10% cheaper. Your call ;)

Thanks Stux, seems like a good idea. I'm not overly familiar with any Xeon chips (or any processors for that matter, except the ones that were out a few years ago last time I was buying hardware), so I just picked one that fit the mobo, was reasonably priced, and offered decent performance. I'll go with the 1230 instead.

 

[Victor0001]

Wouldn't an i3 6100 be plenty of CPU power for what you want?
I'm in almost the same situation and seriously considering the i3 instead of the E3-1220 v5 and i'm by far an expert on how much is enough, but from what I read the Xeon would be more for an enterprise solution. Perhaps a true expert could shine some light on this?

 

[Jailer]

Wouldn't an i3 6100 be plenty of CPU power for what you want?

He plans on virtualization and plenty of other software running on his filer. I'd stick with the Xeon for the extra cores.

 

[Johnny5]

All the pieces have been ordered, thanks for the help everyone. Will update once I get it all running.