Best Recommendations for FreeNAS with Apple Xserve

[JustinOReilly]

Hello Fellow Members,
My name is Justin and I am somewhat new to FreeNAS

I was wondering if anybody could tell me the best way to go about my storage needs.
I am currently using a drobo and it seems too slow for my liking.

I have a rather big media collection and need some serious storage to keep it up and running, In my media closet i have a 2009 Xserve and what i am curious about is what you fellow members think would be the best implementation of FreeNAS for me to serve up content to my house.

My idea is to build a system (recommendation on parts is needed) that can house about 8 x2TB drives in a some sort of raid(need recommendation on which raid would be best) install a 2 or 4 port gigE card on it and use link aggregation with iScsi and connect it to a similar card in the Xserve which would in theory give me a fast connection from there the media will be streamed out by the xserve

but what i really need help with is which raid would be best for a storage array that will be receiving backups and sending out content

 

[survive]

Hi JustinOReilly,

You should be just fine using raidz2 for an 8 drive server.

A couple of questions:

What are you streaming to? You might want to check and see if any of the default plug-ins (for 8.2) or 8.0.4-MULTIMEDIA will work for you. With any luck you might be able to simplify things and stream directly from FreeNAS. Either way, unless you are streaming a *ton* of data a single gig-e connection should be just fine between the Xserver & the filer.

I can throw together a parts list for an 8 drive system that I would want to use if you like.

-Will

 

[JustinOReilly]

Hi JustinOReilly,

You should be just fine using raidz2 for an 8 drive server.

A couple of questions:

What are you streaming to? You might want to check and see if any of the default plug-ins (for 8.2) or 8.0.4-MULTIMEDIA will work for you. With any luck you might be able to simplify things and stream directly from FreeNAS. Either way, unless you are streaming a *ton* of data a single gig-e connection should be just fine between the Xserver & the filer.

I can throw together a parts list for an 8 drive system that I would want to use if you like.

-Will

Will,
Thanks for the reply.

I use a mixture of Plex and Air Media Server since they have the ability to transcode very high quality movies with the hardware of the XServe.
On average there is usually 2 systems in the house doing backups at a time plus about 2 connections to Plex and a few connections streaming the music archive.

that would be my thinking to have 2 ports bonded together,
and id love your suggestion for a machine I have no idea about mother boards but i know i need a case for many drives a gig-ethernet card at least 6gb of ram if not more.

 

[survive]

Hi JustinOReilly,

Ok, There are 1000's of different ways to answer your "question", but here's an example of the sort of thing you could put together. I should disclose a few things.....I'm a bit of a hardware snob, I don't like most of the 3rd party chipset makers like Marvell or Realtek. Most every part in this list I have in use somewhere in my systems so there is also a bit of bias there, but then there is also some experience. I'll throw in a few notes with my thoughts after each item as appropriate.

You can get Just about everything in the list from Newegg except for the cables.

Case: Fractal Design R3 - Might be the best ~$100 8-drive case you can get. Google around for some reviews. If you get one order a 3rd 120mm (I like Yate Loons) fan & 2 3 pin extension cables, move the "back" fan to the front, but the 3rd fan on the back of the case. Stock fans are very quiet, ideally your 3rd will move a bit more air. A grill is nice for the back fan

PSU: I like Antec, Corsair and SeaSonic. Personally I think Seasonic makes the best PSU's available. You don't need a monster 850 watt beast for this project (I personally run a 500W)....the biggest problem you have is dealing with the ~16amps of startup current when you power on the systems & the drives spin up. Once the system is up you power demands will drop significantly.

Read this: http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?6273-PSU-sizing-for-home-file-server&highlight=psu+sizing <-- 4th post

Motherboard: I'm a huge fan of the SuperMicro socket 1155 boards.. They have a bunch of different models that vary on chipset (Cougar Point 202 or 204) NIC's ( 2 dedicated discrete Intel vs. 1 dedicated, 1 chipset, or 4 discrete Intel ports) and whether they support IPMI (remote console). Here's the SuperMicro model list:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/#1155

Personally I got the X9SCL+-F with 2 discrete Intel NICs & IPMI....cost me $180. If you think about it that's not so bad when you consider you might find that you need a couple of Intel "CT" NICs if the "other guy's" Realteks give you enough trouble.

CPU: I went with an Intel i3 2100.....yes, the baby i3. What's cool about that chip is that it turns into a "baby XEON" if you pair it with one of the above SuperMicro boards. It doesn't have all the specialized features of a proper Xeon, but it does support ECC RAM & it has plenty of grunt & a high clock speed for better CIFS performance. Got mine at MicroCenter where they list for $90.00 right now.

RAM: The SuperMicro boards do require Unbuffered ECC DDR3. 8GB sticks will run you ~$100 each right now or you can score 4 4GB ECC DIMM sticks for about $125. Check the SuperMicro approved memory list for the module part numbers you need & then look then look them up on Google shopping. I personally use 4 4GB Kingston KVR sticks that cost me $130 at the time.

Controller: I really like the IBM M1015 LSI 2008 chipset controller. Google around for "m1015" and you will find sever supply shops that deal in 'New old stock" selling them for around $75.00. ServeTheHome has a great 4 page writeup on the card including how to flash it into being a truly "dumb: HBA card <---this is exactly what ZFS wants. You can do without the M1015 card & use the onboard SATA ports plus a cheap PCI-e 2 port controller but you will wind up with a rat's nest of SATA cables you will need to route up to the drives. Personally I would do the M1015 if for no other reason than the special cables you need make for a very clean install.

Cables & Misc.: Go to "monoprice.com"

and search for SFF-8087 cables....I used the .75M cables and they were just about the perfect length to reach the drives. Also look for 2 "Molex to 4 SATA" power cables. Get a pair of those so you only need to get 2 Molex over to the drives, then you can break the power out to the drives with these.

Drives: Drives are a bit of a pain because everybody has had a drive die on them which makes that brand crap to them. Personally I liked the Samsungs, but since Seagate bought them out they seem to have cut my warranty down to 1 year so no more Sammies for me.

Please ask back if you have any questions,

-Will

 

[paleoN]

Controller: I really like the IBM M1015 LSI 2008 chipset controller. Google around for "m1015" and you will find sever supply shops that deal in 'New old stock" selling them for around $75.00.

ServerSupply is selling it as NEW BULK though they have it at $87.00 right now. I was actually looking at the BR10i on there. I guess I need keep looking at pricing. Plus, I now have to decide between the two! :p

Drives: Drives are a bit of a pain because everybody has had a drive die on them which makes that brand crap to them. Personally I liked the Samsungs, but since Seagate bought them out they seem to have cut my warranty down to 1 year so no more Sammies for me.

IMO, all brands are equally as bad. Seagate warranties, they used to sell barracudas with a 5 year, but now it's down to 2 years.

JustinOReilly do you already have these 8 2TB drives? If not I would recommend 6 3TB drives in raidz2 which gives you the same space, if you need that much, and an optimal zpool configuration to boot.

 

[survive]

HI paleoN,

I actually have a BR10i. It's a generation before the M1015 so it's based on the LSI 1068 chipset which means it's PCI-e 1.0 and can support up to a 2TB drive. The M1015 is LSI 2008 based which means PCI-e 2.0 support and can do 2TB+ drive sizes. I got my BR10i for about $45.00 and a week later the M1015 prices crashed......

Just make sure the card comes with a bracket!

-Will

 

[RichR]

Hi JustinOReilly,

I should disclose a few things.....I'm a bit of a hardware snob,

-Will

I love it... me too

Rich