Budget home made build

[XshulderX]

Hi I'm new here and I'm looking forward to build my first NAS Build.

I'm planning on a 2 X 4 TB WD reds in raid 1 and a 128 gb SSD.

The build is for a home server to store my movies and RAW pictures.

I want to access it on the go 24/7.

I was thinking of using a used parts.

Cpu: Xeon E5 - what model should I get
Motherboard - what should I get?
RAM - how many?

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Hi @XshulderX, welcome to the forums.

FreeNAS makes use of ZFS as the filesystem. It is slightly different than typical RAID storage solutions and therefore the terminology is different. Perhaps a bit of a nit, but using the correct terminology helps communicate understanding to others and prevents confusion. For example, neither FreeNAS nor ZFS has anything called raid 1. Instead, ZFS makes use of different types of vdevs to build pools from; a pool is where you store your data. One type of vdev is a mirror vdev where every disk in the vdev is a mirror of the others; this is more similar to the traditional raid 1. You may want to check out the Terminology Primer.

I was thinking of using a used parts.

I think this is a great idea; you can go with a server board and ECC memory for reasonable prices.

Cpu: Xeon E5 - what model should I get
Motherboard - what should I get?
RAM - how many?

I'm going to be a bit of a pain here and suggest that you do a bit more research rather than have folks tell you from scratch what parts to use. The reason is similar to the above nit about terminology. FreeNAS and ZFS are not like every other filesystem and nas system you may have used and in order to make the most of it it really helps to understand the system a bit. Once you understand the system a bit it will help point you toward the right hardware.

There are some great guides on here for selecting hardware. Some of them are even tailored to purchasing used gear. I am not able to pull up the links right now, unfortunately, but a bit of searching on the forums and in the resources section should bring them up.

I also suggest that you make sure you understand why it is important that redundancy lives at the vdev level. Make sure you understand that pools are where you store data, pools are made of vdevs, vdevs are made of disks, and if you lose a single vdev in a pool you lose the entire pool. Understanding these basic concepts will help inform what kind of setup you're going to want to use.

Sorry if this isn't the exact kind of helpful post you were hoping for. I do hope you find it useful in the long run by pointing you at useful resources to go through as you continue to explore FreeNAS.

edit: Check some of the resources by @Chris Moore, there is a TON of good information there about selecting used hardware.

 

[Chris Moore]

I was thinking of using a used parts.

You will want to adjust the amount of RAM to suit your requirements. I have been using 32GB in my system for several years and it is doing fine for me.
As for part suggestions, you might want to have a look at this list:

Specific build changes to upgrade as high as 512GB of RAM

This is intended as a modification to the list of hardware I put together here: https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/specific-build-components-list-up-to-32gb-ram.109/ Be aware, this is a totally different system board with a totally...

www.ixsystems.com

 

[Chris Moore]

Useful links:

Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC
https://www.ixsystems.com/community...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Overview of ZFS Pools in FreeNAS from the iXsystems blog:
https://www.ixsystems.com/blog/zfs-pools-in-freenas/

 

[XshulderX]

You will want to adjust the amount of RAM to suit your requirements. I have been using 32GB in my system for several years and it is doing fine for me.
As for part suggestions, you might want to have a look at this list:

Specific build changes to upgrade as high as 512GB of RAM

This is intended as a modification to the list of hardware I put together here: https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/specific-build-components-list-up-to-32gb-ram.109/ Be aware, this is a totally different system board with a totally...

www.ixsystems.com

Thank you so much for your reply, it was very helpful... Chris can you explain to me why these systems needs so many Rams, compared to normal PC systems?

 

[XshulderX]

Hi @XshulderX, welcome to the forums.

FreeNAS makes use of ZFS as the filesystem. It is slightly different than typical RAID storage solutions and therefore the terminology is different. Perhaps a bit of a nit, but using the correct terminology helps communicate understanding to others and prevents confusion. For example, neither FreeNAS nor ZFS has anything called raid 1. Instead, ZFS makes use of different types of vdevs to build pools from; a pool is where you store your data. One type of vdev is a mirror vdev where every disk in the vdev is a mirror of the others; this is more similar to the traditional raid 1. You may want to check out the Terminology Primer.


I think this is a great idea; you can go with a server board and ECC memory for reasonable prices.


I'm going to be a bit of a pain here and suggest that you do a bit more research rather than have folks tell you from scratch what parts to use. The reason is similar to the above nit about terminology. FreeNAS and ZFS are not like every other filesystem and nas system you may have used and in order to make the most of it it really helps to understand the system a bit. Once you understand the system a bit it will help point you toward the right hardware.

There are some great guides on here for selecting hardware. Some of them are even tailored to purchasing used gear. I am not able to pull up the links right now, unfortunately, but a bit of searching on the forums and in the resources section should bring them up.

I also suggest that you make sure you understand why it is important that redundancy lives at the vdev level. Make sure you understand that pools are where you store data, pools are made of vdevs, vdevs are made of disks, and if you lose a single vdev in a pool you lose the entire pool. Understanding these basic concepts will help inform what kind of setup you're going to want to use.

Sorry if this isn't the exact kind of helpful post you were hoping for. I do hope you find it useful in the long run by pointing you at useful resources to go through as you continue to explore FreeNAS.

edit: Check some of the resources by @Chris Moore, there is a TON of good information there about selecting used hardware.

Cool I got a lot to learn I see.

 

[Chris Moore]

Thank you so much for your reply, it was very helpful... Chris can you explain to me why these systems needs so many Rams, compared to normal PC systems?

FreeNAS uses ZFS for the file system. ZFS uses the system memory as cache to accelerate performance. A minimum configuration would have 8GB of system RAM, but you may need much more than the minimum to get good performance, depending on what you will be using your NAS for.
I have 32GB or system memory in my system, but the system is able to be upgraded to have much more.

 

[XshulderX]

I just want to stream full HD and 4K tv to a tv, mobile or tablet + storage files on it.

Only gonna stream to 1-2 units at the time.

 

[Chris Moore]

I just want to stream full HD and 4K tv to a tv, mobile or tablet + storage files on it.

Only gonna stream to 1-2 units at the time.

If you are using Plex installed in a FreeNAS jail for that, I know that 32GB of RAM will be enough, because that is what I use.

 

[XshulderX]

If you are using Plex installed in a FreeNAS jail for that, I know that 32GB of RAM will be enough, because that is what I use.

So why do I then see so many nas servers with something like an older Cpu Xeon E5-2403 but 96 gb DDR3 (why not 4) og ram?

 

[Chris Moore]

(why not 4) og ram?

I am not sure about this question, but the simple truth is that some older systems can be picked up used with a full raft of memory already installed.
You can certainly make a FreeNAS build with old hardware, many people have done it sucessfully. The model I suggested is a little old, but new enough that it is more economical to operate than the generation before it.

More memory is often a benifit in FreeNAS as it allows more and larger files to be held memory resident to accelerate performance. I have a system at work configured with 256GB of RAM in an effort to make performance better. It is entirly up to your needs and your budget.

 

[joeinaz]

Hi I'm new here and I'm looking forward to build my first NAS Build.

I'm planning on a 2 X 4 TB WD reds in raid 1 and a 128 gb SSD.

The build is for a home server to store my movies and RAW pictures.

I want to access it on the go 24/7.

I was thinking of using a used parts.

Cpu: Xeon E5 - what model should I get
Motherboard - what should I get?
RAM - how many?

Let me take a slightly different approach and ask two questions:

1. What is your initial budget for this project?
2. How much growth potential would you like in your solution?

 

[Jessep]

3. How important is your data
4. How complete is your backup solution

 

[subhuman]

So why do I then see so many nas servers with something like an older Cpu Xeon E5-2403 but 96 gb DDR3 (why not 4) og ram?

Both the CPU and the chipset need to support the same type of RAM. Used systems several years old usually means DDR3. Older used systems (probably not viable for anything anymore) means DDR2 or DDR.