Hello,
My first build is mounted in a rack across the globe. It's currently offline until I'm able to travel home and see what's going on. Meanwhile, I have accumulated a few years of data that I haven't secured on ZFS/cloud due to poor internet connections. Time to fix that!
Case: U-NAS NSC-810A
Motherboard: SuperMicro X11SSH-CTF
CPU: Intel Xeon e3-1275 v6
RAM: 64gb - 4 x Crucial 16gb DDR4 2400 EUDIMM
Boot Drive: 256gb Samsung PM981 M.2 NVMe
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i + Noctua NF-A9
Case Fans: 2 x Noctua NF-S12A
PSU: SeaSonic SS-350M1U
Storage: 64tb - 8 x 8tb HGST Deskstar NAS
Desktop NIC: ASUS XG-C100C 10gbe
I really wanted to purchase a COTS NAS. I was looking forward to using hardware that could be optimized to the smallest footprint possible with an easy-to-use, attractive UI, but none of them checked all my boxes. Synology has a self-healing filesystem, but the hardware is seriously lacking. The rest sold some decently powerful hardware, but didn't have a filesystem to protect data integrity. As expected, they all had lower performance for the money. So...I decided on another FreeNAS.
I liked the U-NAS case for it's relatively small size and it's minimalist aesthetics. It should go well next to my Corsair 250D PC and will be easier to ship home than a rack-mounted enclosure. The most powerful PSU for this case is currently 350w. Because of this, I looked for a low TDP processor that will have sufficient performance and I will need to stagger the HDD spin-up. Proper cooling was not an issue for this case according to the build threads I've found. I will do some testing and pay close attention to power draw and temperatures. If they go beyond what I'm comfortable with, I guess I'll have to buy a bigger case :)
The M.2 is overkill for a FreeNAS boot drive, but it will be given a new purpose if I decide to use this as an ESXi host. I could use a DOM or 2.5" SSD to boot from, but I'm trying to keep the build as clean and uncluttered as possible. I still have 6 x SATA, 2 x SATA/DOM, 1 x internal USB ports unused if I decide to change things around. The backplane for the storage drives will be connected to the onboard LSI-3008 SAS connectors after it's reflashed to IT mode.
The ASUS 10gbe NIC will be used to connect my NAS directly to my PC.
Pictures soon :)
================================================
Update 05 AUG 2018
I finished putting it together less than a week ago. The case was delayed since it comes from China and I'm at an APO, but they were kind enough to ship it to the USA then forward to my APO. Arrived very well-packaged and in great shape. It's honestly a lot nicer than I expected. It's not on the level of my premium tower cases for ease of accessing everything, however everything was built well using quality materials. This is not a "cheap" case at all!
Building in it was difficult. I had to partially disassemble the case for things like replacing the fans and replacing the SAS cables, however it wasn't "difficult," just a little tedious. Fortunately, you shouldn't need to do it more than once. The M2 slot was designed for the shorter length drives and I used the standard size, so ended up wedging one of the rubber "anti-vibration" pieces from a fan between the cpu cooler and M2 to hold it down. Heh.
I was able to stagger spin-up with the onboard LSI 3008 (flashed to IT). 350w is kind of "small" for an 8-bay NAS, but with staggered spin-up there shouldn't be any problems since the draw will be spread out. 350w Corsair is currently the most powerful PSU you can fit in this case.
I replaced the 12(?)mm fan on the Noctua L9i cooler with the 25mm Noctua fan. Fits just fine. I would probably get better results if I turn my cooler 90* but I'll watch the temps for now. According to Supermicro's temps, it's at 40c, and according to Freenas it's at 31c. The drives, according to freenas, stay at 34-38c depending on load. The wildest thing, to me, was the Intel 2 x 10gbe onboard adapter reporting a temperature of 50c. I might put a heat sink on it if I'm ever in the case and board, but wow!
Any other questions, just let me know ;)
My first build is mounted in a rack across the globe. It's currently offline until I'm able to travel home and see what's going on. Meanwhile, I have accumulated a few years of data that I haven't secured on ZFS/cloud due to poor internet connections. Time to fix that!
Case: U-NAS NSC-810A
Motherboard: SuperMicro X11SSH-CTF
CPU: Intel Xeon e3-1275 v6
RAM: 64gb - 4 x Crucial 16gb DDR4 2400 EUDIMM
Boot Drive: 256gb Samsung PM981 M.2 NVMe
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i + Noctua NF-A9
Case Fans: 2 x Noctua NF-S12A
PSU: SeaSonic SS-350M1U
Storage: 64tb - 8 x 8tb HGST Deskstar NAS
Desktop NIC: ASUS XG-C100C 10gbe
I really wanted to purchase a COTS NAS. I was looking forward to using hardware that could be optimized to the smallest footprint possible with an easy-to-use, attractive UI, but none of them checked all my boxes. Synology has a self-healing filesystem, but the hardware is seriously lacking. The rest sold some decently powerful hardware, but didn't have a filesystem to protect data integrity. As expected, they all had lower performance for the money. So...I decided on another FreeNAS.
I liked the U-NAS case for it's relatively small size and it's minimalist aesthetics. It should go well next to my Corsair 250D PC and will be easier to ship home than a rack-mounted enclosure. The most powerful PSU for this case is currently 350w. Because of this, I looked for a low TDP processor that will have sufficient performance and I will need to stagger the HDD spin-up. Proper cooling was not an issue for this case according to the build threads I've found. I will do some testing and pay close attention to power draw and temperatures. If they go beyond what I'm comfortable with, I guess I'll have to buy a bigger case :)
The M.2 is overkill for a FreeNAS boot drive, but it will be given a new purpose if I decide to use this as an ESXi host. I could use a DOM or 2.5" SSD to boot from, but I'm trying to keep the build as clean and uncluttered as possible. I still have 6 x SATA, 2 x SATA/DOM, 1 x internal USB ports unused if I decide to change things around. The backplane for the storage drives will be connected to the onboard LSI-3008 SAS connectors after it's reflashed to IT mode.
The ASUS 10gbe NIC will be used to connect my NAS directly to my PC.
Pictures soon :)
================================================
Update 05 AUG 2018
I finished putting it together less than a week ago. The case was delayed since it comes from China and I'm at an APO, but they were kind enough to ship it to the USA then forward to my APO. Arrived very well-packaged and in great shape. It's honestly a lot nicer than I expected. It's not on the level of my premium tower cases for ease of accessing everything, however everything was built well using quality materials. This is not a "cheap" case at all!
Building in it was difficult. I had to partially disassemble the case for things like replacing the fans and replacing the SAS cables, however it wasn't "difficult," just a little tedious. Fortunately, you shouldn't need to do it more than once. The M2 slot was designed for the shorter length drives and I used the standard size, so ended up wedging one of the rubber "anti-vibration" pieces from a fan between the cpu cooler and M2 to hold it down. Heh.
I was able to stagger spin-up with the onboard LSI 3008 (flashed to IT). 350w is kind of "small" for an 8-bay NAS, but with staggered spin-up there shouldn't be any problems since the draw will be spread out. 350w Corsair is currently the most powerful PSU you can fit in this case.
I replaced the 12(?)mm fan on the Noctua L9i cooler with the 25mm Noctua fan. Fits just fine. I would probably get better results if I turn my cooler 90* but I'll watch the temps for now. According to Supermicro's temps, it's at 40c, and according to Freenas it's at 31c. The drives, according to freenas, stay at 34-38c depending on load. The wildest thing, to me, was the Intel 2 x 10gbe onboard adapter reporting a temperature of 50c. I might put a heat sink on it if I'm ever in the case and board, but wow!
Any other questions, just let me know ;)
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