Build my first NAS

[RCasaca]

Hey guys
I want to build my first NAS system and I would like some help from you :)

1st The system I'm going to build is a RAID 6 system, what is more important, the number of processor cores or a lot of memory?

2nd If I build a NAS system and in the future I want to change the motherboard, do I have to redo everything and reinstall the system to access the files that are already on the disks?

3rd If the disk where I have TrueNAS installed dies, and I install the TrueNAS on a new disk, can I access the files of the previous system created?

Thanks in advance for your patience!

 

[Arwen]

Here are some answers:

1. Their is no RAID-6 in TrueNAS. ZFS has something similar called RAID-Z2, but it has some differences. As for more cores versus more memory, depends on the use case. If you describe your use case, we may be able to better advise you.

2. No, you don't have to rebuild it all. You will likely have to re-configure the network interface from the console.

3. You will want to save the TrueNAS configuration on either a regular basis. Or after each change. Then, if the TrueNAS boot disk dies, you can simply re-install TrueNAS on to a new boot disk and restore the configuration. All the data never was touched and would still be available.


It is highly recommended that you read up a bit on TrueNAS & ZFS. Their are gotchas, like whence a RAID-Z2 is built, you can't just add a disk to grow it.

You CAN grow a ZFS pool by either replacing each disk in the RAID-Z2 one at a time with larger disks. Then, when all the disks are replaced, the ZFS pool will grow by that amount added. Or you can add another RAID-Z2 vDev with additional disks.

Their are lots of little details that are designed to make a TrueNAS server reliable and stable. Like SMART testing, ZFS scrubs, ZFS replication, (for backups), E-Mail alerts and UPS monitoring. If you don't setup them, you reduce your reliability and stability.

 

[Davvo]

Please read the following resources

Introduction to ZFS

This is a short introduction to ZFS. It is really only intended to convey the bare minimum knowledge needed to start diving into ZFS and is in no way meant to cut Michael W. Lucas' and Allan Jude's book income. It is a bit of a spiritual...

www.truenas.com

Hardware Recommendations Guide

This is the latest edition of the FreeNAS Community hardware recommendations guide. The current major version is R2, dated January 2021, with the last minor update on 2021-01-24. The format has moved away from the forum post form factor, to...

www.truenas.com

In my signature you can find links to other resources.
Generally more RAM is better than higher core count.

 

[RCasaca]

Here are some answers:

1. Their is no RAID-6 in TrueNAS. ZFS has something similar called RAID-Z2, but it has some differences. As for more cores versus more memory, depends on the use case. If you describe your use case, we may be able to better advise you.

2. No, you don't have to rebuild it all. You will likely have to re-configure the network interface from the console.

3. You will want to save the TrueNAS configuration on either a regular basis. Or after each change. Then, if the TrueNAS boot disk dies, you can simply re-install TrueNAS on to a new boot disk and restore the configuration. All the data never was touched and would still be available.


It is highly recommended that you read up a bit on TrueNAS & ZFS. Their are gotchas, like whence a RAID-Z2 is built, you can't just add a disk to grow it.

You CAN grow a ZFS pool by either replacing each disk in the RAID-Z2 one at a time with larger disks. Then, when all the disks are replaced, the ZFS pool will grow by that amount added. Or you can add another RAID-Z2 vDev with additional disks.

Their are lots of little details that are designed to make a TrueNAS server reliable and stable. Like SMART testing, ZFS scrubs, ZFS replication, (for backups), E-Mail alerts and UPS monitoring. If you don't setup them, you reduce your reliability and stability.

Thank you for your responce, I will read more before I build my NAS :)

 

[RCasaca]

Please read the following resources

Introduction to ZFS

This is a short introduction to ZFS. It is really only intended to convey the bare minimum knowledge needed to start diving into ZFS and is in no way meant to cut Michael W. Lucas' and Allan Jude's book income. It is a bit of a spiritual...

www.truenas.com

Hardware Recommendations Guide

This is the latest edition of the FreeNAS Community hardware recommendations guide. The current major version is R2, dated January 2021, with the last minor update on 2021-01-24. The format has moved away from the forum post form factor, to...

www.truenas.com

In my signature you can find links to other resources.
Generally more RAM is better than higher core count.

Thank you for your responce, I will read more before I build my NAS :)

 

[Davvo]

That's the optimal path.