BUILD Build Validation for Home Use

[oran0007]

I've been lurking for a while, and I think I've learned quite a bit about what hardware to use, but I've never worked with server equipment and I'm wary to go on assumptions.

First, I'll mention the use case so that I can properly frame my decisions. My nephew and I want to build twin systems and backup to each other's machines. So this will be a build with lots of drives compared to what would normally be needed in a home system. Mine at least, will also serve as a media server to stream to one or two devices at a time.

My plan:

FreeNAS version: not sure yet (see MB below)
Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLL-F-O (although this is a board cyberjock specifically recommends, Supermicro does not list any version of FreeNAS as a compatible OS)
CPU: Xeon E3 1220 v3
Memory: 2x Samsung 8 GB DDR3 1600 ECC (listed as tested memory for MB)
Boot disk: 16GB USB thumb drive (currently looking at Sandisk)
HBA: M1015
Backplane: SAS-826EL1
Drives:
Pool 1: 4x 2 TB drives in RAIDZ2(I read an article comparing Seagate NAS drives to WD Red and I'm leaning toward Seagate, but am definitely swayable on this point)
Pool 2: Match my nephew's Pool 1 as this will be his off-site backup
Pool 3: 1x 6 TB WD Blue to use as storage for Plex (~200 DVD's, ~50 Blu-Rays, and room to grow)

You may have noticed that I didn't include a chassis or power supply. These are where I have some questions.

Chassis:
I would like to build a custom case out of wood, mostly because I haven't liked the availability of inexpensive cases with hot-swappable drives. My first question is how important would hot-swappable drives be in this build. If not important, I could put this in any case with the requisite space, but then I would also need to rethink my controller / HBA situation. If it is important, how difficult might it be to use trays that ship with the Supermicro chassis' that use the backplane I've listed? Should I instead use the preconfigured bays (let's say two 4-drive bays, and one 1-drive bay), and if so, would I then need another HBA?

PSU:
Part of what originally made me consider building a box, was the lack of redundant power in cheap chassis'. How important is redundant power in this build? If I read cyberjock's and jgreco's various discussions properly, I should have quite a bit of power available for these 9 drives. So I'm thinking 800+, but the redundant PSU's of this capacity seem to be quite expensive (like a third of the rest of the build cost including drives, or nearly the same as the rest of the parts). How crucial is redundancy? In cyberjock's recommended build guide, it is recommended to not skimp on the PSU, but I see no mention as to whether this means get a redundant solution. Also note, I will be getting a UPS, but I know that this has nothing to do with redundancy. Should a high quality ATX PSU work for 5 years? If it does fail, how likely is it that my pools are garbage?

Lastly, I feel like the CPU and MB are overkill, but I had a hard time finding recommended hardware that would support the number of drives I need, as many of the boards only have one expansion slot and provide no room for needing another HBA (if I do happen to need another). Am I correct? Am I working under improper understanding of the drive control?

A note about budget:
I would probably spend up to ~$2500 US if necessary as I really want to do it, but my nephew is comparing this to cloud storage solutions, so probably more realistically around $1500 would be the max assuming a 5 year life.

Thanks,

oran0007

 

[m0nkey_]

I would like to build a custom case out of wood, mostly because I haven't liked the availability of inexpensive cases with hot-swappable drives.

Sounds like this is going to be a home use machine, so you don't need hot-swap. When you eventually need to replace a drive, just shut down for a few minutes. Get a case that can take as many drive bays as you need (or more should you wish to expand later).

art of what originally made me consider building a box, was the lack of redundant power in cheap chassis'. How important is redundant power in this build?

Again, this is a home build. Get a good PSU. Don't get an el cheapo $50 PSU, spend decent money. My Seasonic PSU cost $150 and it's been in service 24x7 for over two years. Attaching it to a UPS will help with brown outs (which will seriously screw electronics), over volt and power surges/outages.

Lastly, I feel like the CPU and MB are overkill

Why not get an Pentium G or i3 instead? The Intel Pentium G & i3 series supports ECC and will provide you with more than enough horsepower for a couple of Plex transcode streams.

 

[Nick2253]

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLL-F-O (although this is a board cyberjock specifically recommends, Supermicro does not list any version of FreeNAS as a compatible OS)

You want to look for FreeBSD compatibility, not FreeNAS, since FreeNAS is just an appliance built on top of FreeBSD. However, I would say that more often than not there is no "official" compatibility, largely because SuperMicro hasn't bothered to test the mobo with FreeBSD, not because it's not compatible. If people around here (especially cyberjock) are using the board and saying it's compatible, you shouldn't have any problems.

Pool 1: 4x 2 TB drives in RAIDZ2(I read an article comparing Seagate NAS drives to WD Red and I'm leaning toward Seagate, but am definitely swayable on this point)
Pool 2: Match my nephew's Pool 1 as this will be his off-site backup
Pool 3: 1x 6 TB WD Blue to use as storage for Plex (~200 DVD's, ~50 Blu-Rays, and room to grow)

I recently priced drives, and 4TB NAS drives came in at about the best price per GB. You might be better off using 4TB drives for your setup, especially considering the cost of the rest of your hardware. Additionally, striped mirrors (RAID10 equivalent) might be better for you than RAIDZ2, largely because they are easier to expand (simply add another mirror to the stripe).

A note about budget:
I would probably spend up to ~$2500 US if necessary as I really want to do it, but my nephew is comparing this to cloud storage solutions, so probably more realistically around $1500 would be the max assuming a 5 year life.

Thanks,

oran0007

When you say $2500, do you mean $2500 for both systems? Since you're thinking about cloud storage, what is the real purpose behind this build? Is your need securing storing and backing up documents, pictures, and the like? If that's the case, FreeNAS may not be appropriate for what you want. Long-term storage like Amazon Glacier is extremely cheap, and if the real need is long-term storage, that's probably going to be the best case. On the other hand, if you're storing lots of data for daily consumption, like movies, programs, media data (aka, graphic art work or video editing work), then FreeNAS makes a lot of sense.

 

[oran0007]

If people around here (especially cyberjock) are using the board and saying it's compatible, you shouldn't have any problems.

I really only mentioned it to say that I wasn't sure which version I would run. On a side note, I forget which boards, but I have seen FreeNAS on the compatible list. I had assumed that if FreeBSD works, there should be at least one version of FreeNAS that would also work.

When you say $2500, do you mean $2500 for both systems?

Good point. I meant per machine.

Is your need securing storing and backing up documents, pictures, and the like? If that's the case, FreeNAS may not be appropriate for what you want. Long-term storage like Amazon Glacier is extremely cheap, and if the real need is long-term storage, that's probably going to be the best case. On the other hand, if you're storing lots of data for daily consumption, like movies, programs, media data (aka, graphic art work or video editing work), then FreeNAS makes a lot of sense.

So mostly, it would be as you describe, back up of stuff of varying import. Old school projects, whatever. Photos, my wife might kill me if they're lost. Eventually, as in sometime in the next year hopefully, I will also need to be backing up source code and business documents that will likely be changed fairly often. For me, the experience of building the system and getting it all running is worth a good portion of the money, and I have an overproducing solar system, so running a server doesn't scare me. For my nephew, neither of these things are true. He may well not want to run a server as it will cost him quite a bit in power. Now, you are correct about the price. I hadn't thought about that particular service, so if his needs are more archival than mine, he would have to average ~3 TB over 5 years to exceed just the cost of the hardware. I find that unlikely. So, I may find that he does not want to move forward.

I may still build a box in that case, but then I would have to use some other means to achieve off-site backup. Maybe a couple of larger drives to switch back and forth, keeping one at work or something, although that isn't the same as having it halfway accross the country.

You might be better off using 4TB drives for your setup, especially considering the cost of the rest of your hardware.

I did also consider the 4 TB drives, but to get the two drive protection that RAIDZ2 provides, I would have to build an 8 TB pool rather than 4 TB. That seems well outside of what I would need for the foreseeable future. My estimates were around 2 TB plus extra room to provide growth potential and the free-space buffer that is suggested. So buying 32 TB instead of 16 seems like a waste of money (that's 4 drives for my pool 1 and 4 drives for his pool 2).

Additionally, striped mirrors (RAID10 equivalent) might be better for you than RAIDZ2, largely because they are easier to expand (simply add another mirror to the stripe).

Would you still suggest this if I don't have the other machine available for syncing? It only gurantees protection against a single drive failure right? Two if they are from different mirrors, and if a whole mirror fails, I lose the array?

 

[oran0007]

Again, this is a home build. Get a good PSU. Don't get an el cheapo $50 PSU, spend decent money. My Seasonic PSU cost $150 and it's been in service 24x7 for over two years. Attaching it to a UPS will help with brown outs (which will seriously screw electronics), over volt and power surges/outages.

So a single ATX type PSU?

Why not get an Pentium G or i3 instead?

I'll look into it.

 

[Ericloewe]

Attaching it to a UPS will help with brown outs (which will seriously screw electronics)

One of the advantages of 230V is that brownouts often end up in the 120V range. The Corsair AX850 (first-gen Seasonic X-Series) in my workstation once held up without an issue through a brownout, while I was playing Crysis. I literally only noticed when I tried to turn on some lights and they didn't turn on. :D