SOLVED Building a home NAS and 2022 shortages - Hardware advice needed

[Torrone]

My NAS is up and running!
Find the final hardware selection at the end of this post.

Hi everyone!

I'm opening this topic because I want to assemble my first TrueNAS compatible NAS.
First of all, thanks to all the people who wrote the different guides available on this forum and to those who take the time to share their knowledge here.
I have learned a lot from reading here!

I started defining a configuration based on what I've read as a recommendation and today I'd like to get some input and advice from more experienced people. Especially on component sizing and procurement as many of the references recommended here are out of stock or very expensive today..

Intended use:

• Media storage: video, music, photo, accessible via FTP, SMB or other protocol but no live encoding
• Backup: PC and Smartphone, calDAV cardDAV server if possible (via Nextcloud?)
• Cloud Backup: replicate the most sensitive data (not all NAS content) to S3 storage (not at Amazon)
• Torrent: Transmission or qBitorrent
• Some non-permanent experiments: ipfs for ephemeral minecraft server for example

Hardware:
Updated config at the bottom of this post

• Case: Fractal Design Node 304 (mini-ITF) Fractal Design Node 804 or Define R6 or Nanoxia Deep Silence 8 Pro (first choice)
• Motherboard: Supermicro X12STL-IF Supermicro X12STL-F Intel® Xeon E-2300 Processor, Single Socket LGA-1200, Up to 128GB Unbuffered ECC UDIMM, DDR4-3200MHz, in 4 DIMM slots, 6 SATA3 (6Gbps) port(s)
• CPU: Intel Xeon E-2314
• RAM: Micron 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC UDIMM 2Rx8 CL22 MTA18ASF4G72AZ-3G2R
• PSU: SeaSonic CORE GM 500 W 80+ Gold
• BOOT SSD: cheapest M.2-2280 64GB +
• HDDs: 6x6TB RAIDz2 among WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf NAS and Toshiba N300 (Toshiba seems too noisy) (Is it a good idea to take 2 of each brand to avoid serial effects?)

I'm not in a time constrained situation and plan to purchase the components based on any promotions that may come up.

I have several questions:

1/ Lifespan: How long should the NAS be considered for when choosing components? I want something durable, not outdated in 3 years, but 10 years seems unrealistic, how long is reasonable that I can evaluate the amortization of my investment and readjust it if necessary ?

2/ Overall coherence: Do you think that the configuration is balanced and matches the intended uses?

3/ The format: It is difficult to find MB + CPU + RAM in this range with delivery in France currently a good price. I would like to stay in the compact mini-ITX format, I was considering starting with 4 disks in RAIDz1 and then moving to 6 RAIDz2 disks later but after my reading here, I think it's better to go directly to 6 disks. So I won't need more than 6 discs in the future.
But I still considered moving to a larger enclosure (Node 804 Micro-ATX) to find an MB + CPU package more easily but I didn't find it cheaper with the Micro-ATX models, so I don't think it's worth the cost right now. Do you think there is easier to find / cheaper as a set currently? Is there a trend for the coming months?

4/ The OS: Do you think TrueNAS Core is the most suitable for my use or should I prefer SCALE edition (more flexibility with Docker)?

Thanks for your help!

Edit 22/11: update hardware

Edit 28/11 & 04:01: Updated config

• Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 8 Pro
• Motherboard: Supermicro X12STL-F Intel® Xeon E-2300 Processor, Single Socket LGA-1200, Up to 128GB Unbuffered ECC UDIMM, DDR4-3200MHz, in 4 DIMM slots, 6 SATA3 (6Gbps) port(s)
• CPU: Intel Xeon E-2314
• CPU cooler: Arctic Freezer i13 X CO
• Case cooler: 3 x Arctic P14 PWM PST CO
• RAM: 1x Micron 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC UDIMM 2Rx8 CL22 MTA18ASF4G72AZ-3G2R
• PSU: SeaSonic CORE GX 550 W 80+ Gold
• BOOT SSD: PNY CS1030 M.2 250GB NVMe SSD
• Docker SSD: WD Blue SN570 500GB M.2 2280 NVMe
• M.2 to PCIe: Sabrent NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe X16/X8/X4 Card
• HDDs: 6x6TB RAIDz2 Seagate IronWolf

 

[Davvo]

It shows you did your research, your choices are very solid.

About hardware selection: do note that Supermicro X12STL-IF motherboard (mobo) requires mini-sas HD for I-SATA ports 0-3, as shown in page 16 of the manual.
Personally, since the mobo only has 2 slots (and supports up to 64GB) I would start with a single bank of 32GB.
HDDs... I prefer to have them all from the same line (Red Plus, Ironwolf, etc): it helps with smart data understanding and you are sure the performance is the same; to mitigate batch issues you can buy from different vendors or (riskier) at different times.

Lifespan mostly depends on you buying used or new and your needs. Having no choice but to radically change the hardware when your needs change/increase is the disadvantage of building a smaller system such as this. Biggest threat here should be RAM limit and phisical space limitations inside the case for more hard drives. Generally, a server-grade motherboard can last 7-10 years if new, shorter if used.
HDDs are the first thing that's usually gonna die, especially in such compact systems where temperatures can be an issue; piece of advice: go with lower RPMs if you can.

About the configuration, as I said it's solid. Maybe it lacks only a pair of SSDs in mirror for VMs and applications/dockers (spoiler, you probably want to go SCALE. More about this later).

I can feel your pain in finding this kind of specialized hardware for reasonable prices in Europe, especially compared to the US. You can really see the difference on the used market imho, but all in all you have to pay for small sizes.
You did a good thing going for full drives and RAIDZ2 at the start, it saves you quite a bit of a hassle. Well, you also chose ECC so I'm not surprised.
Going for a bigger size can help you with the future upgrade I briefly touched earlier, and it could probably help with the temperatures a bit as well.
Black Friday is arriving soon, maybe you can save something from the case and the drives, but I don't think it will lower motherboards prices: cons of server-grade hardware.

The OS choice is tough. As a CORE user I love the incredible user support it has built in over the years (scripts, guides), but it's true that some things are easier done on SCALE, especially if you don't already know how to do them in CORE. The fear of iX discontinuing CORE it's there, but for now it's not something relatively near: it shouldn't happen on CORE 14 or 15, and you can always migrate (your pools) to SCALE to a later date.
On the other side we have a newer system, wich means less user knowledge and resources, as well as more bugs. It is unquestionable that iX is putting a lot of effort in it, and the features it has (and promises to have) are good. Some are better than in CORE, apparently.

Your case is really on the edge because you don't need SCALE, but might prefer it in the future (especially if you start using VMs).

 

[Torrone]

Thank you for your answers @Davvo !

About hardware selection: do note that Supermicro X12STL-IF motherboard (mobo) requires mini-sas HD for I-SATA ports 0-3, as shown in page 16 of the manual.

I didn't see that! It's one more reason to consider microATX size the X12STL-F model. With 4 RAM slot, more space for cooling and upgrade in the case, maybe a better choice.

Black Friday is arriving soon, maybe you can save something from the case and the drives, but I don't think it will lower motherboards prices: cons of server-grade hardware.

Yes, I have hope for HDDs and maybe CPU but I don't expect something for the MB.

Your case is really on the edge because you don't need SCALE, but might prefer it in the future (especially if you start using VMs).

OK, I need to go deeper into the question.

 

[Torrone]

I finally bought the Supermicro X12STL-F model (microATX) before it was sold out in Europe (most of the vendors are out of stock in the EU).
So I will certainly take the Node 804 box.

I forgot to ask about the cooling in my first post.

• What silent system can I use on a Supermicro card? Noctua models are all marked as incompatible on their site for example.
• For the case itself, are the three fans included in the Node 804 enough to cool the whole thing?

Also, in the motherboard manual, it's written:

The motherboard will support odd-numbered modules (one or three modules installed). However, to achieve the best memory performance, a balanced memory population is recommended.

If i use only one 32GB RAM stick at start (probably Micron 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC UDIMM 2Rx8 CL22 MTA18ASF4G72AZ-3G2R) and upgrade later, will this cause a performance problem for my use cases?

 

[joeschmuck]

1/ Lifespan: How long should the NAS be considered for when choosing components? I want something durable, not outdated in 3 years, but 10 years seems unrealistic, how long is reasonable that I can evaluate the amortization of my investment and readjust it if necessary ?

Buy quality components and the only items you should be replacing are the Hard Drives every ~5 years (warranty periods vary between 3 and 5 years), case cooling fans maybe every 3 to 5 years, cpu fan is still a fan so 3 to 5 years too. The rest should last long enough that you will want to replace it just to have a more economical unit, not because it will fail.

If i use only one 32GB RAM stick at start (probably Micron 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC UDIMM 2Rx8 CL22 MTA18ASF4G72AZ-3G2R) and upgrade later, will this cause a performance problem for my use cases?

That depends on the motherboard. Some motherboards require a pair of RAM modules. Read the User Guide for this motherboard, if it allows a single module then you should be fine. A single module operation will not affect the TrueNAS operation at all. RAM is very fast, hard drives are very slow in contrast.

For the case itself, are the three fans included in the Node 804 enough to cool the whole thing?

Yes, but try to use 5400 RPM drives, not 7200 RPM drives in order to keep the drives cooler. And mount the drives in the airstream as best as possible.

I think your questions have been answered by @Davvo

My only real two cents is to make sure you do proper burn-in testing and ensure your system is stable before installing TrueNAS on it. This will save you a lot of grief if things are not stable. And ensure you have good airflow to cool the components properly.

 

[jgreco]

What silent system can I use on a Supermicro card? Noctua models are all marked as incompatible on their site for example.

Noctua is mostly gamer-grade junk that will give out in a few years. Your NAS is an investment that might be around a decade or longer. The Supermicro solution recommended for your board may not be silent but it is probably not very noisy. Try SNK-P0051AP4 (the recommended part) if you want something likely to last the lifetime of your system rather than just three or four years.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Noctua is mostly gamer-grade junk that will give out in a few years.

My NH-D14, which I purchased with an i5-2500K in 2011, takes umbrage with that statement.

 

[Ericloewe]

What silent system can I use on a Supermicro card? Noctua models are all marked as incompatible on their site for example.

I emailed them about it once and they ignored it. It's really about the BMC's fan control, which you can easily configure using this resource (shameless plug alert).

Noctua is mostly gamer-grade junk that will give out in a few years.

My NH-D14, which I purchased with an i5-2500K in 2011, takes umbrage with that statement.

Yeah, Noctua's pretty decent within their niche. Just don't expect server screamer performance - Delta, Sanyo Denki and Nidec don't make screamers out of laziness. Quality is probably a wash, overall among these.

 

[Ericloewe]

1/ Lifespan: How long should the NAS be considered for when choosing components? I want something durable, not outdated in 3 years, but 10 years seems unrealistic, how long is reasonable that I can evaluate the amortization of my investment and readjust it if necessary ?

Well, my backup server is at 8 years old and I see no reason for it not to make it to 10 - just yesterday I bought a very similar board+CPU+DRAM for cheap. The primary's not far behind. Same for my workstation. 10 years is far from crazy, if you're buying new or new-ish.

 

[joeschmuck]

My desktop computer is 12 years of age and it works great. It's slow by comparison to newer systems but it's no slouch. I am replacing it with a faster and smaller system (parts delayed until tomorrow) but I'm only replacing it because I can. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the old system. It doesn't have ECC RAM so not going to be a NAS. I hope to find a library or school I can donate it to. I will configure it with a clean install of Windows 11 Pro if I can't install and activate it on my new computer, otherwise Linux Mint Cinnamon will be on it. I have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to go with it as well. I think this system will last another 5 years.

 

[Davvo]

This might help you.

[Official] CPU Heatsink Recommendations

Air Cooling Notes Generally speaking, Arctic makes a product that works for every solution. They are affordable, high performance, quiet, and well built. LGA115X = LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1200 LGA115X (hole/backplate) Consumer motherboards usually have pass through holes. Xeons...

forums.serverbuilds.net

In my system I use the SST-NT09-115X.

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01AWFVDWQ

 

[Torrone]

Try SNK-P0051AP4 (the recommended part) if you want something likely to last the lifetime of your system rather than just three or four years.

This model is for Socket LGA1155/1150/1151 according to the spec, not for LGA1200, is it a problem ? Where do you find recommended part?

I emailed them about it once and they ignored it. It's really about the BMC's fan control,

Is it only about fan control? On their website, they warn about mechanical problem with the mount system: https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards/model/Supermicro-X12STL-F-5292

Edit: I think some models can be used with this mounting kit https://noctua.at/en/nm-i115x-mounting-kit

This might help you.

Great! Thank you!

That depends on the motherboard. Some motherboards require a pair of RAM modules. Read the User Guide for this motherboard, if it allows a single module then you should be fine. A single module operation will not affect the TrueNAS operation at all. RAM is very fast, hard drives are very slow in contrast.

Yes, the quote on my post is from the User Guide, and a single module is allowed. I just wanted to know if the performance loss compared to 2 x 16GB would be a problem in my use case.

 

[joeschmuck]

I just wanted to know if the performance loss compared to 2 x 16GB would be a problem in my use case.

Nope. The motherboard will not be in Interleave mode (splitting the RAM task half to each of two modules) which is fine. You would not perceive the memory speed effectively slowing down.

 

[Whattteva]

1/ Lifespan: How long should the NAS be considered for when choosing components? I want something durable, not outdated in 3 years, but 10 years seems unrealistic, how long is reasonable that I can evaluate the amortization of my investment and readjust it if necessary ?

NAS machines don't really require all that much unless you're multi-tasking it for other things like Plex. I'm still running an i3-4160 from 2014 and I even run a couple of VM's on it (one running Jellyfin, but no transcoding) and it's still chugging along. Also, in that timespan, I've only had to replace 1 HDD that failed and I doubled the RAM from 16 to 32 GB, but everything else is still original components. I should note that my NAS doesn't really get a lot of heavy use. It's just a backup for all my data over the years and I'm not much of a pack rat that 8 TB usable space is enough for everything up to now.

3/ The format: It is difficult to find MB + CPU + RAM in this range with delivery in France currently a good price. I would like to stay in the compact mini-ITX format, I was considering starting with 4 disks in RAIDz1 and then moving to 6 RAIDz2 disks later but after my reading here, I think it's better to go directly to 6 disks. So I won't need more than 6 discs in the future.
But I still considered moving to a larger enclosure (Node 804 Micro-ATX) to find an MB + CPU package more easily but I didn't find it cheaper with the Micro-ATX models, so I don't think it's worth the cost right now. Do you think there is easier to find / cheaper as a set currently? Is there a trend for the coming months?

This is just my personal preference, but I generally prefer micro-ATX just because the format is a lot more robust and opens up a lot more options, both in terms of motherboards, as well as cases (ie. Node 804).
As far as RAID configuration, I personally started with 4x 3TB RAIDZ1 and it was a risk level that was acceptable to me since resilvering a 3 TB RAIDZ1 at 80% capacity only takes 6 hours and most of the data can be redownloaded if need be.

That being said, if I could redo it, I would definitely go to striped mirrors instead. It offers better performance, much better degraded performance, much faster resilvering time, good redundancy, and much faster and far more flexible upgrade path. It allows me to upgrade 2 disks at once instead of being locked in to the vdev size. I'm currently in the process of ordering new drives as my pool is hitting that 80% capacity threshold and I'm going to finally change the layout to mirrors.

4/ The OS: Do you think TrueNAS Core is the most suitable for my use or should I prefer SCALE edition (more flexibility with Docker)?

This is a personal preference. I daily drive a FreeBSD machine and I prefer it in general over Linux cause I think, as an OS, it's just much more consistent and clean so I prefer CORE. Not to mention that ZFS has been in production use for much much longer on FreeBSD than on Linux. That being said, if you're already comfortable with Linux, there's nothing wrong with going with SCALE.

 

[jgreco]

My NH-D14, which I purchased with an i5-2500K in 2011, takes umbrage with that statement.

Okay, fine, not EVERY Noctua will give out. I shouldn't have implied that, I'm sorry. It's just that the product is DESIGNED to last the lifespan of a gamer's PC, which may only be a year or three. Extra lifespan is always good, but these Noctua experience a higher failure rate past the five year mark than similar industrial fans by the usual suspects. The Noctua are admittedly some of the better fans in the gamer PC world, and are certainly notable for their quietness, but I just have this thing about a fifteen dollar component like a fan failing and cooking your hard drives as a result of that one fan you had going dead.

Among PC grade fans, some of the most reliable you can get in the lower noise market are the Arctic PST CO fans, dual ball bearing and rated for Continuous Operation, with a 6 year warranty.

This model is for Socket LGA1155/1150/1151 according to the spec, not for LGA1200, is it a problem ? Where do you find recommended part?

The usual way, chase it down on the Supermicro site.

X12STL-F | Motherboards | Products | Supermicro

Go to Parts List
Go down to Chassis (Optimized for X12STL-F)
Mid/Mini-Tower
SC731i-404B
(Heatsink1 :SNK-P0051AP4 )

I'm just trusting that's correct though.

 

[Ericloewe]

LGA1200 uses the LGA115x mounting solution, so that's fine. It's LGA1700 that needs new coolers.

On their website, they warn about mechanical problem with the mount system: https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards/model/Supermicro-X12STL-F-5292

Interesting. Worth some caution, but don't treat it as definitive. They're not very good when it comes to detailed testing and may be lifting results from a wildly different model or something along those lines.

 

[Torrone]

Ok, so that must be why supermicro LGA115x heatsinks are recommended for this MB!

Thanks for your help!

 

[joeschmuck]

As for the CPU Heatsink, I'd buy a Genuine Intel stock cooler. These can be had for $15 USD in the States. I know you are in the EU so your price will be different. This is the cooler I've had on my Xeon since I built the system many years ago and the fan is still working well and the CPU has always been cooled very well. Some people do not like stock coolers and in the beginning I was like that too, because stock coolers were horrible at getting the job done. Well times have changed thankfully. I should buy another cooler when I place my next order at NewEgg, which should be soon.

 

[MrGuvernment]

Just reading through:

• HDDs: 6x6TB RAIDz2 among WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf NAS and Toshiba N300 (Is it a good idea to take 2 of each brand to avoid serial effects?)

Various Seagate (Exos/ironwolf) and WD larger drives now changed the screw mount layout, so the 804 case requires adapters (some have noted) to be able to mount the drives. The Toshiba N300 drives are fine though (i own 2 myself)

6TB HDDs Causing Problems for System Vendors - But Not the Way You Think

Hard drives have blossomed from 4TB to 6TB, which is a great thing for applications…

www.storagereview.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[Torrone]

8 years after the appearance of this format, Fractal Design still hasn't adapted its cases?
At this price, it's a bit too much. I can't even find the adapters on the website...