Building my first FreeNAS system, build advice

[Chris Moore]

@Kiskaa , you appear to have made a post that is nolonger on the message board, but I got it in my email:

Code:

ok, i feel a bit stupid, I now have them showing all 4 drives, I had to put the drives in columns, not rows....
So, can you confirm if this is correct please.
[1][4][7][10]
[2][5][8][11]
[3][6][9][12]

1-8 Being Card 1 (my 8x6tb array), 9-12 being card 2 (my 4x2tb array)
I`m still however, having the 2.2tb issue
https://i.imgur.com/l1UP3kX.png

Did you discover the reason for the 6TB drives only showing up as 2.2TB drives?

 

[Inxsible]

It's probably a conversation with you @Chris Moore.

The OP pinged me too regarding the issue.

 

[Kiskaa]

@Kiskaa , you appear to have made a post that is nolonger on the message board, but I got it in my email:

Code:

ok, i feel a bit stupid, I now have them showing all 4 drives, I had to put the drives in columns, not rows....
So, can you confirm if this is correct please.
[1][4][7][10]
[2][5][8][11]
[3][6][9][12]

1-8 Being Card 1 (my 8x6tb array), 9-12 being card 2 (my 4x2tb array)
I`m still however, having the 2.2tb issue
https://i.imgur.com/l1UP3kX.png

Did you discover the reason for the 6TB drives only showing up as 2.2TB drives?

Sorry I tried to remove it quickly, I meant it as a convo to someone else, but posted in here by mistake, sorry for that. I`m investigating the issue at the moment regarding the drives only showing up as 2.2tb.
From some looking at other threads on here, and some google results, its either a bios firmware issue, which I hope not, as I have the last available bios available, a raid card issue (which is potentially it, or the SAS thingy, which im trying to see if its SAS1 or SAS2 atm.

The raid cards in this at the moment are
2x LSI MegaRAID SAS3081E-R (which are only 3gb/s cards. These came with the server, which I missunderstood what someone was saying in a previous post before ordering it to stick with these cards. Im actually looking at purchasing the following
2x https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LSI00301...235853&hash=item2ccbdb72dd:g:9PkAAOSwCJxaM-Uw
Which appear to be FreeNas compatible (It was from a build I saw in one of your signature posts actually) and is 6gb/s

 

[Kiskaa]

@Chris Moore
Regarding the Fans, once I had a play around with the Fan controller after I got IPMI working, it's not an issue anymore, I have them on the optimal setting, for some reason they were set on the High Load settings, so we're spinning at 100% on every fan. Now its fine, I do plan on putting on some whisper quiet Nocturna fans on it, and doing some heat tests to further reduce the noise, but as it stands at the moment, under normal loads, when in my server room, its inaudible

 

[Chris Moore]

Just a quick question, that server arrived today,

What server did you end up getting?
If you give good details about exactly what hardware you are using and how it is connected, I am sure someone on the forum can answer the question. The capacity limitation you are seeing is typical of a controller that is incapable of utilizing larger drives.

 

[Kiskaa]

@Chris Moore
This is the server I ended up getting as recommended to me at the start of this thread. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supermic...mvSB=true&clk_rvr_id=1542732697143&rmvSB=true

Supermicro SuperChassis CSE-826 2 Eight-Core XEON E5-2660 96GB 12 x 3.5" Rack Server
Chassis Part number: SuperChassis CSE-826E16
Motherboard Part number: X9DRi-LN4F+

The Raid Controller is 2x LSI MegaRAID SAS3081E-R, I`m trying to see what Backplane is on it at the moment, but struggling to see any info which says if its SAS1 or SAS2
This is what the system is saying about the Bios and Firmware Versions. https://i.imgur.com/PntRLgX.png

Regarding the 2.2tb issue, this is what it looks like in FreeNas https://imgur.com/l1UP3kX

 

[Inxsible]

Your ebay listing doesn't detail the backplane model number unfortunately. Have you opened up your case? The backplane model number shouldn't be that hard to look at.

I think it's your SAS controller or your backplane or both which cannot see drive sizes above 2 TB.

 

[Inxsible]

Yup... as I suspected...

Your HDD controller is definitely not recognizing drives over 2TB. See another forum thread here.

 

[Inxsible]

You might want to look for these HBAs on Ebay UK to see if you find them for a similar price

Dell H310 - already flashed to IT mode $56.55

Dell H310 - $29.99 you will need to flash this yourself, but you save more than $26.

 

[Kiskaa]

Your ebay listing doesn't detail the backplane model number unfortunately. Have you opened up your case? The backplane model number shouldn't be that hard to look at.

I think it's your SAS controller or your backplane or both which cannot see drive sizes above 2 TB.

There is just literally nothing on the backplane what so ever other than a serial number, I`ve got the server in pieces atm. The serial number isn't yielding any results from searches from SuperMicro site, however.

And regarding the Raid Controller, I was leaning towards that being the issue based on what other threads and info from Google I found, so that doesn't surprise me, to be honest.
I'm going to most likely buy the following, as stated previously. 2x LSI00301 LSI SAS 9207-8i PCI-E SATA/SAS 6Gb/s PCI-E Host Bus Adapter Network OEM
I was looking at someones FreeNAS build from a sig post from Chris Moore and that's the Raid card he was using. Can i get confirmation if possible if that will indeed work with drives up to 6tb in size, it looks like it from what google results I found.

 

[Kiskaa]

You might want to look for these HBAs on Ebay UK to see if you find them for a similar price

Dell H310 - already flashed to IT mode $56.55

Dell H310 - $29.99 you will need to flash this yourself, but you save more than $26.

Ah, you replied as I was tying out a response. I`ll look into those. Thanks

 

[Inxsible]

Ah, you replied as I was tying out a response. I`ll look into those. Thanks

BTW, your LSI 9207-8i should work with larger drives as well. So if you cannot find Dell H310 for a decent price, the one you found can be an option as well.

 

[Kiskaa]

BTW, your LSI 9207-8i should work with larger drives as well. So if you cannot find Dell H310 for a decent price, the one you found can be an option as well.

I managed to find 2 on my UK ebay. They are not IT flashed, but I managed to pick them up for £39 each with 12month warranty. I`ll flash them myself, that wont be an issue, i`ve already found the stuff I need, and got everything prepped for when they arrive in 5-10 days (I had to order from a German Seller)

 

[Kiskaa]

Thanks for your help so far guys, much appreciated.

 

[Inxsible]

I managed to find 2 on my UK ebay. They are not IT flashed, but I managed to pick them up for £39 each with 12month warranty. I`ll flash them myself, that won't be an issue, i`ve already found the stuff I need, and got everything prepped for when they arrive in 5-10 days (I had to order from a German Seller)

Good Luck !

Thanks for your help so far guys, much appreciated.

you are welcome

 

[Chris Moore]

I was looking at someones FreeNAS build from a sig post from Chris Moore and that's the Raid card he was using. Can i get confirmation if possible if that will indeed work with drives up to 6tb in size, it looks like it from what google results I found.

I have used 6TB drives with my controller.

 

[Kiskaa]

@Chris Moore
@Inxsible
Hey guys,
Just a quick one, the server I got came with redundant power supplies at 920watt. (I took one out and put in a blanking plate and only use one, this is not a mission-critical server, nor do I have any crucial data on the system that is not backed up elsewhere and will be connected to a UPS so can shut down immediately in the event of a power failure.
I`ve been doing some maths on the system and wondered if you guys would agree with me that this would be a suitable power supply to use instead of the 920w
SuperMicro 740W Switching Power Supply 80 Plus Platinum PWS-741P-1R

I`ll be using (initially) 4x 6tb WD Red Nas Drives (8 eventually) and 4x 2tb WD Nas Drives, along with the included CPU inside (2 x Intel 8-Core XEON E5-2660 2.2GHz Processors)
And 96gb Ram
The WD Red 6TB drives are 5400 rpm drives @ 5 watts
The E5-2660 is rated at 95 W (x2)
The memory isn't something I have data on unfortunately but I do know its DDR3 ECC ram, and looking at another ram in similar systems, they draw very little in the way of wattage.

Based on the wattage of the above items, my maths indicate that a 720w power supply would be more than enough for the system I plan on using. I was just trying to be a little bit more efficient on power consumption and less wasteful on resources. It has nothing to do with cost to myself, so I`m not trying to cheap on the system.

Would you guys agree with this assessment before I go and order one?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chris Moore]

I don't think that you are going to see much difference between the two, but the lower rated supply would be enough for what you described.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[Inxsible]

I`ve been doing some maths on the system and wondered if you guys would agree with me that this would be a suitable power supply to use instead of the 920w
SuperMicro 740W Switching Power Supply 80 Plus Platinum PWS-741P-1R

I don't think that you are going to see much difference between the two, but the lower rated supply would be enough for what you described.

I agree with @Chris Moore here. You won't see that much of a difference. The lower PSU will definitely be sufficient however.

Based on the wattage of the above items, my maths indicate that a 720w power supply would be more than enough for the system I plan on using.

It would.....BUT..

I was just trying to be a little bit more efficient on power consumption and less wasteful on resources. It has nothing to do with cost to myself, so I`m not trying to cheap on the system.

The max rating of the PSU doesn't mean that it will constantly draw that much power from the plug-point. It will continue using the amount of power required to run all your components. With that said, there is definitely something to be said about keeping the power draw in the sweet-spot of the PSU.
As per this link here's the efficiency of the PSU that you have (you might have to filter for 920P-SQ in the "230V Internal" tab)

Code:

Manufacturer					Model #   FormFactor	Wattage	10%	   20%	  50%		 80%	  Rating		Date Certified
Super Micro Computer Inc. PWS-920P-SQ	  1U			 920	87.68%	92.51%	94.27%	 92.98%	 Platinum	   11/14/2009

If you look at any PSU, the best efficiency for that PSU will be at ~50% load. Compare that to the 720W one that you want to buy and see how much more or less efficient it might be. Not all "Platinum Rated" PSUs are the same too.

And I didn't find any platinum rated 720W (there were other 700W and 600W, but not 720W), but I found this Gold Rated one

Code:

Manufacturer					 Model #   FormFactor	Wattage	10%	   20%	  50%		 80%	  Rating		Date Certified
Super Micro Computer Inc. PWS-721P-1R	  1U			 720	  83.10%	88.66%   92.47%	 92.31%	  Gold	   12/19/2008

So this gold rated PSU is worse than the 920W that you have -- given the same load.

 

[IQless]

the server I got came with redundant power supplies at 920watt. (I took one out and put in a blanking plate and only use one

I have been pondering about this for some time. What would be the benefit of running 1 vs 2 power supplies?
I would guess that noise might be a factor here, but does this also give a power consumption benefit?

@Kiskaa, you stated that you did this due to the fact that this was not a mission-critical server. Did you have other reasons to remove one?