Cheap home storage / used hardware

[Tadario]

Hi Everyone,

First of all let me thank everyone that I have the joy of reading their guides, threads or posts - it have been a very interesting reading, which have given me a bit of an insight into FreeNAS.

Current setup: 6 drives in JBOD attached to a atom pc with a raid card, windows OS - running none stop for about 5 years
Main concern about this setup: No room for a failed drives, slow

What I want out of FreeNAS.
Work as a backup device for the household documents, pictures etc
Primary storage of Videos, Music
Capable of doing Plex (stream x2) and other jail application
Expected to setup either a 6 or 8 drive in Raidz2 to begin with, however would like to be able to add move storage capacity over time by either adding vDEVS or creating another pool

After a bit of searching around for hardware and while keeping in mind that I wish to keep it cheap, yet somewhat ready for expansion.

Then I stumbled upon MrRackables on Ebay (sure others have noticed him too)
One of the items that he currently have for sale, that have caught my eyes in terms of getting started with FreeNAS is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4U-Supermic...216?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20fcbd7920

However it have a few items that I am unsure about in general, which I am hoping someone on this forum can answer for me.

Back Plane: BPN-SAS-846TQ
Concern: Is it capable of using SATA2/SATA3 drives at reduced speed (SATA1)
Or will I have to replace it with a SAS2 back plane ?

CPU: Dual XEON QUAD CORE PROCESSOR E5520 2.26GHz
Concern: Will these be power full enough to handle 1-2 Plex clients?

No Raid controller
Will have to invest in the IBM M1015
Concern: Will it be compatible with the Back plane or will I also have to replace that ?

Finally a very general confirmation
If any part of the hardware fails (except for the hard drives), then since it is all software based configuration / managed then I would be able to replace the damaged part or replace the entire setup and then load the configuration files on a new setup to be able to access the data.
After searching around a bit more on the Forum: this post answered this question https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...use-of-new-hardware-need-a-new-install.32850/

I apologize if some of my questions are already answered in a thread somewhere on this forum, I've tried my best to locate as much information prior to asking any questions as I could. Questions may have been answered in a way that I didn't fully understand or I wasn't sure if they applied to what I was trying to accomplice.

Thanks
Tadario

 

[sfcredfox]

Since nobody has replied to you yet, I'll give you what little I can. Don't take anything I say as gospel, I've just been using FreeNAS for a while and trying to keep up on reading this forum.

Then I stumbled upon MrRackables on Ebay (sure others have noticed him too)

I am also planning on getting a very similar item. I have mostly been investigating the mother board since that's what the OS will care about. All the other stuff is just fancy enclosures and power. I'm trying to ensure no one is having major issues with the board/chipset/etc.

Back Plane: BPN-SAS-846TQ
Concern: Is it capable of using SATA2/SATA3 drives at reduced speed (SATA1)
Or will I have to replace it with a SAS2 back plane ?

I can't give you a yes/no on this one. I recently installed the M1015 (IT mode) in an old HP DL380G5 which has a 2.5" 8bay SAS/SATA backplane in it that only supports 3G SAS. It seemed to work fine when I put drives in it, but my drives are old HP 2.5" SAS drives, so they don't perform well anyway. I'm not totally sure about all the backplane options of the supermicro, but I think there are some different ones that are only pass through and some that have expanders built in. Someone else needs to step in on that one.

CPU: Dual XEON QUAD CORE PROCESSOR E5520 2.26GHz
Concern: Will these be power full enough to handle 1-2 Plex clients?

Can't help you on this one. Many other posts about streaming plex, might be able to compare their processors to yours in terms of power.

No Raid controller
Will have to invest in the IBM M1015
Concern: Will it be compatible with the Back plane or will I also have to replace that ?

Same answer as above, but again, I don't really know. I don't see why not.
Side note: I'm sure your meant HBA and not RAID since FN is doing software RAID? A hardware RAID controller (or the M1015 in RAID mode) would be a no go.

I think you're OK on the last question. The only part that matters in my experience is the pools it finds when it scans the drives. I know you can't go backwards on some versions like 9.3 to 9.2x if you upgrade something about the pool, but everything else is not all that important to the OS. Like the other post said, just fix networking and other little settings if needed.

 

[MtK]

...
CPU: Dual XEON QUAD CORE PROCESSOR E5520 2.26GHz
Concern: Will these be power full enough to handle 1-2 Plex clients?
....

Thanks
Tadario

Dual XEON QUAD CORE E5... for 1-2 plex clients?!
What's wrong with a simple (single!!!) Dual Core... Pentium?

 

[pirateghost]

Dual XEON QUAD CORE E5... for 1-2 plex clients?!
What's wrong with a simple (single!!!) Dual Core... Pentium?

The pentiums are crap for transcoding.

 

[MtK]

The pentiums are crap for transcoding.

1. No one mentioned anything about transcoding.
2. Even if, there are probably other single cpu options which would be cheaper/cooler/whatever.
3. I'm still sure 2xE5's are way over overkill...

 

[pirateghost]

1. No one mentioned anything about transcoding.
2. Even if, there are probably other single cpu options which would be cheaper/cooler/whatever.
3. I'm still sure 2xE5's are way over overkill...

They mentioned Plex. Typically when people use Plex they use a combination of local streams (no transcoding) and remote (showing off to their friends).

I don't disagree with there being other options. I answered YOUR question about what's wrong with a Pentium. A Pentium is crap for transcoding Plex streams. This topic has been beaten to death in these forums.

 

[cyberjock]

...
3. I'm still sure 2xE5's are way over overkill...

Do not confuse the E5-XXXX series with the E5XXX series. They are not the same.

 

[maglin]

I'm pretty sure the TQ backplanes are a passthrough style so each drive will need it's own cable. IE. it doesn't support cascading. I would go to SuperMicro's site for that enclosure and backplane and read the manual's on both so you know what you will be getting.

 

[DataKeeper]

Allow me to point you to: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321646195393 .. A number of us here have purchased these. Click HERE for all the Supermicro products from his store. Mine looked pretty much brand new. Has the SAS2-846EL1 backplane so you can connect all the drives using a single or pair of cables.

 

[mattbbpl]

I'm pretty sure the TQ backplanes are a passthrough style so each drive will need it's own cable. IE. it doesn't support cascading. I would go to SuperMicro's site for that enclosure and backplane and read the manual's on both so you know what you will be getting.

OP, if you want to wait a while, I'll be building a system shortly using a similar backplane from a Supermicro system. You can feel free to use me as a guinea pig.

I've been fighting Best Buy in the most ridiculous transaction I've ever encountered, but once that's resolved I'll order the rest of the parts and begin.

 

[sfcredfox]

Mattbbpl, I'll be watching as well, getting ready to do the same thing. Thanks.

Only think I don't like about the product datakeeper mentioned is it's lack of components. For the price, it might be a good deal for the chasis, but I've seen the 2U model with 12 bays for around $200 and it already has MB+PROC+MEM (bare min). Only down side, less bays, and maybe the backplane that's a pass through and not expander.

 

[mattbbpl]

Mattbbpl, I'll be watching as well, getting ready to do the same thing. Thanks.

Only think I don't like about the product datakeeper mentioned is it's lack of components. For the price, it might be a good deal for the chasis, but I've seen the 2U model with 12 bays for around $200 and it already has MB+PROC+MEM (bare min). Only down side, less bays, and maybe the backplane that's a pass through and not expander.

Yeah, I actually ordered just a similar chassis. If I'd ordered something like that system, I'd be inclined to gut it just due to gain the power efficiency of the newer components.

If anyone else wants to follow my build, I might as well make a case study out of my build thread. I'll post relevant updates here.

 

[DataKeeper]

Just remember those older boards and CPUs, while still good, do suck power and generate much more heat even at lower loads. I'll take the chassis and a more modern board/cpu any day. If its ok with you thats fine.. just wanted to point it out.