Comments please on home MiniITX build

[jlscott3]

Hi all-

I was considering a Synology DS1918+ but fell down the FreeNAS rabbit hole along the way. I've been reading for the last couple weeks and tweaking my build list along the way, but I think I have something workable here.

My main purposes for this build are:

• Time machine backups for 4 macs + 1-2 PCs at home. This will replace my 10-year-old Airport Extreme + Seagate USB hard disk arrangement.
• File storage for still images and videos. Right now these are on a local disk attached to a PC, backed up to AWS S3 when I remember to do it.
• Plan to implement 10GbE and use the FreeNAS for primary storage of working still/video files. Right now I'm editing only occasionally but that could change over the next 12+ months.

Possible additional uses:

• Jails (but unless it's something that absolutely has to be on my local network, I'll play around in AWS)
• Streaming media

Other considerations:

• Small and quiet is more important to me than future expansion, except I definitely want the option for 10GbE.
• Keep total parts budget close to $1000

Build list

Component	Item	Comments
Case	Supermicro CSE-721TQ-250B	MiniITX, 4 hot-swap bays, 250W PSU. Probably "just enough" for this build. Apparently there's a B2 version of this case that has front panel USB 3.0 but cost is higher and I don't really need USB 3.0 on the front.
Motherboard	Supermicro X11SCL-IF	MiniITX. 4x SATA 6Gb/s, 1 PCIe x16 slot for 10GbE in the future.
CPU	Intel Core i3-9100F	Supports ECC, use stock cooler.
RAM	NEMIX DR416L-SL01-EU24 16GB ECC UDIMM	Unbuffered ECC. 16GB is enough for now, leaves one DDR4 slot open for another 16GB if I want it.
Boot device	Crucial P2 250GB PCIe M2 SSD CT250P2SSD8	Bigger than I need but reasonable cost/perceived quality.
ZFS storage	4x WD Red 4TB 5400RPM SATA 6Gb/s WD40EFRX	This seems like the cost/performance/capacity sweet spot. I'm not sure I fully understand what's going on with SMR vs CMR disks but these appear to be CMR.

The main con is that this maxes out the case and MB. There's no room for storage expansion. Going to a Micro ATX MB (eg Supermicro X11SCL-F) and case (Fractal Design 804, probably) would address that at the cost of additional desktop space. Right now I'm leaning towards the smaller chassis.

I'm planning raidz for < 12TB of usable storage space, which should carry me for a while.

Thoughts?

 

[artlessknave]

u-nas.com :: U-NAS Server Chassis :: U-NAS NSC-810A Server Chassis (Power Supply Not Included)

8 drives, matx, 2 external PCI slots (although riser card or cables required). is more expensive.
the supermicro only takes 3.5" unless you pay 30$ more each to get 2.5"inch trays. it's also REALLY small to work inside.

I have built both, I would choose the unas one. they are both pretty well built though.

there is also 4 bay versions, but I think the supermicro probably has more room for the cooler

u-nas.com :: U-NAS Server Chassis :: U-NAS NSC-410 Server Chassis with Power Supply

 

[Samuel Tai]

Your M.2 SSD may be better served as L2ARC. Avoid RAIDZ1 if possible; RAIDZ2 is the sweet spot for data safety and space for data. You can use either the front panel USB 3.0 connector or the on-board USB 3.0 port to host a USB3->M.2 adapter for a small (16 GB) M.2 SSD as your boot device.

 

[artlessknave]

Your M.2 SSD may be better served as L2ARC

L2ARC has a ram cost and is often not as useful in reality as it is on paper. not sure it would be worth it for this size of build.

 

[Samuel Tai]

The RAM cost isn't as much as you'd think. I have a similar build, with 16 GB RAM (max for my motherboard). The amount of L2ARC consumed is listed in kstat.zfs.misc.arcstats.l2_size, but the cost of RAM needed to index that is in kstat.zfs.misc.arcstats.l2_hdr_size. On my system, the first is 72,310,081,024 bytes (67.3 GiB), but the RAM consumed for indexing is 65,259,920 bytes (62.2 MiB). And L2ARC does provide me a speedup. In particular, for a folder of thousands of images, creating thumbnails is close to real-time with L2ARC, but very noticeably slower without.

 

[jlscott3]

Thanks for the feedback. U-NAS is out of stock in the USA on just about everything until July due to COVID-19-related supply chain issues, but yes, the 410/810A are worth considering. I think I can live with the 3.5" restriction on the Supermicro case, though.

I had discounted the need for L2ARC, and the idea of using an M.2->USB adapter on my boot device doesn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I think if I decide I need L2ARC I would go Micro-ATX and use a SATA drive for boot.

 

[volothamp]

u-nas.com :: U-NAS Server Chassis :: U-NAS NSC-810A Server Chassis (Power Supply Not Included)

8 drives, matx, 2 external PCI slots (although riser card or cables required). is more expensive.
the supermicro only takes 3.5" unless you pay 30$ more each to get 2.5"inch trays. it's also REALLY small to work inside.



I have built both, I would choose the unas one. they are both pretty well built though.

there is also 4 bay versions, but I think the supermicro probably has more room for the cooler

u-nas.com :: U-NAS Server Chassis :: U-NAS NSC-410 Server Chassis with Power Supply

how’s the noise level in the U-NAS?

 

[artlessknave]

that I cannot fully speak to since it is at my brothers house...but its only got like 4 fans, 2 120mm, stock intel, and the PSU. it's all pretty much as loud as the stock intel cooler is when it's inside any case. I would estimate you can probably hear that its on if there is nothing else too much making noise, but any house fan and most desktops would drown it out. I turned off a standing fan and I still had to pretty much put my ear to the supermicro one, and the unas will be about the same. I do work with servers though so my tolerance of fan noise is...pretty high.

 

[artlessknave]

boot device

USB works fine for boot device as long as you get one of the quality USB's with more SSD features, specifically wear leveling. the sandisk ultra and cruzer fit lines have a rep for doing so, while also being some of the smallest you can get meaning they don't block ports.
I would go for more drives but, if you read my sig...you might be able to see I have a problem.
also, a USB>m.2 ought to be fine as long as you dont get the cheapest one off of amazon...