Considering building a TrueNAS machine for a local historian/writer

[Bikerchris]

Hello all,

Well I've had a few years experience with FreeNAS/TrueNAS now, so I thought about applying TrueNAS to someone other than myself.

I know of a local historian/writer who's only backup is Backblaze, which I set him up with (running on Win10 on his main computer) as he previously only had an external USB drive which failed after 2 years and left him with no real backup. He has a rarely used laptop as well.

He has around 400GB of files, including documents, past and historical photographs (family and book related).

I'm looking for the bare minimum of cost while adhering to the recommended config, so I thought of the following and very much welcome thoughts:

CPU: Intel i3-9100F
MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte C246M-WU4 (Intel NICs)
RAM: 1 x 16GB ECC UDIMM 2400 (Crucial)
PSU: Corsair CX450M (450W)
STORAGE: 2 x Mirrored 2TB Ironwolf 3.5"
BOOT: 1 x Kingston 240GB DC1000B
UPS: 600VA Riello (the one I have on mine and it works/communicates perfectly with TrueNAS)

Because I've known him for 15-20 years, I'm offering to only add a little bit extra for my time, but the 'at cost' price is around £800 ($1100).

I was going to suggest continued use of BackBlaze, but using the B2 option.

I'm likely to install Plex so that he can view video/photos on his television, as his wife has mobility issues and his study isn't a comfortable room to sit in. I did a test install of this and all appeared to work very well.

For transparency, I am going to suggest to him that a Synology box would be adequate and likely half the price, but it does come with many disadvantages that would only be apparent in the event of a partial or complete failure.

Look forward to any comments you might have. It's a real shame that the newer Intel CPU's are lacking ECC support.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[danb35]

Consider used hardware as well. The Dell PowerEdge T20/T30, Lenovo ThinkServer TS140, and HPE Proliant ML10 or MicroServer Gen8 are all pretty decent, low-cost proper server hardware, and at least here in .us, could save you a decent amount of money on the system.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Intel i3-9100F

No integrated video on the F line so you should opt for a non-F if you want to go this route, but

Consider used hardware as well.

This is where I'd go. Assuming you're in NA you can get a simple two or four-bay Dell/Lenovo/HP "office server" sporting ECC RAM, Intel NICs, and if you're lucky a discount-IPMI solution for around $100. Can't speak to across the pond but should be similar. Adding the PowerEdge T110 to the list of recommended hardware as well.

 

[danb35]

I'm liking the Microserver Gen8 I just picked up for my dad. It's compact, quiet, and the iLO system is considerably better than the IPMI I've seen on Supermicro or Dell hardware (once you pay for the stupid license key, but that's only about $10 on eBay). But according to his profile, Chris is in .uk.

 

[blanchet]

If you want new hardware, you can purchase a HPE Microserver Gen10 Plus
This machine works very well with TrueNAS and can be easily purchased on Amazon in many countries.

HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus Review This is Super

In our HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus, we go in-depth into the hardware, software, management, and performance of this super edge server

www.servethehome.com

 

[danb35]

HPE Microserver Gen10 Plus

That looks like a nice little system. If it will boot from, say, a USB SSD (thus leaving all four bays free for spinners), that could be a great choice for a small NAS. A bit more expensive than a used Gen8, but (1) it's new vs. used, and (2) it looks much more capable (I'm liking the four onboard NICs). Annoying that you need extra hardware to enable iLO though.

 

[Bikerchris]

Consider used hardware as well. The Dell PowerEdge T20/T30, Lenovo ThinkServer TS140, and HPE Proliant ML10 or MicroServer Gen8 are all pretty decent, low-cost proper server hardware, and at least here in .us, could save you a decent amount of money on the system.

Thank you for that, I had thought of that, but I was concerned about power usage and ease of doing any minor upgrades/repairs.

No integrated video on the F line so you should opt for a non-F if you want to go this route, but

Oh, thanks for letting me know, I thought it was the other way round.

This is where I'd go. Assuming you're in NA you can get a simple two or four-bay Dell/Lenovo/HP "office server" sporting ECC RAM, Intel NICs, and if you're lucky a discount-IPMI solution for around $100. Can't speak to across the pond but should be similar. Adding the PowerEdge T110 to the list of recommended hardware as well.

Sadly I'm in the UK, IPMI would have been ideal and I've got it on one of my 'servers'.

I'm liking the Microserver Gen8 I just picked up for my dad. It's compact, quiet, and the iLO system is considerably better than the IPMI I've seen on Supermicro or Dell hardware (once you pay for the stupid license key, but that's only about $10 on eBay). But according to his profile, Chris is in .uk.

Cheers Dan, now that's the right direction...although both you and @blanchet really did well, thank you!

If you want new hardware, you can purchase a HPE Microserver Gen10 Plus
This machine works very well with TrueNAS and can be easily purchased on Amazon in many countries.

Wow, you casually mention the ideal config, thank you for pointing it out! I thought I'd looked for long enough, but obviously not.

I've found a UK seller that I 100% trust and have bought plenty from in the past, looks like I'll suggest the Performance one (£614.97) that has 16GB pre-installed/bought. Really helpful that you suggest it works well with TrueNAS. Top marks, thank you! It's pretty much the same as the one I was planning to build...only I don't have to build it, which is really time efficient

That looks like a nice little system. If it will boot from, say, a USB SSD (thus leaving all four bays free for spinners), that could be a great choice for a small NAS. A bit more expensive than a used Gen8, but (1) it's new vs. used, and (2) it looks much more capable (I'm liking the four onboard NICs). Annoying that you need extra hardware to enable iLO though.

It is isn't it. I think in this use case it should be perfect for my 2 x spinners and 1 x nvme/SSD. That is a shame about the iLO, but at least I know that's the case, thanks to you. Nice one

 

[danb35]

That is a shame about the iLO

The "enablement kit" is available on Amazon for US$38, so it isn't that bad. But still an annoyance. But I'm not sure about the NVMe SSD.

 

[Bikerchris]

The "enablement kit" is available on Amazon for US$38, so it isn't that bad. But still an annoyance. But I'm not sure about the NVMe SSD.

Oh that's not too bad then, I just checked and it's available over here for about the same price.

Do you think the NVMe drive is a bit surplus? I suppose a conventional SSD would do the same job?

 

[danb35]

Do you think the NVMe drive is a bit surplus?

It's probably overkill for the boot device, whose performance requirements aren't too great. But my concern is that there isn't a place to connect it--though I suppose a PCIe card would take care of that.

 

[Bikerchris]

It's probably overkill for the boot device, whose performance requirements aren't too great. But my concern is that there isn't a place to connect it--though I suppose a PCIe card would take care of that.

Ah, I had gotten used to boards with an integrated NVMe connectors, SSD it is then, and if the Prolient boxes come with 4 SATA ports, that's ideal for replacing a drive as well...though less helpful if both drives fail of course I do have a few spare LSI HBA cards if needs be.

Just while writing, just want to say thank you for all the scripts you've created.

 

[ChrisRJ]

For transparency, I am going to suggest to him that a Synology box would be adequate and likely half the price, but it does come with many disadvantages that would only be apparent in the event of a partial or complete failure.

What risk of "human" failure is there? If a technically superior platform (TrueNAS in our case) offers a higher potential for an untrained user to do something wrong, that may outweigh the technical side (sometimes considerably).

 

[Bikerchris]

What risk of "human" failure is there? If a technically superior platform (TrueNAS in our case) offers a higher potential for an untrained user to do something wrong, that may outweigh the technical side (sometimes considerably).

Sorry Chris, I wasn't aware of your response, thank you.

There is a risk of human failure, though over the last decade or so, I've become his 'go to' guy, so he would contact me if there was any problem, though I would ensure that my email address is registered on the machine. I would look to monitoring it remotely via a VPN SSH connection, in case there's an easy fix. Fortunately they only live a 15mins journey away from me, so I can be there on-site fairly quickly if needs be.

 

[danb35]

And the Gen10+ is a nice little piece of kit, though I'm using one as a small Proxmox host rather than as a TrueNAS box. The Gen8 is also good as a TrueNAS box, but the Gen10+ is about half the size, and is just overall a newer system. But I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a CPU upgrade if I'm going to use it for virtualization.

It's not the cheapest way to go for a turnkey TrueNAS box, but it seems entirely suitable, and I think it's about as "mini" as you can get for four bays. Hot-swap would be nice, though.

Meanwhile, the Gen8 is in "production" at my dad's place (also about 15 minutes away), with a net-to-net VPN connection so I can address issues if needed (hasn't been needed yet). And I'm replicating some stuff from my server to his.

 

[Bikerchris]

And the Gen10+ is a nice little piece of kit, though I'm using one as a small Proxmox host rather than as a TrueNAS box. The Gen8 is also good as a TrueNAS box, but the Gen10+ is about half the size, and is just overall a newer system. But I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a CPU upgrade if I'm going to use it for virtualization.

It's not the cheapest way to go for a turnkey TrueNAS box, but it seems entirely suitable, and I think it's about as "mini" as you can get for four bays. Hot-swap would be nice, though.

Meanwhile, the Gen8 is in "production" at my dad's place (also about 15 minutes away), with a net-to-net VPN connection so I can address issues if needed (hasn't been needed yet). And I'm replicating some stuff from my server to his.

Thank you for that, certainly reinforces the the idea. I spoke to them again last week, they had a strange corrupted word document (fixed).

That's all good info though, thank you - I too would like to off-site backup to another TrueNAS machine as well, mainly because BackBlaze costs would be too high for my needs (10TB of fairly stationery data, increasing by roughly 1GB per week).

 

[danb35]

I too would like to off-site backup to another TrueNAS machine as well, mainly because BackBlaze costs would be too high for my needs (10TB of fairly stationery data, increasing by roughly 1GB per week).

If you have a VPN set up, this is pretty easy, especially if you can replicate the bulk of it with the "remote" machine local. Recent releases have made the configuration simpler than it used to be.

 

[Bikerchris]

If you have a VPN set up, this is pretty easy, especially if you can replicate the bulk of it with the "remote" machine local. Recent releases have made the configuration simpler than it used to be.

I was going to give tailscale a go, as it seems the easiest solution, but I welcome any thoughts you might have?

 

[danb35]

I was going to give tailscale a go, as it seems the easiest solution, but I welcome any thoughts you might have?

I think it's pretty fact-specific. In my case, the easiest solution was a net-to-net IPSec VPN between my pfSense box and their UDM. If iX had left ZeroTier in the system, that would have been perfect, but that didn't happen. I'm not familiar with Tailscale, so can't really say how that compares.

 

[Bikerchris]

I think it's pretty fact-specific. In my case, the easiest solution was a net-to-net IPSec VPN between my pfSense box and their UDM. If iX had left ZeroTier in the system, that would have been perfect, but that didn't happen. I'm not familiar with Tailscale, so can't really say how that compares.

Thank you for that. I do have a USG, perhaps I'd get them one too - I'm just looking for a relatively turnkey solution for a remote backup, networking is far from my primary role, though I do find it quite fun (at times).

 

[danb35]

IIRC, the only VPN protocol the USG supports natively is IPSec. So you don't necessarily need to get them a USG, but something that supports IPSec natively should make it pretty easy. Unfortunately, TrueNAS doesn't natively handle VPNs in a useful way (it does include an OpenVPN client and server, but configuration of both of them is unnecessarily painful), so the "easy" way to handle this is net-to-net. Net-to-net also means that you could route the iLO/IPMI interface, giving you a remote console for the server if needed.