All,
I know this question has been asked before and covered in other posts, and I've read all of them I can find, but I find myself stuck in a decision around upgrading my existing FreeNAS system and pricing of parts.
Currently I have FreeNAS running on a Z79 Chipset with a I3-4130 and 16 GB of Non-ECC Ram (Yeah I know...that's one of the reasons I'm rebuilding....).
However, when I go out and start putting together pricing for parts to replace things, it seems like everything I put together using used/inexpensive server grade parts ends up being WAY overkill for just running FreeNAS alone, and on top of that, but a small investment more compared to single processor + ECC memory solution, I can build a VERY robust ESXi server and run FreeNAS + AD Domain Controller + pfSense + Dedicated Plex server and more.
I'm trying to get an idea of whether I'm setting myself up for failure or not with the following configuration:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/38LRNG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/38LRNG/by_merchant/
*CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2670 2.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($65.00 @ eBay)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2670 2.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($65.00 @ eBay)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011 Motherboard ($307.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR3-1600 Memory ($304.99 @ SuperBiiz)
*Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.33 @ OutletPC)
*Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.33 @ OutletPC)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
*Other: Rosewill RSV-L4412 - 4U Rackmount Server Chassis, 12 SATA / SAS Hot-swap Drives ($199.99 @ Newegg)
*Other: LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 RAID Controller Card ($100.00 @ eBay)
Total: $2383.48
It seems that with this config, I can use passthru and provide the LSI controller and all 8 drives directly to the FreeNAS VM for 12TB of RaidZ2 storage.
Then use the other 4 WD Red drives for VMs while with the 2 SSDs mirrored to host the ESXi OS.
Ultimately I'm looking to build the following servers:
1) Windows 2012 R2 Server (Active Directory)
2) FreeNAS (Storage)
3) pfSense (Firewall/Router)
4) Plex Media Server
5+) Various other VMs to refresh and/or learn Windows Server/AD/Linux/etc training as needed.
Please remember, this is NOT a corporate environment. We are talking about a home server with 4-7 clients and 4-5 users + guest access every now and then.
FreeNAS storage is mainly for Media Storage, Workstation Backups, and User Home drives.
How much risk is there with running FreeNAS in this situation if I provide pass-thru to the LSI card dedicated to that VM alone. The parts marked with (*) are pre-owned parts. So my investment is ultimately looking at spending:
$65 for 2nd Xeon Processor
$300 for new MB
$300 for 64 GB ECC memory
OR
$250 -$270 for new MB with only one CPU socket for existing i3-4130 or e5-2670
$150 for 32 GB of ECC memory
So for ~$300 more I get MUCH more power
I know this question has been asked before and covered in other posts, and I've read all of them I can find, but I find myself stuck in a decision around upgrading my existing FreeNAS system and pricing of parts.
Currently I have FreeNAS running on a Z79 Chipset with a I3-4130 and 16 GB of Non-ECC Ram (Yeah I know...that's one of the reasons I'm rebuilding....).
However, when I go out and start putting together pricing for parts to replace things, it seems like everything I put together using used/inexpensive server grade parts ends up being WAY overkill for just running FreeNAS alone, and on top of that, but a small investment more compared to single processor + ECC memory solution, I can build a VERY robust ESXi server and run FreeNAS + AD Domain Controller + pfSense + Dedicated Plex server and more.
I'm trying to get an idea of whether I'm setting myself up for failure or not with the following configuration:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/38LRNG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/38LRNG/by_merchant/
*CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2670 2.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($65.00 @ eBay)
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2670 2.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($65.00 @ eBay)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 SSI EEB Dual-CPU LGA2011 Motherboard ($307.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) Registered DDR3-1600 Memory ($304.99 @ SuperBiiz)
*Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.33 @ OutletPC)
*Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.33 @ OutletPC)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.99 @ NCIX US)
*Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
*Other: Rosewill RSV-L4412 - 4U Rackmount Server Chassis, 12 SATA / SAS Hot-swap Drives ($199.99 @ Newegg)
*Other: LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 RAID Controller Card ($100.00 @ eBay)
Total: $2383.48
It seems that with this config, I can use passthru and provide the LSI controller and all 8 drives directly to the FreeNAS VM for 12TB of RaidZ2 storage.
Then use the other 4 WD Red drives for VMs while with the 2 SSDs mirrored to host the ESXi OS.
Ultimately I'm looking to build the following servers:
1) Windows 2012 R2 Server (Active Directory)
2) FreeNAS (Storage)
3) pfSense (Firewall/Router)
4) Plex Media Server
5+) Various other VMs to refresh and/or learn Windows Server/AD/Linux/etc training as needed.
Please remember, this is NOT a corporate environment. We are talking about a home server with 4-7 clients and 4-5 users + guest access every now and then.
FreeNAS storage is mainly for Media Storage, Workstation Backups, and User Home drives.
How much risk is there with running FreeNAS in this situation if I provide pass-thru to the LSI card dedicated to that VM alone. The parts marked with (*) are pre-owned parts. So my investment is ultimately looking at spending:
$65 for 2nd Xeon Processor
$300 for new MB
$300 for 64 GB ECC memory
OR
$250 -$270 for new MB with only one CPU socket for existing i3-4130 or e5-2670
$150 for 32 GB of ECC memory
So for ~$300 more I get MUCH more power
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