Feedback on new build

[mrembetsy]

Hi all,

I am looking at gathering some feedback from other builders about a new FreeNAS server I am looking to build. Any expertise or comments are welcome. I also wanted to say thanks to anyone who spends the time looking over this, it is appreciated.

Use Cases For New Build

• backup for all files (photos, videos, docs)
• time machine backup for 4 machines
• File sharing
• Plex server. Typically I rip the media to a supported format but I do transcode on a couple devices 1080p. No more than 2 devices using Plex at a time
• final cut pro x storage for projects
• final cut pro x editing off device if possible
• backing up to external provider for offsite redundancy
• Quiet since I will be sitting next to this thing while working

With that said, I have been looking at the following hardware;

Case
Fractal Define 5 (hot swap isn't a requirement for me, quiet is)

Motherboard
SuperMicro mbd-x10srl-f (seems expandable for future needs and mentioned in the hardware guide)

CPU
Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3 @ 2.50GHz (reasonable price and good performance from looking at passmark)

Hard drives
8 x WD RED 10TB (performance is close to Ironwolf and lower temps and quieter from my research)

SSD or M2
Not sure I need that, but maybe in the future, thoughts?

Power Supply
Corsair rmx-series-rm850x-850w (I think this will be enough power when looking at power section)

Memory
2 X Supermicro-32gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram

CPU Fan (is this the best fan? Is there something more quiet that will keep things cool?)
cooler-master-hyper-212

10 Gig NIC
Looking for a RJ45 suggestion. After reading the hardware guide I do see that intel Nic's do have not great performance and
Chelsio 10GbE NICs are preferred, so perhaps

chelsio-t520 with some SFP that can do copper.


Anything additional I might of missed or you think might not work

thanks

mcr

 

[Jessep]

backup for all files (photos, videos, docs)

• time machine backup for 4 machines
• Should be fine
• File sharing
• Should be fine
• Plex server. Typically I rip the media to a supported format but I do transcode on a couple devices 1080p. No more than 2 devices using Plex at a time
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x storage for projects
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x editing off device if possible
• Even with Striped Mirrors this will likely not work, I would suggest adding a SSD bay device in the 5.25" bays (8 in 2x5.25") and a HBA to run them, will likely want to increase RAM to 128GB-256GB for ARC.
• backing up to external provider for offsite redundancy
• Unknown as you didn't provide enough information
• Quiet since I will be sitting next to this thing while working
• Should be fine, suggest switch to Noctua fans and CPU coolers

 

[mrembetsy]

backup for all files (photos, videos, docs)

• time machine backup for 4 machines
• Should be fine
• File sharing
• Should be fine
• Plex server. Typically I rip the media to a supported format but I do transcode on a couple devices 1080p. No more than 2 devices using Plex at a time
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x storage for projects
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x editing off device if possible
• Even with Striped Mirrors this will likely not work, I would suggest adding a SSD bay device in the 5.25" bays (8 in 2x5.25") and a HBA to run them, will likely want to increase RAM to 128GB-256GB for ARC.
• backing up to external provider for offsite redundancy
• Unknown as you didn't provide enough information
• Quiet since I will be sitting next to this thing while working
• Should be fine, suggest switch to Noctua fans and CPU coolers

Jessep, thanks for the feedback. Will have to check out some HBA but what do you suggest.

 

[John Doe]

If you want to go silent, I can recommend sharkoon vibe fixer for 5.25" slot and fans from silverstone 180mm

my server is the most quite computer I ever build. can really recommend the vibe fixer and the big fans

 

[mrembetsy]

For NIC I am going to use instead
T520-BT

CPU fan
Fan CPU

Case Fans
Noctua

 

[mrembetsy]

For the HBA

 

[Jessep]

I would suggest something like this, pre flashed IT mode and current version FW. I don't know the seller, this is an example.

What is your budget for this build? Would you be looking at SATA or NVMe pricing?

 

[tfran1990]

For the HBA

for ~30 you can get a m1015 from e bay, or a h220 29~which is pcie3.0

 

[Heracles]

Hey mrembetsy,

You did not provide any info about the volume of data you have, how much you will add over time or retention. As such, it is difficult to size the pool.

WIth 8 drives, the typical config is RaidZ-2. That will give you 6 drives of usable space, so 48 TB. A pool should not end up filled over the 50% mark, so that drops to 24. If you expect to go anywhere around 20 TB within 5 years, that means you have basically no security margin.

Should you keep your snapshot for as long as I do (I keep my monthly snapshots for 4 years), you need the extra storage space covering these 4 years of changes that will be preserved.

Also, a single RaidZ-2 vDev gives you the performance of a single drive, despite there are 8 of them in the vDev. This is good enough for Time Machine or Plex, but is it enough for editing with final cut pro ? Not sure...

So you are on a good path but to know if that path is good for --you--, we will need more input.

Have fun designing your system,

 

[mrembetsy]

I would suggest something like this, pre flashed IT mode and current version FW. I don't know the seller, this is an example.

What is your budget for this build? Would you be looking at SATA or NVMe pricing?

Sorry was there a link in here I missed?

Sata

Minus drives somewhere between 1700-2000

 

[mrembetsy]

Hey mrembetsy,

You did not provide any info about the volume of data you have, how much you will add over time or retention. As such, it is difficult to size the pool.

WIth 8 drives, the typical config is RaidZ-2. That will give you 6 drives of usable space, so 48 TB. A pool should not end up filled over the 50% mark, so that drops to 24. If you expect to go anywhere around 20 TB within 5 years, that means you have basically no security margin.

Should you keep your snapshot for as long as I do (I keep my monthly snapshots for 4 years), you need the extra storage space covering these 4 years of changes that will be preserved.

Also, a single RaidZ-2 vDev gives you the performance of a single drive, despite there are 8 of them in the vDev. This is good enough for Time Machine or Plex, but is it enough for editing with final cut pro ? Not sure...

So you are on a good path but to know if that path is good for --you--, we will need more input.

Have fun designing your system,

Current Nas has 17tb usable and I am not even close to 50%. It is raidz2 and the new one would be too. New system based upon usage and growth should be good for 4-5 years with 20tb not going over 50%. Thanks for asking I didn't mention it!

I am not a heavy editor just for fun but that is a good question if it would be enough, I don't know. Guess I will find out! Worse case I edit local and just store projects on the Nas and have a Nas that just needs new hard drives over time and does great backups and Plex :)

 

[droeders]

WIth 8 drives, the typical config is RaidZ-2. That will give you 6 drives of usable space, so 48 TB. A pool should not end up filled over the 50% mark, so that drops to 24.

The 50% filled rule applies to a pool used for VM storage, and in that scenario, you would want to use striped mirrors instead of RAID-Z2. 80% is the typical cutoff for pools used as a filer. Even then it will still work, but performance suffers.

With this in mind, the OP should have more room for expansion.

 

[mrembetsy]

The 50% filled rule applies to a pool used for VM storage, and in that scenario, you would want to use striped mirrors instead of RAID-Z2. 80% is the typical cutoff for pools used as a filer. Even then it will still work, but performance suffers.

With this in mind, the OP should have more room for expansion.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[mrembetsy]

backup for all files (photos, videos, docs)

• time machine backup for 4 machines
• Should be fine
• File sharing
• Should be fine
• Plex server. Typically I rip the media to a supported format but I do transcode on a couple devices 1080p. No more than 2 devices using Plex at a time
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x storage for projects
• Should be fine
• final cut pro x editing off device if possible
• Even with Striped Mirrors this will likely not work, I would suggest adding a SSD bay device in the 5.25" bays (8 in 2x5.25") and a HBA to run them, will likely want to increase RAM to 128GB-256GB for ARC.
• backing up to external provider for offsite redundancy
• Unknown as you didn't provide enough information
• Quiet since I will be sitting next to this thing while working
• Should be fine, suggest switch to Noctua fans and CPU coolers

Jeesep what do you think about this bay

 

[Jessep]

Sorry was there a link in here I missed?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Genuine-LSI-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-LSI-9201-8i-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162958581156?hash=item25f1169da4:g:7sYAAOSwjMtcT8T8

 

[Jessep]

Jeesep what do you think about this bay

That would work, you will likely want to replace the fan with a Noctua.

 

[Jessep]

If you get that bay plus the linked HBA you would need (x2) of these cables:
https://www.newegg.com/areca-cb-4387-75-cable/p/N82E16816151154?Description=SFF-8087%20to%20SFF-8643&cm_re=SFF-8087_to_SFF-8643-_-16-151-154-_-Product

 

[Jessep]

Then you can get (x4) or (x8) of these:
https://www.newegg.com/intel-d3-s4610-480gb/p/0D9-002V-003V4?Item=0D9-002V-003V4

Setup them up in Striped Mirrors for performance. Usable space for (x4) would be about 0.8TB (x8) would be about 1.5TB working space.
You should be able to easily fill 10Gb with (x8) and likely come close with (x4).

 

[Jessep]

Also don't forget a good quality UPS. It looks like both of these models are on the Network UPS Tool (NUT) list, though I've never used NUT myself it's fairly well thought of tool built into FreeNAS.
https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

This one is double conversion 1500VA for $249
http://www.refurbups.com/Powerware-PW9130L1500T-XL-UPS-System

Or this one is single conversion 750VA for $119
http://www.refurbups.com/APC-SMT750-Smart-UPS-750

 

[mrembetsy]

Also don't forget a good quality UPS. It looks like both of these models are on the Network UPS Tool (NUT) list, though I've never used NUT myself it's fairly well thought of tool built into FreeNAS.
https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

This one is double conversion 1500VA for $249
http://www.refurbups.com/Powerware-PW9130L1500T-XL-UPS-System

Or this one is single conversion 750VA for $119
http://www.refurbups.com/APC-SMT750-Smart-UPS-750

Yup, already running a quality one at home :).