Feedback on possible build for replacing a Synology NAS

[applesandoranges]

Hi guys!
This is my first post here on the FreeNAS forum.

I currently own a Synology DS2413+ 12 bay NAS, that is populated with 12*4TB Seagate NAS drives in a Raid 6 configuration.
I currently have no good backup plan for this Synology NAS (just backing up really important data to a off-site location. It's filling up with data, with close to 30TB used storage.
The CPU (Atom D-520) is not up for the load of different tasks it's running either, and the write speed is horrible (35MB/sec) so I'm planning to move this to a family members house, and use it as offsite backup via RSYNC for our new NAS.

I have decided to go for FreeNAS for our new multipurpose familily NAS, wich will host a pretty big media library, backup and workspace for around 10 client computers ++.
I want it to be future proof, so I can maybe upgrade the case later for rackmount and a new pool expansion . But for right now I have no space or a room for a big and loud server.

This is what I am thinking of buying right now, and I would love to get feedback on the hardware:

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 mATX case

PSU: EVGA Supernova P2 750watt 80 plus Platina

Fans: 4 x Noctua 140mm PWM

MB: Supermicro X10SRM-TF-B LGA2011 mATX 2 x 10gbit M2

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620v4 2,1GHz 8 core
Would 4 core with higher clock speed be better?

CPU-cooler: Noctua NH-U12DX i4

RAM: Kingston DDR4 4x32GB RDIMM ECC 2400 MHz kit
Do I need 128GB ram, or is 64GB sufficient? Kingston ok?, Crucial very hard to find at reasonable prices here...

Bootdrive: Intel 600p Series M.2 2280 SSD 256GB
Is a M2 bootdrive ok, or is it really better to go for USB-sticks?

HDDs: 10 x Seagate Ironwolf 8TB - 256MB cahce 7200rpm
I'm planning for Raid Z2, but do you think Z3 would be a good idea for 8TB drives?

UPS: Powerwalker 1000watt (old one), hope it's working with FreeNAS?

All thoughts are welcome, as I am completely new to FreeNAS.
(I have experience with debian and win-servers though...)

 

[lukyjay]

Hey mate, I noticed your thread hasn't had any replies after a month. Can I start by saying that's an insane amount of storage for a family :p

Would 4 core with higher clock speed be better?

If you intend to run docker or virtual machines in the future, I think 8 cores would be better.

Do I need 128GB ram, or is 64GB sufficient? Kingston ok?, Crucial very hard to find at reasonable prices here...

You could start with 64GB and upgrade to 128GB in the future. You can find more information on RAM requirements around the forums. There's a few guides for hardware requirements.

Is a M2 bootdrive ok, or is it really better to go for USB-sticks?

You could mirror two USB drives to save some money here.

UPS: Powerwalker 1000watt (old one), hope it's working with FreeNAS?

http://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html is a great resource for UPS compatibility with FreeNAS.

HDDs: 10 x Seagate Ironwolf 8TB - 256MB cahce 7200rpm
I'm planning for Raid Z2, but do you think Z3 would be a good idea for 8TB drives?

To quote from the popular powerpoint guide: "RAIDZ2 should have the total number of drives equal to 2n + 2. (ie 4, 6, 10, etc drives for the VDev) RAIDZ3 should have the total number of drives equal to 2n + 3. (ie 5, 7, 11, etc drives for the VDev)" Something to consider.

 

[Spearfoot]

Hi guys!
This is my first post here on the FreeNAS forum.

Bootdrive: Intel 600p Series M.2 2280 SSD 256GB
Is a M2 bootdrive ok, or is it really better to go for USB-sticks?

HDDs: 10 x Seagate Ironwolf 8TB - 256MB cahce 7200rpm
I'm planning for Raid Z2, but do you think Z3 would be a good idea for 8TB drives?

UPS: Powerwalker 1000watt (old one), hope it's working with FreeNAS?

All thoughts are welcome, as I am completely new to FreeNAS.
(I have experience with debian and win-servers though...)

Hello, @applesandoranges, sorry we all missed your first post weeks ago... welcome to the forums!

@lukyjay has made some good suggestions. I'll throw out some more ideas for you to ponder.

FreeNAS doesn't need much space on the boot drive, so you can quite feasibly use a smaller M.2 or SATA SSD. I like 32GB, but even 16GB would be plenty. USB flash drives work, too, but some users report problems with them failing and overheating and whatnot, especially USB 3.0 devices, so you're better of using USB 2.0 flash drives with FreeNAS. Install it to a pair of them (it supports mirrored installations),then make regular backups of your configuration, and you'll have little to worry about if one or both should happen to fail - just pop in a new flash drive, re-install FreeNAS, restore your configuration, and you're back in business!

To quote from the popular powerpoint guide: "RAIDZ2 should have the total number of drives equal to 2n + 2. (ie 4, 6, 10, etc drives for the VDev) RAIDZ3 should have the total number of drives equal to 2n + 3. (ie 5, 7, 11, etc drives for the VDev)" Something to consider.

This is the old "2^n + p" rule, but it no longer applies because of compression and other reasons explained in this article by one of the ZFS architects: "ZFS RAIDZ stripe width, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love RAIDZ". So use RAIDZ2 or RAIDZ3 for your 10-drive array - whichever you're most comfortable with - and don't fret too much about it.

Your UPS may very well be supported. FreeNAS uses the Network UPS Tools subsystem for UPS support. You can check for your device in their Hardware compatibility list.

Good luck!

 

[lukyjay]

This is the old "2^n + p" rule, but it no longer applies because of compression and other reasons explained in this article by one of the ZFS architects: "ZFS RAIDZ stripe width, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love RAIDZ". So use RAIDZ2 or RAIDZ3 for your 10-drive array - whichever you're most comfortable with - and don't fret too much about it.

Thanks for sharing this, it's still in the guide so I had no idea. Good to know

 

[Kevin Horton]

Thanks for sharing this, it's still in the guide so I had no idea. Good to know

Which guide did you find this in, and where? It shouldn't be in the official docs, and if it is, it should be removed or clarified.

 

[lukyjay]

Which guide did you find this in, and where?

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
Page 34 if using Google docs :)

 

[Kevin Horton]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
Page 34 if using Google docs :)

Two comments:

1. Those are not not official docs,
2. It clearly says that it is only applicable IF you are not using compression. Compression is enabled by default, and the universal recommendation is to use compression, as it saves some disk space, and modern CPU performance is high enough that there is no practical cost to using compression. So, this recommendation for a specific number of drives is not applicable.

 

[lukyjay]

It clearly says that it is only applicable IF you are not using compression. Compression is enabled by default, and the universal recommendation is to use compression, as it saves some disk space, and modern CPU performance is high enough that there is no practical cost to using compression. So, this recommendation for a specific number of drives is not applicable.

Thanks for clarifying Kevin, I misread that part about compression.