First Build, advice on components

[bryce]

I'm building my first server with actual server components so need a bit of advice and how to keep costs down just a bit.

What I have right now is the following:

CPU: i7-4770k - currently have just sitting here
MOBO: SuperMicro MBD-X10SAE-O
RAM: Crucial 16gb (2x8gb) DDR3 1600 ECC Unbuffered
PSU: Cooler Master SilentPro 1200W Gold Certified
HDDs: WD Red 4TB x 7
CASE: ARK-4U-500-CA

Does this look like a solid build, anywhere I could save money on to make up for in hard drives or what? Are SuperMicro boards any good seeing how I've never used them before?

Also, would it be possible to setup FreeNAS so that I can start with two 4tb drives and just expand as I need to? Was thinking about a RAID6 or 10 and just starting with the bare minimum amount of drives I needed since that's going to take a while to buy all the drives to fill the sata ports on the board. Or do I need to actually setup the raid with all the drives I will have in it to start with?

 

[cyberjock]

i7s do not support ECC RAM, so that CPU won't go. The PSU is also really high on wattage. A 600w PSU would even be oversized.

I can't directly argue for/against that case, but considering the brand you are buying bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. I wouldn't buy the expensive hardware you are buying and then go with a case that crappy. But that's just my opinion.

 

[danb35]

SuperMicro boards are excellent, but as cyberjock said, that CPU won't be ideal (even though SuperMicro lists i7s as compatible with that board). You'll want a Xeon E3 or Core i3 ideally. Consider the X10SL7-F (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3182821&cm_re=x10sl7-f-_-13-182-821-_-Product) instead of the X10SAE. First, it will give you more SATA ports on the board. Second, it will give you IPMI, which makes it easier to administer the server remotely and avoids the need to hook up a keyboard and monitor. Right now, Newegg has them open-box for a little cheaper than the X10SAE.

For the drive setup, you could start with one mirror (2 x 4 TB drives, net capacity ~ 4 TB) and add mirrors as you go along, similar to a RAID10 arrangement.

 

[Ericloewe]

http://forums.freenas.org/index.php...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/


This will answer all your basic storage doubts.

As Cyberjock said, save some cash and get something smaller. A Seasonic X-650 would be a better option. A G-550 would also be plenty - even a G-450 is enough if you don't expand too much.

To use ECC, you'll need a Celeron, Pentium, i3 or Xeon E3 - check ark.intel.com to make sure it supports ECC and everything else you might want.

 

[joeschmuck]

As for setting up the RAID, you have a few options and you are not the only one who wants to scale up over a period of time because the drives cost a lot of money.

1) Figure out what your end capacity will need to be.
2) Purchase as many drives up front that you can. If you simply have enough older drives laying around regardless of capacity which can make up the quantity of drives you will end up with, go that route. Replace the lower capacity drives as you can afford to.
3) If you have to scale up the drives, Create your pool. If you have two drives, a Mirror. If you have 4 drives, a RAIDZ2. If you have all your drives, a RAIDZ2.
4) Here is the tricky part, if you're scaling up and you need to add more drives to your system, you need to backup your data, destroy your current pool, and recreate the new RAIDZ2 pool, then copy your data back to the NAS. If you have a lot of data this will take time. And if you need to perform this step more than once, you might hate yourself later, it's just slow and a pain.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[bryce]

Thanks for the board/cpu suggestions. And that thread Eric linked to was helpful.

As for the actual array, I was planning on RAIDZ2, just can't get all the drives up front though. I'll probably have to use the four drives I have currently (2tb, 500gb, 750gb, 640gb) as placeholders, just need to figure out how to store all the data on them since I'll have to wipe the drives to set them up in FreeNAS. I could buy two more 4tb drives and use with those for a 6 drive array and if I ever need any more than that add another zpool.

I'm defiantly going to have to buy these parts over time so I can make sure I get the best parts for the most stability/performance since I can't just throw a couple grand all in one go at this. Shouldn't hurt to just buy parts and have them sitting around in their boxes until I use them right.

 

[joeschmuck]

Shouldn't hurt to just buy parts and have them sitting around in their boxes until I use them right.

Well, not typically however you will want to test them out as soon as possible to ensure they work just in case something arrives DOA.