BUILD First FreeNAS box

[Max Hughes]

Hi all,

I've been lurking about the forum for a while now and learning a lot. I'm just getting ready for my first FreeNAS build and was hoping for some advice/comments on my plans.

It will be used to backup an iMac and MacbookPro via TimeMachine nightly and will also be accesses occasionally from 2 windows machines and a linux laptop.
It will hold all my documents, DVD/Bluray rips and home videos.
I will be running PLEX in a jail to stream to the TV and a few mobile devices
I will also run OwnCloud or maybe BitTorrent Sync.
I might also try experiment with hosting a VM for fun but not 100% sure about this yet.

Specs as follows:
- Supermicro X8SLI-F [Already owned]
- 32GB kit (8GBx4) DDR3 PC3-12800 Registered ECC [On order]
- Quad core Xeon - cant remember model number but think it was 2.4GHz [Already owned]
- Fractal Define R5 with additional drive cage and 5.25 to 3.5 bay converts to allow max. 15 drives if needed
- Antec 750w PSU [Already owned]
- IBM ServerRAID M1015 [On order]
- 6x 4TB WD RED drives [currently have 4 but intend to order 2 more to make 6 total before setting it up as I know expanding the pool in the future isn't easily done]
- 4x 1TB old Seagate drives from old Synology [Already owned]
- 2x 500GB WD Blue drives [Already owned]
- 1x 120GB SSD [Already owned]

Is 32GB RAM overkill or would i be OK with only 16GB?

I mainly wanted some advice on the best way to configure the drives. I was thinking of setting the 6x4TB WD REDs in a RAID Z2 as one pool. Then making a stripe of mirrors as another pool with the 1TB drives (2 x 2 1Tb) and the 2x500GB. Any other suggestions?

I also have no idea what to do with the SSD?
From what I've read on here I wont benefit from using it as an L2ARC cash. I did have the idea of using it as a stand alone drive and letting it be the temp folder for trans-coded videos from PLEX maybe?

Also what transfer speeds could I expect from this setup?
I will be using a single gigabit connection for now but I may upgrade to a proper switch in the future to allow to use both the gigabit NIC on the board in teaming mode or even a quad gigabit NIC further down the line.

Once I get an upgraded internet connection I would also like my family to be able to access it also as a central storage point for all our family photos and videos but not sure how this might be setup yet.

Any advice or comments would be appreciated!

Thanks, Max

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Is 32GB RAM overkill or would i be OK with only 16GB?

You could start with 2x 8GB and see how it goes. If you do start experimenting with VMs, you'll probably find more RAM beneficial.

I was thinking of setting the 6x4TB WD REDs in a RAID Z2 as one pool.

Good plan.

a stripe of mirrors as another pool with the 1TB drives (2 x 2 1Tb) and the 2x500GB. Any other suggestions?

You could make another 6-drive RAIDZ2 vdev, planning to replace the two 500GB drives with 1TB or larger.

I also have no idea what to do with the SSD?

Since you already have it, use it as a boot drive. Your planned usage seems unlikely to benefit form L2ARC or a dedicated SLOG device.

Also what transfer speeds could I expect from this setup?

You should be able to saturate a gigabit link.

I may upgrade to a proper switch in the future to allow to use both the gigabit NIC on the board in teaming mode or even a quad gigabit NIC further down the line.

That probably won't come out the way you're hoping. Search the forums for LAGG or link aggregation to understand why.

 

[Max Hughes]

Thanks for the reply.
Its good to know I've not make any stupid mistakes!

Is there nothing better I can use the SSD for? It seems like a shame to use 120GB when the install only need about 8GB
Is there any benefit to using an SSD as the boot device e.g. reliability or anything?

Thanks

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Is there nothing better I can use the SSD for?

Do you have another computer you can use it in?

Is there any benefit to using an SSD as the boot device e.g. reliability or anything?

An SSD is likely to last a lot longer than a USB drive, and boot time and system updates will be faster. I agree that it seems wasteful, but if you're determined to use it in your FreeNAS, that's the only thing that makes sense to me.