BUILD First FreeNAS Server . . .

[mk801]

Hi gang . . .

I'm new to FreeNAS, and would like to build a system to replace my older file server (which, unfortunately, I built years ago with OpenFiler). It will primarily be CIFS shares (with frequent snapshots for versioning), some NFS shares (for linux boxes), and an iSCSI target (for a backup storage volume for my ESXi box).

I was hoping someone would take a glance at my plan, and tell me if it seems reasonable:

X11SSH-CTF motherboard
Samsung DDR4-2133 (M393A4K40BB0-CPB) 2 x 32 GB
Xeon E3-1230 V5
8 x Western Digital Red 6 TB drives in one Z2 vdev (36 TB)

A few questions:

(1) Does version 9.10 have good support for the intel 10GB ethernet adapter? I'm hoping that if I build a new ESXi server, also with 10GB ethernet, I'll get better peformance on the iSCSI interface.

(2) Is 64 GB of RAM overkill? Will FreeNAS automatically use as much as it can for cache?

(3) I'm not keen on full disk encryption, because I mostly don't need it. However, if it's true that the overhead, with the AES extensions that the process has, is almost non-existent, then why not. Any experiences with what kind of impact encryption has on performance?

(4) I can't bring myself to create four mirrored vdevs (24 TB). But I might be talked into Z3 (30 TB) if anyone thinks it's a better idea.

My (very preliminary) plan is to install the system onto two mirrored USB memory sticks.

Also, I'll flash the SAS controller into IT mode, for future expansion.

I'm in Canada -- my preliminary estimates for cost for this server is about $4,000. Am I being ridiculous?

Thanks for any comments!

 

[Stux]

Seems good to me.

 

[Nick2253]

(1) Does version 9.10 have good support for the intel 10GB ethernet adapter? I'm hoping that if I build a new ESXi server, also with 10GB ethernet, I'll get better peformance on the iSCSI interface.

Those should be supported no problem.

(2) Is 64 GB of RAM overkill? Will FreeNAS automatically use as much as it can for cache?

It's pretty hard to reach overkill in the RAM department when you want to push 10G and are using iSCSI, and 64GB is not it. I would say that 64GB is just about right for your system, though you may want more depending on how heavy your workload is.

(3) I'm not keen on full disk encryption, because I mostly don't need it. However, if it's true that the overhead, with the AES extensions that the process has, is almost non-existent, then why not. Any experiences with what kind of impact encryption has on performance?

The problems with the encryption are not really the performance, but the stability of the encryption system. I would say that most people who use encryption have it work for them, but I've seen enough horror stories here that I wouldn't use file-level encryption with FreeNAS unless I absolutely needed.

Personally, the data I want encrypted I keep in a Veracrypt volume. Then I don't have to mess with full disk encryption, and it's easier to backup without worrying about it becoming decrypted somewhere along the way.

(4) I can't bring myself to create four mirrored vdevs (24 TB). But I might be talked into Z3 (30 TB) if anyone thinks it's a better idea.

Depending on the I/O performance you want to get from your system, mirrored vdevs may be the only way to go. I think that RAIDZ3 is overkill, and it will add some overhead to your setup. RAIDZ2 is probably the ideal balance between space and performance, unless you want to give up some redundancy, and do two RAIDZ vdevs.

In any case, make sure you have good backups, and it's not a bad idea to keep a spare drive on hand.

My (very preliminary) plan is to install the system onto two mirrored USB memory sticks.

If you've got the ports, you're probably better off using an SSD for your boot device. One SSD is going to be more reliable than mirrored USB flash drives.

I'm in Canada -- my preliminary estimates for cost for this server is about $4,000. Am I being ridiculous?

Only you can determine if that's ridiculous. I could make some comment about how many starving children $4000 could feed, but then I'd start making myself feel guilty for all the money I've spend on computers and electronics :D

 

[gpsguy]

Given the exchange rate [ouch], it's about $3090 US. I don't know if that also includes the ~12% for PST + GST

I'm in Canada -- my preliminary estimates for cost for this server is about $4,000.