BUILD First FreenasBox

[KJaneway]

Background

Actually I have a consumergrade DIY NAS at home. For several reasons (NAS full, more and more files are corrupted), I plan to built a new one with ECC and some sort of checksum data validation.​

Intended Use

• Home use
• Backup target for up to 3 machines (Windows)
• Long term file storage (mostly Movies and Songs), some GB also private fotos and docs.
• Media streaming to FireTV Box via DLNA (with minidlna)
• jdownload-box
• Access via: SMB/CIFS, minidlna

Proposed Build:

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SDV-4C-7TP4F
CPU: SOC
Memory: Samsung 32gb (e.g. M393A4K40BB0-CPB) (Maybe this is a bit less, but for a 1-user NAS it could be ok.
Hard Drives: Actually I have 6x HGST Ultrastar 7K6000 (new) and 3 Western Digital WD Re 4TB (I know it would be better to buy 3 year warranty drives, but I wasn't aware of that when I purchased them.
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 5 Rev B (13 3,5" HDDs + 4x 5,25" Bays)

I plan to configure the six 6TB drives as raidz2. For the 4TB Drives, I want to either implement a mirrored configuration or buy additional drives for another raidz2 vdev.

​

Reasoning behind the Proposed Build

The server shall be futureproof. I just want to add / replace drives when I need more space.
The X10SDV-4C-7TP4F brings 10G networking and SAS controllers, so there should be no need for further expansion. The CPU should be powerful enough to stream 4k media to one single device.

​

Alternatives:

1. I have a HP Microserver Gen 8 at home. Would it be better (for my usecase) to just put 16 GB ECC Ram into it, buy an external SAS HBA Card (like HP H221) and some external HDD Cages like a SST-TS431S or a Lindy Quad Drive SFF-8470.
2. Another option would be to go the standard X11... Skylake route, like many others here in the forum.

How would you choose?

Thank you.

TL;DR:
Want a new mediaserver with many TB storage: Can't decide between Xeon-D built, Skylake built and extending my existing HP Microserver Gen 8 by adding more RAM, a HBA and external SAS storage enclosures. Advice needed.

 

[Dice]

1. Another option would be to go the standard X11... Skylake route, like many others here in the forum.

How would you choose?

I'd go for skylake. I'm not at all biased. Don't look at my signature.

;)

 

[Ericloewe]

Skylake is much cheaper, but it's also limited to half (or less) the RAM that Xeon-D will take. Either works just fine.

• I have a HP Microserver Gen 8 at home. Would it be better (for my usecase) to just put 16 GB ECC Ram into it, buy an external SAS HBA Card (like HP H221) and some external HDD Cages like a SST-TS431S or a Lindy Quad Drive SFF-8470.

The problem there are the external bays. Those things are almost universally crap.

 

[KJaneway]

@Dice:
Quite interesting signature: 16 GB of Ram with 56GB of ZFS raw storage.. Can you tell me something about the performance of your pool. Can you saturate 1GBE? Do you observe any bottlenecks and if yes: How?

The 64 GB Limit is my concern. Also I have to take either a LSI 3008 Onboard Controller (X11SSL-CF) or one or two additional HBAs.

On the other side: If 16 GB is enough, I can also take that ASRockRack Extended miniITX Board with S1150. Then its only 32 GB. But if 16 is sufficient for 56 TB of HDD capacity, then 35GB should handle twice the amount... Right? (Usecase home media server)

@Ericloewe: Skylake is much cheaper when taking an i3 or Pentium G. With an E3 on a board with onboard LSI Controller (230 + 300€) its just a difference of 100€, which can amortize within 3 years if the Xeon-D pulls 10W less out of the plug. OK I have to take Ram prizes also into account.

What exactly is crap about those external enclosures? Look at backblaze.com. They use common SATA Controllers and multipliers. Silverstone has a good reputation.

TL;DR:
Just realized that Dice is running 56 TB ZFS storage with "only" 16 GB of Ram. Now asking myself if 32-64GB is enough for a media server at home for future expansion. Is LSI 3008 supported by freenas at the moment?

 

[Bidule0hm]

They use common SATA Controllers and multipliers.

They have carefully selected the hardware to find something that works, but even then I find that a bit wobbly...

 

[KJaneway]

Good Point! What about "building" my own box by just using an Lian Li PC-Q25 for example and adding some SAS Adapter like this ?

 

[Dice]

On the other side: If 16 GB is enough, I can also take that ASRockRack Extended miniITX Board with S1150. Then its only 32 GB. But if 16 is sufficient for 56 TB of HDD capacity, then 35GB should handle twice the amount... Right? (Usecase home media server)

The amount of RAM ZFS requires is not proportional to the amount of storage space. The specific use case matters a lot. Number of users, types of data, plugins, network setup etc etc.

The vague point I'm trying to make is: follow the regular recommendations which is close to what other users/newbies are requesting/building in the forums. Then you'll be definitely fine.

Bottlenecks?
Probably depends a lot on your data type.
Worth mentioning - I've not seen any other benefits from upgrading ram to 48gb. There is no super clear day/night difference in performance. The CIFS performance is identical over network. Still crap on small files. It has not changed from my windows-windows environment.
Cheers /

 

[KJaneway]

Thank you. I will stick to that Skylake solution. 64 GB Ram should be more than enough.

Another question arises my head:
Nanoxia Deep Silence 5 rev b or.... Supermicro 743T-665B-SQ with CSE-M35TQB?

The Nanoxia case is silenced and provides the possibility to insert high quality silent 140mm Fans. The Supermicro chassis comes with hotswap (not really needed) and also preinstalled "silent fans" in server grade quality.
Would the supermicro be a good investment over a much less expensive Nanoxia?

THX


TL;DR: #
Will take skylake system. But reconsidering chassis: Nanoxia Deep Silence rev b or Supermicro 743T-665B-SQ with CSE-M35TQB? Focus is on silence. Advice appreciated.

 

[KJaneway]

So no further answers let me assume that it doesn't matter really, or that nobody can tell anything about the noise levels of those particular cases.
So here is my final Built for a last check:

Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSL-CF
CPU: Intel Pentium G4400
Cooler: Something from noctua
Memory: Samsung 32gb (2x Samsung DIMM 16GB, DDR4-2133, CL15, ECC (M391A2K43BB1-CPB))
Hard Drives: like above
Case: Will throw a coin between Deep Silence 5 and Supermicro 743T-665B-SQ
USB Boot Devices: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit 16GB, USB 3.0 on one of those adapters
PSU: In case of the Nanoxia Case: Seasonic Platinum Series Fanless 400W.


So is there anything missing?

 

[Dice]

So is there anything missing?

Probably not.

SSDs are neat for system tho. If you could spare a SATAport. Just putting this topic back in there... hehe

 

[Ericloewe]

So no further answers let me assume that it doesn't matter really, or that nobody can tell anything about the noise levels of those particular cases.
So here is my final Built for a last check:

Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSL-CF
CPU: Intel Pentium G4400
Cooler: Something from noctua
Memory: Samsung 32gb (2x Samsung DIMM 16GB, DDR4-2133, CL15, ECC (M391A2K43BB1-CPB))
Hard Drives: like above
Case: Will throw a coin between Deep Silence 5 and Supermicro 743T-665B-SQ
USB Boot Devices: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit 16GB, USB 3.0 on one of those adapters
PSU: In case of the Nanoxia Case: Seasonic Platinum Series Fanless 400W.


So is there anything missing?

• Don't expect anything from Supermicro to be quiet
• Fanless PSUs aren't really a good idea. A Seasonic G-550 or X-650 would be better options.

 

[depasseg]

Don't expect anything from Supermicro to be quiet

Caveat : Used Supermicro from ebay. Because the newer stuff is damn quiet (like my SuperStorage Server 5028R-E1CR12L). Like "I can't hear it running while it's sitting on the bench in front of me" kind of quiet.

 

[Ericloewe]

Like "I can't hear it running while it's sitting on the bench in front of me" kind of quiet.

Wow, even my server is audible enough for me to invest in a fan controller venture.

 

[depasseg]

I made a video a while ago that goes through a the startup of a couple of my servers. The older Generation stuff (the HP at the beginning) is really loud. The SM I mentioned is much quieter at startup and once the fan controllers take over, is nearly silent. The mic on my phone camera isn't the best, so it's hard to get a great sense of the difference.
https://youtu.be/b0gtz7ELpCo?t=103