First NAS and First Post :)

[DraXxus]

Hi All

I have been wanting to build a Free NAS machine for a while and have based the parts that I have chosen so far on the advice given in the Hardware Recommendations Guide (Hardware 2016 R1d).

I would apricate a critique of the parts I have selected and advise for the items I have chosen. I also have a few questions and no doubt more questions will come to me.

The Purpose of the Free NAS machine is of course to hold all my files and be a PLEX server. I also want to play with VMs and explore any other fun and games that could be had with this machine. So, the spec of the machine will be reasonably high.

Initial thoughts on hardware

Mobo - Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSM-F-O
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
RAM - Kingston - ValueRAM 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Hard Drives - WD Red 3TB NAS Hard Disk Drive (Qty 3 so far, will go to Qty 8)
Case - Fractal Design Define R5
PSU – Advise required.
UPS – Advise required.

Questions

1. Can you recommend a good UPS?
· What happens when a UPS runs out of power?
· Is it possible for the NAS drive to recognise this and shut down gracefully?

2. Can you recommend a good power supply factoring in that this machine could have up to 8 hard drives?

3. Is it possible to add more hard drives to the Zpool after the initial setup with Free NAS 11?

4. Can PROXMOX be put in a Jail and used to make VMs?

 

[Dice]

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Overkill, go with stock unless you've particular perks related to cooling (I can relate).

1a) My favorite UPS is: CyberPower Adaptive Sinewave CP1500EPFCLCD
1b) You'll need to configure some stuff in FreeNAS to make FreeNAS responsive to UPS commands. See the manual.
1c) yes

2. I'd do about 5-600w. Seasonic I think is quite popular. Look for Gold rating or at most, platinum.

3. Yes, sort of. At the moment with quite significant inflexibility (that is - you can add vdevs but not drives to a vdev already in a pool). Look through the newbie guide resource by cyberjock (maybe link in my signature). It'll explain stuff for you - and will most certainly make you think twice on how to setup your box from the start.

4. Why would you? There is VM support in FreeNAS 11.

 

[DraXxus]

4. Why would you? There is VM support in FreeNAS 11.

Thanks for the quick reply.

From what I have watched on YouTube PROXMOX allows the VMs to use harware that is attached to the Mobo e.g. a graphics card.

I have a wife and a couple of kids and they all computers, but they dont use them that much. My idea (and I'm not sure this is possible) was to create VMs for them to use on the server as it will be of a reasonable spec. The computers they have to access the VM can be of a lower spec and therefore cheaper. Also, when they break the computer I can just reinstall the VM and this should save me time.

 

[Dice]

That'll probably be out of reach when using FreeNAS as a base.
In case you want to pursue that sort of route you'd probably want to split duties onto two machines.
Or go follow the tried route of using ESXi. Proxmox has notoriously bad history with FreeNAS in the past. Those issues may be fixed by now but it is hard to tell since I don't even recall seeing <anyone> on the forum bragging about long term successful implementation of FreeNAS ontop of Proxmox. We do ESXi. Because it works.

 

[DraXxus]

That's good to know. PROXMOX was an idea that was just playing with. I'll have a good play with the Free NAS VMs first, they will more than likely do 90% of what i want.

 

[DraXxus]

Thank you for the advice already given and to all those that have read this tread.


I have now bought all the parts and built my FreeNAS machine. I am currently doing the burn in test on the hard drives…… Badblocks takes a minute, but it’s getting there.


The build as it stands is:

Mobo - Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSM-F-O
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
RAM - Kingston - ValueRAM 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Hard Drives - WD Red 3TB NAS Hard Disk Drive (Qty 3 so far, will go to Qty 8)
Case - Fractal Design Define R5
PSU – Seasonic focus plus 650 w gold 80 plus
UPS – CyberPower Adaptive Sinewave CP1500EPFCLCD


I have a few more questions:


1. I intend to create 1 zpool using raidz2. This will give me about 10 TB of space with 2 hard drives able to fail before everything is gone. I think this is sound decision, but does this set alarm bells ringing for older and wiser FreeNAS users?


2. I have installed FreeNAS 11. I believe this is stable so good to go. Am I right in this assumption?


3. I want to set up a Plex server, play with VMs and other plug ins. My understanding is that these are best put on SSDs. I okay with buying these, but it does provoke a few questions, They are:


a. What size should I buy? Yes, that is a very poor question as I guess you will then ask what size of Plex server and how many VMs. So, let me ask it this way. What could I do with a 250 GB SSD and, what could I do with a 500 GB SSD?


b. Should I buy two SSDs and mirror them? I guessing the answer is “Yes, unless you don’t mind losing all your work”, but I’ll ask the silly question as I know very little about this.


Thanks in advance for any advice given. I’ve been saving for a couple of years to have this machine and I’m really exciting to see this project coming to life.

 

[danb35]

I think this is sound decision, but does this set alarm bells ringing for older and wiser FreeNAS users?

8 x 3 TB in RAIDZ2? Not in the least--sounds like a fine idea.

I have installed FreeNAS 11. I believe this is stable so good to go. Am I right in this assumption?

Yes. FN11.1 should be released shortly, but the upgrade should be very straightforward. If you want to be on the safe side, you could wait a few weeks before upgrading.

I want to set up a Plex server, play with VMs and other plug ins. My understanding is that these are best put on SSDs.

Plex and other jails, I wouldn't bother with an SSD unless you just have a spare laying around. If you were doing much with VMs, that might be a different story. I don't think I'd bother mirroring them, but the assumption is that you wouldn't have a great deal of data there--it would be on your storage pool, which you'd have shared in some way with the jail/VM.

 

[rogerh]

I presume that you're using ECC memory - perhaps that's the only kind your motherboard will take. But I'm writing this as much for anyone else reading hardware threads for their own plans - emphasising the importance of ECC memory for a maximum data protection.

 

[DraXxus]

Thanks for replying so quickly.


Okay so I’ll leave the SSDs, now for at least. We’ll see how much I used the VMs in FreeNAS. And you are right I would not put data in the VMs. I will just be playing around with different flavours of Linux. If possible, I’d like to run a Teamspeak 3 server on the box.


Rogerh – Yes, it’s ECC ram. I took the advice from the hardware guide “If you’re going to do it, do it right”.