First NASbuild – Check I’m on the right path

[Macfudd]

Hi, first up, thanks for coming to look at yet another new build thread. :)

To try not to waste everyones time, I have made a solid effort into reading and absorbing the info from the threads here and researching into NAS builds on other sites. I think I’ve got my build mostly sorted but I’d like some reassurance I’m on the right track and I’ve still got a few questions.

First up – what I’m looking at getting (prices are in AUD)
CPU – Core i3 6100 ($165)
Motherboard - Supermicro X11SSM-F ($369)
Ram – Crucial 16gb DDR4-2133MHZ ECC –unbuffered 288-pin-dimm CT16G4WFD8213 ($122) (single stick for now)
Boot Drive – 128GB Samsung Plus SSD ($55) – cheapest SSD I can find.
Power Supply – EVGA G2 Gold 750W ($150)
Hard Drives – will be WD Red 3TB
Case – Coolermaster HAF X (Only thing being repurposed)

Intended use: To start with, this NAS will mostly be used as a storage backup location, backing up pictures, videos and documents from my main PC, my partners laptop and our existing Plex/Movies/Steam PC (leftovers from a recent PC upgrade).

My initial plan is to get 4 WD Reds [edit: initially written as 3], set them up in RaidZ2 then get in and learn how to use FreeNAS hands on rather than just continuing to read articles. Getting to grips with FreeNAS, how to configure it and how to use it is probably going to the hardest step in this whole process. Once I’m comfortable, I’ll wipe the data, buy some extra drives and start again.
This should also mean that the next set of drives purchased are from a different production batch which adds an additional safeguard.

Future Uses: We live in a different country to the rest of my family and plan to start having kids soon so I will set the NAS up to host photos/videos for family to view. I may set it up for them to use the NAS as offsite storage for their own photos.
The NAS may also take over Plex server duties if the existing PC for that dies, but only for one, maybe two screens.


Few questions I had;

1) Most importantly - am I on the right track? With my usage, is a self built NAS still a sensible choice? I’m closing in a total cost similar to a Synology 8 bay system as a comparison. While I'm confident the self built will be more powerful, there's a lot to be said for ease-of-use. Reassurance please.

2) I got some Samsung Fit’s (USB sticks) on special a while back and had been going to use them for the OS but I’ve seen now that a cheap SSD instead is a better choice. I still have the Fit’s, is it worth mirroring the SSD OS to one of those seeing as I have them anyway or fairly pointless?

4) Hard drives – I’ll be going with a RaidZ2 setup. Most likely 6 x WD Red – 3TB. Any downside to going 7 x WD Reds instead of 6? Is there a better use of my 8th SATA port?

5) Not a question - but yes, the powersupply is probably more than I need but that’s a good quality unit. It’s also still efficient at low demand and the fan likely won't even need to spin up.

 

[danb35]

My initial plan is to get 3 WD Reds, set them up in RaidZ2

You need at least four drives for RAIDZ2.

 

[Mirfster]

1) Most importantly - am I on the right track? With my usage, is a self built NAS still a sensible choice? I’m closing in a total cost similar to a Synology 8 bay system as a comparison. While I'm confident the self built will be more powerful, there's a lot to be said for ease-of-use. Reassurance please.

Looks so to me, but will defer to the SuperMicro users since I run different systems..

2) I got some Samsung Fit’s (USB sticks) on special a while back and had been going to use them for the OS but I’ve seen now that a cheap SSD instead is a better choice. I still have the Fit’s, is it worth mirroring the SSD OS to one of those seeing as I have them anyway or fairly pointless?

IMHO 1 SSD > 2 USB Sticks... But if possible 2 SSDs (mirrored) is even better. You don't need anything super big or fancy. Even good used ones will be fine (eBay Example). May even want to consider using the 128 GB SSD for non-vital jails instead...

4) Hard drives – I’ll be going with a RaidZ2 setup. Most likely 6 x WD Red – 3TB. Any downside to going 7 x WD Reds instead of 6? Is there a better use of my 8th SATA port?

Guess there was a #3 that you decided to remove? ;) Need at least 4 drives for RaidZ2... As far a using 7 instead of 6, there is nothing wrong with that. There is some thought that even number of disk is *better* for RaidZ2 while odd number is *better* for RaidZ3... But should not be a major concern.

5) Not a question - but yes, the powersupply is probably more than I need but that’s a good quality unit. It’s also still efficient at low demand and the fan likely won't even need to spin up.

I'd think it is fine, but again defer to others...

 

[Macfudd]

You need at least four drives for RAIDZ2.

Oops, that was meant to be a 4!

Guess there was a #3 that you decided to remove? ;) Need at least 4 drives for RaidZ2... As far a using 7 instead of 6, there is nothing wrong with that. There is some thought that even number of disk is *better* for RaidZ2 while odd number is *better* for RaidZ3... But should not be a major concern.

Yeah, there was a question 3 but I found the answer between when I initially typed it and when I hit submit.

So going for 2 x mirrored SSD's for the boot drive is probably a better option than a 7th WD Red for the RAID?

 

[Mirfster]

So going for 2 x mirrored SSD's for the boot drive is probably a better option than a 7th WD Red for the RAID?

Depends on your "use-case". If you need the storage space; then I would opt for just one SSD. After all, you should always keep regular backups of your Config anyways. So as long as you have that, installing FreeNAS to a new boot devices (USB, HDD or SSD) and uploading the saved Config would be pretty painless...

*** See the last two links in my sig which will help...

 

[Ericloewe]

CPU – Core i3 6100 ($165)
Motherboard - Supermicro X11SSM-F ($369)
Ram – Crucial 16gb DDR4-2133MHZ ECC –unbuffered 288-pin-dimm CT16G4WFD8213 ($122) (single stick for now)
Boot Drive – 128GB Samsung Plus SSD ($55) – cheapest SSD I can find.
Power Supply – EVGA G2 Gold 750W ($150)
Hard Drives – will be WD Red 3TB
Case – Coolermaster HAF X (Only thing being repurposed)

Looks good. Though the HAF X is a most unusual chassis to use (and I say this as the owner of two), but it's hard to argue with free.

1) Most importantly - am I on the right track? With my usage, is a self built NAS still a sensible choice? I’m closing in a total cost similar to a Synology 8 bay system as a comparison. While I'm confident the self built will be more powerful, there's a lot to be said for ease-of-use. Reassurance please.

Typical tasks are easy enough. More importantly, they're documented in the manual, so as to minimize mistakes.
It's not simple enough for any idiot to use, but it's simple enough for most people to understand.

Given that you arrived at a reasonable configuration for the server, I'd say you won't have any trouble with the rest of the process.;)

As for mirrored SSDs for boot, that's overkill in most scenarios. I wouldn't bother (and I don't, on my server!).

 

[Macfudd]

Depends on your "use-case". If you need the storage space; then I would opt for just one SSD. After all, you should always keep regular backups of your Config anyways. So as long as you have that, installing FreeNAS to a new boot devices (USB, HDD or SSD) and uploading the saved Config would be pretty painless...

*** See the last two links in my sig which will help...

Thanks Mirfster, I read over both of those links and have them added them to my bookmarks too. I think I'll stick with just the one SSD. Part of my playing around with the initial 4 drives will involve removing the SSD, swapping in an old HDD drive and uploading the config so I'll be able to have a go at that process with no data risk.
It's still a while before I have to choose what to do with that last SATA port, there's probably other things it can be used for so I'll give it more thought.

Looks good. Though the HAF X is a most unusual chassis to use (and I say this as the owner of two), but it's hard to argue with free.

Cheers Ericloewe, that means a lot! The HAF X is a tad crazy - especially when its a MATX board. I did consider buying a Define R5, but it's silly to leave a case as good as the HAF just sitting there. And I figure that it has a bit of an advantage - if anyone does break in and want to steal something, it's too bloody heavy!
Beyond that, it'll do a great job of keeping the drives cool, I had dust filters for the whole thing already and it has a ton of room inside.

Typical tasks are easy enough. More importantly, they're documented in the manual, so as to minimize mistakes.
It's not simple enough for any idiot to use, but it's simple enough for most people to understand.

Given that you arrived at a reasonable configuration for the server, I'd say you won't have any trouble with the rest of the process.;)

As for mirrored SSDs for boot, that's overkill in most scenarios. I wouldn't bother (and I don't, on my server!).

I am feeling better about everything now, even just typing it all out made me realise just how much I've learned about everything involved. I've got the manual, I've got pages and pages of notes, nothing I'm doing hasn't been explained a million times already on the forum...this is going to work! :)
I think the hardest part of deciding on the hardware was actually finding stores in Australia with decent hardware in stock and then choosing based on what I could get and stick within budget. It was only a couple of days ago that I finally found a Supermicro board with 8 SATA ports.

 

[BigDave]

It's still a while before I have to choose what to do with that last SATA port, there's probably other things it can be used for so I'll give it more thought.

Having an open SATA port would come in handy for the re-silvering of a replacement drive.
I have found that picture files don't really take up that much space when compared to say a bluray rip.
Just my two cents worth;)

1) Most importantly - am I on the right track? With my usage, is a self built NAS still a sensible choice? I’m closing in a total cost similar to a Synology 8 bay system as a comparison. While I'm confident the self built will be more powerful, there's a lot to be said for ease-of-use. Reassurance please.

As you build it, learn to break it and recover, you will find that FreeNAS and ZFS are pretty
amazing tools for safeguarding your precious files and data. It's the kinda thing you will grow to appreciate over time.
Welcome to the community M8!