BUILD First-Time FreeNAS Build Check

[I3lackR0se]

Okay, I believe I've read all the stickies I'm supposed to and put this build together. Since this is my first ever build, I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything incredible pointless or idiotic for the kind of server I'm looking for. Haven't purchased anything yet, so nothing here is set in stone.

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SL7-F-O
CPU: Xeon E3-1241 V3
HDD: Western Digital Red WD40EFRX 4 TB (x6)
Case: Fractal Design Refine R4
RAM: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 DR x8 ECC UDIMM CT2KIT102472BD160B
OS Drives: Supermicro 16GB SataDOM 64GB ADATA Synchronous NAND SSD(x2)

Cooling: Cougar Vortex PWM 120mm Fan (x4)
PWM Fan Splitter
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W 80 Plus Gold
UPS: Cyberpower CP Office Tower 1500AVRLCD1500VA

I plan to run the latest FreeNAS version, with a single VDEV in Z2

What I want to use this FreeNAS server for:
The primary use will be as a Plex server that can handle transcoding five 1080p streams concurrently. Five streams at once will be the max however, and I imagine most of the time it will run at no more than 2-3 at a time. When not running all 5 streams at once, I'd like for the server to also serve these functions:

• Back-up storage for valuable data, including document scans, pictures, and home video (no need for encryption, however)
• Minecraft / Terraria / Etc game servers
• Backing up media on this server to an external cloud source (such as Amazon's new Unlimited Data Storage)
• Running a small personal website that should only need to handle a very small number of users accessing it at once

Potential Upgradability
Though I think the 16TB of usable space will be sufficient for now, it is possible that in the future I will need more. As such, I tried to make this build with the idea of expanding it in mind. If needed, the plan is to purchase another 6 4TB harddrives to add, with the only additional purchases necessary being a bigger case and 16GB more RAM. If I did my numbers right, I think the PSU and UPS I have should handle the extra drives without issue.

Specific Questions:

1. This is the entirety of the shopping list for this computer (excepting a keyboard, monitor, mouse, and network cord). Is there anything of importance I missed for a FreeNAS server?
2. Though this current build is within my budget, it is pushing the limits. If there is anything extraneous that I could cut down on that wouldn't have any significant impacts in reliability or performance, I'd love to shave down the cost some.
3. I wasn't able to find any concrete information on which UPS I should get, so I went with one someone with a similar build had. I'm okay with server downtime, I just want to make sure that a sudden loss in power doesn't result in data loss. Is this one over-the-top, not good enough, or just right?
4. The recommendation for memory is 1 GB per TB of usable space, which I have, but just barely. Since I also want this machine to be running a webpage, game server, and running data-backup services, do I need more than the 16GB of memory I currently have, or will those services only significantly impact the CPU use?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and consider my build! It's much appreciated.

 

[mjws00]

Pretty much the textbook premium E3 build. Perfect. Not sure what kind of value the Dom's offer vs cheap ssd... But they are cute. The RAM should be fine to start with.

UPS looks about right to me. The trick is to not break new ground, just find one used by many. Can't really check from my phone on that model, but the cyperpowers are common.

Nice build. Enjoy.

 

[DrKK]

I like the build. The X10SL7 is quite a step up in price---you should only buy that if you're confident you're going over the 6 drive limit of the lower priced X10SLL/X10SLM.

 

[diedrichg]

Those SATADOMs are too wide and will cover an adjacent port. So unless you have a dedicated DOM port (I didn't look at that board), you will want to just go with a small SSD.

 

[danb35]

Since your board has IPMI, you won't need a keyboard or monitor. You won't need a mouse in any event. Other than that, it looks good. Consider whether 32 GB DOMs would cost less. You could also save a few bucks by using USB drives (mirrored) for the boot device.

 

[I3lackR0se]

I like the build. The X10SL7 is quite a step up in price---you should only buy that if you're confident you're going over the 6 drive limit of the lower priced X10SLL/X10SLM.

I'm not confident, but it's a strong possibility. Also, since the primary purpose of this machine is to be a plex server that can handle transcoding as many simultaneous streams as possible, the increase in the PassMark score it gets over the others make it worth it for me.

Those SATADOMs are too wide and will cover an adjacent port. So unless you have a dedicated DOM port (I didn't look at that board), you will want to just go with a small SSD.

I completely missed that, thanks! Due to that and mjws00's suggestion, I've switched to a pair of 64GB ADATA SSD's for $40 a pop. I went with these since the cheapest smaller SDDs I could find from big name brands only cut the price down to $35, and I figure I why not throw the extra 10 bucks at it incase I ever need to use the SDDs for something else.

Since your board has IPMI, you won't need a keyboard or monitor. You won't need a mouse in any event. Other than that, it looks good. Consider whether 32 GB DOMs would cost less. You could also save a few bucks by using USB drives (mirrored) for the boot device.

Right, I know I wouldn't need it for any long term use. But for setting up the machine I'll probably just use devices attached to it (and leave the IPMI for when I'm needing to mess with it remotely). I considered going with SanDisk USB drives, but the performance increase in time to perform updates made my decide to look at a SataDOM / SDD solution instead.

Thanks a lot for the feedback! If no one else notices anything moronic with my build in the next day or so, I'll start ordering parts and get this guy rolling.

 

[diedrichg]

You have (2) SSDs and (6) WDs all using SATA ports but the Supermicro X10SL7-F only has 6 total SATA ports. So unless you utilize the SAS ports, you're out of SATA ports.

 

[danb35]

...but there's no reason not to use the SAS ports for a couple (or even all) of the drives.

 

[diedrichg]

...but there's no reason not to use the SAS ports for a couple (or even all) of the drives.

Ah, right. Breakout cables. Duh.

 

[mjws00]

Yep. You stick the OS on the white pch (6GB/s) ports. Put the pool on the 2308. Works Awesome. No breakout cables necessary.

 

[danb35]

No need for breakout cables. The X10SL7 presents the SAS ports as four SATA ports per SAS channel.

 

[diedrichg]

Still learning about SAS... So breakout cables are for the expansion cards, then how do you connect a SATA drive to a SAS port? Different connectors, right?

 

[Bidule0hm]

SATA cable can be plugged to SAS connector on the MB, the reverse is not true.

 

[Ericloewe]

Still learning about SAS... So breakout cables are for the expansion cards, then how do you connect a SATA drive to a SAS port? Different connectors, right?

A single SAS channel uses the same physical layer as SATA (until SAS2/SATA 6Gb/s, at least).

SFF-8087 bundles four SAS channels plus some sideband stuff - on the X10SL7-F, the sideband stuff is exposed via headers, if needed.

On the drive side, the connector crams in the second SAS channel where SATA has nothing. It seems that this connector is also used for 2.5" PCI-e SSDs, but I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is going on there...

 

[diedrichg]

In five years this won't all matter because we'll be discussing the optimal configuration for NVMe SSDs.