FreeNAS at last! (Plex, file share, PC back-ups)

[JTrizzo]

Greetings,

As my Home Server 2011 based build has filled up and hit EOL, I started looking for the next platform to build around. Freenas was the clear choice and much searching online. After a couple months of reading these forums and checking various supermicro servers/motherboards, I think I'm finally ready to pull the trigger on a build. I'm looking for centralized storage for the 3 computers in my house - not just storage, but back-up for these PCs as well. I have a HTPC, 2 chromecasts, and several iDevices that will access my movie collection from Plex. At some point in the future, once Freenas is running, I'd like to play with higher resolution surveillance cameras and have them record to this server. I could see getting 4 or 5 cameras.

Case: NZXT H440
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750FX
MB: Supermicro MBD-X11SSM-F-O
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 v6
RAM: 2x 16GB DDR4 2400MT/s ECC sticks from Crucial.com
Boot: 2x Supermicro 64GB Satadom (Mirrored)
Jail SSDs: 2x Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5" (Mirrored)
HBA: LSI 9211-8i ordered from eBay - What are the best breakout cables?
HDDs: 4x WD Red 6TB (Striped Mirrors)

With this configuration, it will meet my immediate needs, but over time, I can add ram (2 more sticks of 16GB) and add 6TB pairs until I have 10 drives.

One question I would like to hear opinions on is the CPU. This is $100 CAD more than the E3-1220v6 which doesn't have HT and have a slower clock (by 500mhz). Money well spent?

I would appreciate any comments or help.

Thanks,
JTrizzo

 

[Chris Moore]

Jail SSDs: 2x Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5" (Mirrored)

You probably want more room here. My Plex install was taking up more than 120GB last time I looked, but you don't need to put jails on SSD. There are some advantages to having the jails on a separate drive, but it is not required.

HBA: LSI 9211-8i ordered from eBay - What are the best breakout cables?

I like these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-M...-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/371681252206

One question I would like to hear opinions on is the CPU. This is $100 CAD more than the E3-1220v6 which doesn't have HT and have a slower clock (by 500mhz). Money well spent?

Yes, not for FreeNAS, but for Plex because Plex depends on the CPU for transcoding the video prior to streaming.

 

[Chris Moore]

With this configuration, it will meet my immediate needs, but over time, I can add ram (2 more sticks of 16GB) and add 6TB pairs until I have 10 drives.

PS. You would be best served to add those drives as early as possible because of the way ZFS spreads the data across all available drives. The 'old' data doesn't get re-balanced across the new drives unless you copy it to a new location in the pool and then delete it from the old location.

 

[JTrizzo]

Chris Moore! Thanks for responding.

Regarding the CPU - That makes sense, plus I'm thinking another place I could use the extra power is when I start playing with high-res surveillance cameras. Yes?

Breakout cables are ordered! They look perfect.

Samsung SSDs - I can bump them up to 500GB drives. A pair of these drives will cost $380 CAD. Can you share a little bit of the pros and cons to setting it up this way? When it comes to building any new computer, and especially this Freenas box, I don't just build for purpose, but also to have a little fun and try new things. Having separate storage spaces like this seems like a "clean" and speedier way of doing it.

You think the strategy around increasing storage is a good one?

Thanks,
JTrizzo

 

[Chris Moore]

plus I'm thinking another place I could use the extra power is when I start playing with high-res surveillance cameras. Yes?

I don't have the knowledge of that to say one way or another, but I do know that you have to be careful with that because it can take a lot of drive space quickly. There are one or two users on here that run a Windows VM to manage the video, but I don't do video and have not paid close attention to how they have said to configure for it. You might find some valuable insights by doing a search or two.

Samsung SSDs - I can bump them up to 500GB drives. A pair of these drives will cost $380 CAD. Can you share a little bit of the pros and cons to setting it up this way?

Basically, if you have your jails pool on a separate drive, you can easily move the whole jails pool to another FreeNAS and import it with minimal fuss. A user that discussed how to do that is @DrKK and he might comment here since I called him out...
The other thing about it is that SSDs are so reliable now days that you can probably skip mirroring them and just have a single SSD.
It might also be advisable to use a small SSD for the boot media instead of the SATA DOM, because they are pretty inexpensive and many users are finding great success with a single SSD for the boot media. Again, it is because they are so reliable. They are not even mirroring the SSDs, just backing up their configuration as a precaution. If you want to run mirrored drives, it is not a bad thing, just costs more.

You think the strategy around increasing storage is a good one?

It isn't a bad one, but I chose a different path. I have two RAIDz2 vdevs in my storage pool and another pool with 8 mirror vdevs to use with iSCSI.
It is a bit of a different server than what you are building.
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/my-new-48-bay-build.61223
I need to update this thread with more information and current status, but it has some photos.

 

[JTrizzo]

Basically, if you have your jails pool on a separate drive, you can easily move the whole jails pool to another FreeNAS and import it with minimal fuss. A user that discussed how to do that is @DrKK and he might comment here since I called him out...
The other thing about it is that SSDs are so reliable now days that you can probably skip mirroring them and just have a single SSD.
It might also be advisable to use a small SSD for the boot media instead of the SATA DOM, because they are pretty inexpensive and many users are finding great success with a single SSD for the boot media. Again, it is because they are so reliable. They are not even mirroring the SSDs, just backing up their configuration as a precaution. If you want to run mirrored drives, it is not a bad thing, just costs more.

I could see building another Freenas box in a couple years, so the option to move the jails could be useful.
I will consider forgoing on the satadoms. They are new to me and part of the "having fun and trying new things" part I was mentioning earlier. I also liked not having to find a way to power them. They seem convenient. Using 2 USB thumb drives seems to be losing favour and like you said, modern SSDs are quite reliable. I've has 2x Samsung 830 256GB SSDs striped in my main rig for 7 years with no issue.

 

[JTrizzo]

PS. You would be best served to add those drives as early as possible because of the way ZFS spreads the data across all available drives. The 'old' data doesn't get re-balanced across the new drives unless you copy it to a new location in the pool and then delete it from the old location.

Could "new location" simply mean new folder? and then delete from the old location and rename the new folder? I did not know this part of NFS.

 

[DrKK]

A user that discussed how to do that is @DrKK and he might comment here since I called him out...

I believe this is the relevant link https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...as-build-experiences.54242/page-2#post-376363

 

[Chris Moore]

Could "new location" simply mean new folder? and then delete from the old location and rename the new folder? I did not know this part of NFS.

Yes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk