FreeNas Buildout - Mid range

[mgk]

Hello All

I've been reading the forums with interest, and hopefully have pulled together the relevant threads on how to build a good rig. I'd appreciate any critique, on the below, which is replacing my ageing, and no longer working 5 bay / 15 TB Nas. That was a atom, with 4g, running a mix of WD reds and Greens in raidz. I didn't think it would last as long as it did when I built it out with freebsd in 2009, but it did well, eventually moving to ubuntu 14.04 with zfs support. Here is the chassis I'm coming from: http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/01/25/hands-on-tranquil-pc-bbs2-barebones-home-server/

So firstly, WD reds * 8 in raidz2. I've gone for 3TB, as I have some spares, and there is a good deal on in the UK at the moment.

• Seasonic X-Series 750W
• Fractal 804
• Supermicro X11SAE-M
  
• Crucial 16GB ECC DDR4 2133MHz * 2
• Xeon E3-1220 v5

Excluding the disks, this comes to about £750, so any advice on where to reduce costs would be good.

Thinking behind it is :

• Seasonic seems highly regarded, there is a small premium of £20 over the 650 W, so I thought it was best to get that head room. Read through https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.38811/.
• 804, holds a decent amount of disks in a small ish chassis. Its bigger than what I currently have, but space is a premium where I live.
• Used supermicro motherboards to build out openstack nodes at work, so I was glad to see they are highly regarded. That being said, another server board with IPMI could be considered. This one seems to be a good comprise, between whats available, and alot of features (8 sata, ecc, X11 series). I went with the X11, as you never know what I may want to do with it in a few years time, and being able to plug in another 32 gb of ram would be great
• Crucial, a brand I used before. IIRC they're rebadged micron which seems highly regarded.
• Xeon, Could trim here I suppose. Would be keen to keep the AES instructions on any replacement. I tend to use it for storing video, but not often transcoding. That being said, doing that with the old server to a PS3 worked, but barely. Maybe I'll be able to do so. The system also backs up most of my other systems. Reading some other suggestions, perhaps Pentium G4400 and then if I need too get a xeon later.

I was planning on picking up Dell H310, and reflashing it to allow a direct transfer from the previous pool. Could use a IBM ServeRAID M1015 if thats more likely to be successful. I can power from another psu, so no need to strain the seasonic. If this means I can get a lesser connected board, then great. I looked at the 6 port X11SSL-F, but unless I'm missing a key feature, the X11SAE-M costs less, due to whats available where in the uk, so it seems sensible to go with that. I've not seen this board specifically mentioned alot in other peoples posts. The X11SSM-F seems to illicit alot of discussion, but this is £30 more and not in stock. I'm not sure what the difference is.

Thanks in advance. Appreciate any help, as I've been reading through this for a while :)

/A

 

[mgk]

Links to parts :

So firstly, WD reds * 8 in raidz2. I've gone for 3TB, as I have some spares, and there is a good deal on in the UK at the moment.

• Seasonic X-Series 750W https://www.scan.co.uk/products/750w-seasonic-x-series-full-modular-80plus-gold-atx-psu
• Fractal 804 https://www.scan.co.uk/products/fra...-cube-case-with-side-window-w-o-psu-(std-atx)
• Supermicro X11SAE-M https://www.scan.co.uk/products/sup...2-(pcie)-dual-intel-gigabit-lan-usb-31-a-micr
• Crucial 16GB ECC DDR4 2133MHz * 2 https://www.scan.co.uk/products/16g...e-pc4-17000-(2133)-ecc-unbuffered-cas-15-12v

 

[RodyMcAmp]

I like your set up and for a basic NAS it looks fine, I tend to error on the side of overkill so I would stick with the 1220 or actually I would spend the $30 to $50 to get the 1230 so you would get hyperthreading.
I have used the IBM m1015 very successfully, I have read several success stories about the h310,

anyway, looks good.

 

[Arwen]

Supermicro boards without the -F don't get the IPMI. The board you list does not have IPMI and includes audio connectors.
Audio ports are generally not desired on a server, takes up power and back panel space for no benefit. There is a X11SAE-F
version of that same board with IPMI.

My opinion about new server boards, (not cheaper, free, or used ones), is to avoid the following;

• audio
• lack of IPMI
• parallel PCI card slots, (unless you actually have legacy cards to use those slots)
• fewer than 4 memory slots, (your selection DOES have 4)
• USB 1.0/1.1 ports, (your selection does not include any, great)
• SATA I, 1.5Gbps ports, (your selection does not include any, great)
• excessive video connectors, this one has 3 from the CPU

There are likely many opinions on what constitutes a server board. Filter based on what you can get,
what you need and what you understand.

 

[BigDave]

new egg has the configurator price for this combo below.
i like the board better for two reasons, no pci slot and
more pcie slots for expansion. the i3 is powerful enough
to transcode movie files and a bit cheaper than the xeon,
off setting the extra $22 you would spend on the better mobo.

• 1 × SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236
  Item #: N82E16813183013
• 1 × Intel Core i3-6100 3M 3.7 GHz LGA 1151 BX80662I36100 Desktop Processor
  Item #: 2MN-0004-00002

• $314.98

 

[mgk]

audio

• lack of IPMI
• parallel PCI card slots, (unless you actually have legacy cards to use those slots)
• fewer than 4 memory slots, (your selection DOES have 4)
• USB 1.0/1.1 ports, (your selection does not include any, great)
• SATA I, 1.5Gbps ports, (your selection does not include any, great)
• excessive video connectors, this one has 3 from the CPU

Thanks. IPMI is key to me also, and I hadn't noticed the audio ports, clear sign its not a "Server" board. I've spent too long running around the backs of racks and under desks to not get IPMI if I can, so critical to me.

Cheers

 

[mgk]

• 1 × SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236
  Item #: N82E16813183013
• 1 × Intel Core i3-6100 3M 3.7 GHz LGA 1151 BX80662I36100 Desktop Processor
  Item #: 2MN-0004-00002

• $314.98

Thanks dave, and Rody, I'll take a look at that processessor. Maybe its a good middle ground between the G4400 and the 1230 Rody suggests.

I like your set up and for a basic NAS it looks fine, I tend to error on the side of overkill so I would stick with the 1220 or actually I would spend the $30 to $50 to get the 1230 so you would get hyperthreading.
I have used the IBM m1015 very successfully, I have read several success stories about the h310,

anyway, looks good.

Good to hear the h310 sounds a safe bet.

 

[Ericloewe]

I was planning on picking up Dell H310, and reflashing it to allow a direct transfer from the previous pool. Could use a IBM ServeRAID M1015 if thats more likely to be successful.

Check out the X11SSL-CF. Yes, you end up with two fewer SATA ports, but it may be significantly cheaper.

 

[mgk]

Check out the X11SSL-CF. Yes, you end up with two fewer SATA ports, but it may be significantly cheaper.

Yeah, I think that was my starting point, Once I backed off the one with the inbuilt SAS controller (although 14 drives was nice), but I cant seem to find many stockists in the UK/EU.

These were the only uk I could see:

• https://www.lambda-tek.com/Supermic...Xk4m9IkX1c4U_dE76xhyXl_knUb8-6snzMaAilJ8P8HAQ
• https://www.xcase.co.uk/products/su...-1151-xeon-e3-v5-with-6-sata-and-lsi-3008-sas
• http://www.jrlinton.co.uk//pgProduc...-Server-Motherboard-Intel-C236-Chipset-Socket

Maybe my googlefu is rubbish :-S but the prices put it at a +~20% premium over http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813183013&Tpk=N82E16813183013 after the delivery and estimated import tax are taken into account.

If there is an EU stocker, would be happy to take a look, but not having much luck finding them. Cheers

 

[mgk]

BTW, i found some of the parts cheeper than scan at overclockers.co.uk, not sure if there are referral links to them, but they seem to be having a good sale on the seasonic in particular. In a combination of both creepy and helpful, google now prompted them after seeing me search for them repeatedly

• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-026-ss.html £90 vs £145
• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/fractal-design-node-804-micro-atx-case-black-window-ca-022-fd.html £75 vs £100

 

[Ericloewe]

https://www.sona.de/.1126238634-Supermicro-Mainboard-X11SSL-CF-Single

Their shipping is on the expensive side and slowish, but they have all sorts of Supermicro motherboards.

 

[mgk]

https://www.sona.de/.1126238634-Supermicro-Mainboard-X11SSL-CF-Single

Their shipping is on the expensive side and slowish, but they have all sorts of Supermicro motherboards.

Thanks I'll take a look.