FreeNAS or some other form of Linux/Unix?

[jgreco]

It's so nice to see that the legacy of Sperry and Burroughs hasn't been decimated the way some others were... DEC (bought by Compaq, consumed by HP, currently may be working towards irrelevancy) etc.

 

[melloa]

Lol, I still work for Unisys to this very day... ;)

For sure not the same hardware, as I was running my systems (blocking time not enough $$$ to have my own) on a A9.

I kind of smile when I hear (or read) someone saying that this PC/internet/etc is slow or their 4TB HD is full ... try a k-7 and a 300 BAUDS modem before complain. We had to turn the video off to be able to draw the screen faster!

Back to the point, I love to research new technologies - am a Electronic Engineer by graduation that took a detour to IT inside college. I have tested Buffalo, NAS4Free, Synology, OMV, and have never found a better solution for a NAS. Once a read in this forum that people keep asking for more applications/plugins but they keep forgetting that the real importance here is the Network Attached Storage. If it is not robust, there is no point. I hope with FN 10 having compatibility with dockers, we can make both sides happy.

 

[melloa]

It's so nice to see that the legacy of Sperry and Burroughs hasn't been decimated the way some others were... DEC (bought by Compaq, consumed by HP, currently may be working towards irrelevancy) etc.

Still have my DCU account to keep it alive! My first IT job in US, soon before Compaq, through HP.

 

[Mirfster]

For sure not the same hardware

Nah, if I recall correctly they still have some of that stuff displayed in the Reston HQ. I am 100% remote/home-based so rarely (if ever) head in. Funny thing is that Unisys always talks about the "greatness" they had in the past and internally the motto is "Let's be great again...".

 

[anodos]

Heh. I doubt the blog author is a sysadmin. Or perhaps he got his feelings hurt here on the forum? :)

I have heard that we are condescending at times. :)

It is disappointing that the top review on this version of the FreeNAS mini basically says: "hardware good, software bad, forums hurt my feelings" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQJ6HQC/?tag=ozlp-20

This is not to say that we should coddle someone who is pretty clearly trying to 'hold it wrong'. :)

 

[Wallybanger]

I'm a little nervous... it's looking like I'm going to pull the trigger on a $3k purchase today...

 

[melloa]

I have heard that we are condescending at times. :)

It is disappointing that the top review on this version of the FreeNAS mini basically says: "hardware good, software bad, forums hurt my feelings" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQJ6HQC/?tag=ozlp-20

This is not to say that we should coddle someone who is pretty clearly trying to 'hold it wrong'. :)

The thing about Open Source is that it gave that reviewer the opportunity to see the source and, why not say, to change to his like. Most of the people that works on Open Source software do it for free, on their own time, for passion. I don't have access to Windows code to be able to study it ;) Just let it go.

 

[Mirfster]

I'm a little nervous... it's looking like I'm going to pull the trigger on a $3k purchase today...

What are you getting?

 

[melloa]

@Wallybanger: If you are not sure yet, get something small, test options, and pull the trigger for a bigger box later. I started with old Dell 2950, built an Intel Pentium box with those 6 2T HDs and migrated, now I'm running two FN with 40TBx32GRAM for redundancy. Just take a step at a time ...

 

[Wallybanger]

Fractal Design Define R5 Titanium Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case
9x Seagate NAS HDD ST4000VN000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive
SeaSonic SSR-650RM 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
2x Kingston ValueRAM 16GB (1 x 16G) DDR4 2133 Server Memory ECC DIMM (288-Pin) RAM KVR21E15D8/16
Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 SkyLake 3.4 GHz LGA 1151 80W BX80662E31230V5 Server Processor
SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSH-LN4F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236

 

[mattbbpl]

If you're feeling nervous, you could create a thread with your proposed hardware in the hardware forum. That will attract a lot of the hardware guys to go through it with a fine toothed comb.

I'd offer input here, but I'm not up to date on the Skylake limitations.

 

[Wallybanger]

If you're feeling nervous, you could create a thread with your proposed hardware in the hardware forum. That will attract a lot of the hardware guys to go through it with a fine toothed comb.

I'd offer input here, but I'm not up to date on the Skylake limitations.

I did actually but it didn't really attract a whole lot of attention. At this point I'm guessing things are pretty good but dropping $3k is never an easy thing to do :)

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/preorder-hardware-check.43999/

 

[Mirfster]

Yeah, being that drives are usually a majority of the cost have you ever considered looking at "used, but tested and warrantied" drives? I know that route is not for everyone, but worth considering.

HDDs -- 8x HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" $1400

On eBay, you could get six (6) of the "HGST Hitachi Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS40003272SN" (which are new) for $150.00/each; which would be ~$25.00 cheaper for a savings of $150.00 (since they only have 6 available).

Also, you may want to see if there are any "Father's Day" sales which would help cut costs...

 

[Spearfoot]

And if used drives don't appeal to you, Amazon is an authorized Western Digital reseller and offers new WD 4TB Red disks for $150, complete with 3 year manufacturer's warranty. Don't get me wrong. I like the HGST Deskstar NAS drives, too, and own some of them. But honestly... I don't think you'll notice any difference in performance, and the WD disks will run a little cooler, too.

 

[Wallybanger]

I just pulled the trigger. $3050.00CAD for everything, including 2 SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16gb flash drives and a third 140mm FD fan. I changed up at the last second and got 9 Seagate 4TB NAS drives as they went on sale for $165CAD each. That's the cheapest I've seen 4TB NAS drives since I started looking about 2 months ago. Back then I couldn't find a single drive for under $200. I'll have to not look at HDD prices in 6 months when those same drives are $100 each lol.

 

[melloa]

I just pulled the trigger.

Now is assembly time. Getting FN up and running will be easy. Have fun :)

 

[Mirfster]

Now is assembly time. Getting FN up and running will be easy. Have fun :)

Don't forget the Burn-In... ;)

 

[Wallybanger]

Now is assembly time. Getting FN up and running will be easy. Have fun :)

Thanks! Hopefully all goes smoothly.

Don't forget the Burn-In... ;)

I'm all over it. Can you burn in an individual disk? I ask because I bought 9 (8 + a spare) and I only have 8 SATA ports on that mobo so I'm going to have to swap out and burn in the spare.

 

[jgreco]

I'm all over it. Can you burn in an individual disk? I ask because I bought 9 (8 + a spare) and I only have 8 SATA ports on that mobo so I'm going to have to swap out and burn in the spare.

Run it with the eight for six weeks (~1000 hours is usually sufficient to identify infant mortality in HDD's). Pull one drive, simulating a total failure of a HDD. Learn how to replace the drive using the 9th drive. Shelve the pulled drive, which is now fully burned in, and then let the other one run for awhile to make sure it's okay. Maybe don't get too OCD about burning in that replaced drive because it's unlikely to fail along with a pile of already-burned-in drives.

 

[Wallybanger]

Run it with the eight for six weeks (~1000 hours is usually sufficient to identify infant mortality in HDD's). Pull one drive, simulating a total failure of a HDD. Learn how to replace the drive using the 9th drive. Shelve the pulled drive, which is now fully burned in, and then let the other one run for awhile to make sure it's okay. Maybe don't get too OCD about burning in that replaced drive because it's unlikely to fail along with a pile of already-burned-in drives.

Check. So you're suggesting I just pull the power or sata cable on one of the drives while the system is running or power down and just swap out the drive?