Hardware Advice

[Randymations]

This is a part two to my original post as I felt it was appropriate to make a new post considering I had to restart my hardware search. My goals remain unchanged and my intention is this post serves as a sanity check for me. I believe I have accounted for the necessary variables but would like second opinions before I sink a couple thousand into this. I also have some minor additional questions.
The build:
x1

Pardon Our Interruption...

www.ebay.com

x12

Pardon Our Interruption...

www.ebay.com

I also plan on asking the seller to add an additional 128 GB of the same RAM to the system.

Alternate option for the system:

Pardon Our Interruption...

www.ebay.com

Alternate options for the drives:

Pardon Our Interruption...

www.ebay.com

Pardon Our Interruption...

www.ebay.com

The questions:
1. Am I missing anything critical?
2. Is it necessary to double the memory of the system? I read that you should have at least 1 GB per TB. If not necessary, how beneficial would it be?
3. Since I plan on running RAIDZ3, I think it makes sense to go for the more computationally powerful system. Is this correct?
4. In many of the systems names, I see something similar to "E5-2620v4". What does this mean? Comparing the specs, it looks like this indicates the specs of the CPU. Is there a guide on what all the different numbers and codes in a SuperMicro server name mean?

Thanks as usual for any and all info

 

[Etorix]

1. Not that I see.
2. "1 GB RAM per TB storage" is a very vague rule of thumb, which relaxes as you go for more RAM and more storage. 64 GB RAM should be fine, but having 128 GB cannot hurt.
3. What do you mean by "computationally powerful"? If you're serving SMB to clients, you want higher base clock but few threads (SMB is limited to 1 thread per client).
4. "Xeon E5" is the line (now succeeded by Xeon Scalable), "v4" is the generation (v1 and v2 use LGA2011; v3 and v4 use LGA2011-3) and "2xxx" is a model number where '2' means "two-socket capable".
For Supermicro, look at their naming conventions.

 

[danb35]

"E5-2620v4". What does this mean?

...and in case Etorix' comment wasn't clear, this is a CPU, so the question would be about Intel's naming conventions, not Supermicro's.

 

[Randymations]

In response to Etorix:
2. You definitely answered my question but, to be clear, the system comes with 128 and I was asking if I should go for 256 since it will have 216 TB storage.
3. Apologies. I was using the term "more computationally powerful" to refer to a system with a CPU of higher core count, thread count, and clock speed. I'm not concerned with having to serve more than maybe a handful of users at a time (definitely fewer than ten, typically only one or two). My bigger concern is making sure client-to-server transfer speeds won't be bottlenecked (or will be bottlenecked as little as possible) by the RAIDZ3 operations. It sounds like you agree that the additional 0.5 GHz is worth the money.
4. Very useful, thank you!

 

[Randymations]

this is a CPU, so the question would be about Intel's naming conventions, not Supermicro's.

Yea haha, not super familiar with the Xeon naming conventions and both listings neglected the word "Xeon" so I didn't immediately recognize it as such. I get what's going on now, thank you.

 

[Constantin]

Keep in mind that if you’re planning on using SMB that file transfers won’t go any faster than single-threaded. Ie having multiple CPUs will do little more than allow more PCIe slots to be filled and used. Intended use matters.

 

[joeschmuck]

I think Use Case is very important here and this is from your linked thread:

First off, the goal of my NAS is to serve as archival storage, web storage, and a large file transfer system. Multiple web systems will be using it as their primary storage. My minimum requirements are 64 TB usable with either RAIDZ2 or RAID10.

So far I see nothing that has a lot of hardware requirements. It does not look like you are hosting a web server on this NAS, it is just for storage.

The rule about 1GB RAM for 1TB Storage is really meant for some serious NAS usage, like a server farm. I would think that given the requirements of just being simple storage, 64GB RAM is plenty, but the system you have selected has 128GB RAM, I suspect it's ECC being a server. If you plan to do something else like run VM's within the NAS, that changes the Use Case and should be re-evaluated. But you can always add more RAM if you need it.

To answer your questions from my perspective and I am not a Guru, nor an IT person. Just a home person.

1. Yes I think so, you are looking to purchase an old server which are power hungry. If this is a business venture then spend the money to buy new parts, they will save in energy costs, cooling costs, and hopefully noise as well. If this is just a home server, which I doubt, then you are okay with the hardware selection. Just a question because I honestly do not know the answer... Can you plug in a SATA hard drive in to a SAS backplane? I know the physical connection is the same but I have no experience with SAS backplanes. Again, just my unprofessional opinion.

2. Answered already above.

3. Ther CPU you have selected will be fine, just because it's RAIDZ3 does not mean it needs more computing power. There are servers out there that run on an Atom CPU and I'm sure someone has a RAIDZ3 out there.

4. Do a Google Search for the CPU numbers and look for a website that is "intel ark" and it will describe the CPU and this is a great reference to use when designing a system. But the server sale referenced comes with these two CPUs already installed. From a cost perspective this is a nice deal, but I refer to my answer in #1.

I can see that this server you have selected does give you a lot for the money, it really does. However this makes sense if you are just starting a company and need to save some money. CPUs and RAM don't often go bad, neither do quality motherboards.

Make sure this is what you want/need and move forward.

If you purchase this, once you first get it, you have 30 days to return it so I'd visually inspect it, dust it out with some compressed air, make sure all the fans are spinning and are "quiet" (no bearing failure noise). The fans are very important in a case like this. This includes the power supply fans. With the top on the server (you must maintain proper airflow and the cover is part of that), run a CPU stress test for several days to heat saturate the motherboard and make sure it all just works. I know some companies will run this for 30 days to ensure it will survive before placing it online. You will be providing your own hard drives and I'm not sure if you can use SATA in a SAS backplane, I mentioned that above.

If this all works out, please let us know.

 

[Randymations]

If this is just a home server, which I doubt, then you are okay with the hardware selection.

This actually is a home server. I plan on using it for everything I outlined in my previous post plus possibly some business-related operations in the future -- I'm leaving my options open. I appreciate the assurance.

Can you plug in a SATA hard drive in to a SAS backplane?

Yes! At least according to this post (last sentence)

look for a website that is "intel ark" and it will describe the CPU

Wow, thanks! That really shows what kind of a deal I'm getting on this, kind of insane these CPUs retail for $2k each.

Additional thanks for the "after it arrives" instructions. I will be doing this. As for the stress test, referencing this thread, do you recommend the jail method or the live Linux ISO method? Why either specifically?

If this all works out, please let us know.

I feel confident in this and have placed the orders. Thanks, everyone. I will update here accordingly with any further issues.

 

[danb35]

kind of insane these CPUs retail for $2k each.

So did the Xeon Gold 6132s I now have. But a few months ago (when I bought my current motherboard) you could buy them on eBay for $30 each.

 

[joeschmuck]

As for the stress test, referencing this thread, do you recommend the jail method or the live Linux ISO method? Why either specifically?

I have always used "UBCD" which is a bootable CD (iso image) that has many testing utilities. It has MemTest86, MemTest86+, mprime, and others. I would rather not install TrueNAS on untested hardware and then create a jail (CORE Only) just to run stability testing. That is my personal preference. You can search the internet for "The Ultimate Boot CD" UBCD and download the iso image.