Hello All - Build Verification

[Byrd910]

Hello all - I'm new here in the community, but have been reading for some time. I'm a System Engineer by profession, and have worked some with supporting enterprise solutions such as NetApp in the past.

I've decided to finally bite the bullet after wanting to do so for a while, and move my four 2TB disks into a FreeNAS box (they're currently split between my gaming desktop and my workstation). I mainly want to build this for the learning aspect (I've always got some new thing on the horizon), but it will also be nice to set up some CIFS shares and have Plex built-in.

I'd like any feedback people have on my proposed build and pool plans:

Build Components:
Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLL-F (LGA1150 socket)

Processor: i3-4170 (from what I can tell based on the information cyberjock posted regarding ECC with gen2-3, gen4 actually DOES support ECC)

RAM: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM

PSU: Corsair 430w modular 80+ certified

Case: Fractal Design Node 804

Hard drives: 4xSeagate Barracuda 2TB 7,200 RPM SATA III 6Gb/s

OS Storage: Samsung 32GB FIT Flash Drive

Pool Plan:

After reading and researching this for a while, my plan is to create a pool with two mirrored vdevs (so basically RAID0+1), using my four 2TB disks. I'm fine with losing the extra disk space for the performance benefits, the speed of resilvering, and the ease of upgrading the pool (either adding more mirrors or upgrading existing disks). Nothing on the pool will be irreplaceable, and I'm a little over-obsessed with keeping backups of my critical files anyway, so those will be safe.

My question is whether there are any reasons I would want to use RAID-Z2 or Z3 (which would require me purchasing more disks, which I can do) over this mirrored pool, besides Z2/Z3 perhaps being a bit safer data protection-wise? Also, if there is any feedback for the hardware I've selected, I'd love to hear that as well. I'm looking forward to diving in and learning more about FreeNAS in the weeks/months ahead!

 

[Fuganater]

I think you should only consider RaidZ3 if you are using 8-10+ disks in 1 vdev. (Which I think is too big) RaidZ2 should be for 5+ disks.

 

[Byrd910]

Thank you for the information. Let's say I have 6 disks - 6x2TB. Which of these options do you find better:

1.) 3 mirrored vdevs in the pool - each vdev is a 2-disk mirror.

2.) All 6 disks in one RAID-Z2 vdev.

Obviously the RAID-Z2 is a little more secure for the data, but is it so much more secure to outweigh the performance benefits of the mirrored pool?

EDIT: Actually, this has been debated several times in the past from a quick perusal of the forums. If anyone has any comments on the build, however, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Fuganater]

What will you be doing with this server?

I still say all disks in RAIDZ2.

I run 2x RAIDZ2 8x2TB vdevs with 1 hot spare. IDK what people talk about performance being poor. I never have any slow downs and I am running Plex and a few other plugins but they are not too heavy to use. I personally would only mirror a vedev for your jails. I am going to switch to SSD for my jails because it is said that Plex runs better (mainly loading metadata).

 

[BigDave]

I mainly want to build this for the learning aspect

The build looks fine.
Two mirrored vdevs is ok for that size pool as Fuganater mentioned, and you are right they would be easy to expand.

Please take the following with a grain of salt ;)
My start with FreeNAS was much for the same reasons as yours, I wanted to learn something new. With that said,
I'll recommend you learn to recover your pool from the inevitability of disk failure. (both pool and boot drives)
Build a test pool with mirrors, test it, break it and see how long it takes to resilver, witness the perfomance first hand and then,
tear it down and build a RAIDz2 pool (rinse and repeat).
The choice of pool configuration would then be much easier and you'll have fun :D TRUST ME lol

 

[Byrd910]

Fuganater, I plan on learning how to use FreeNAS, and running a few CIFS shares (extremely light load - likely just 1-2 people at any given time) and Plex (1-2 streams at a time). I like everything that RAID-Z2 has to offer except having to replace 6-8 disks (however many I have in the vdev) to upgrade them to a higher capacity, or having to add a second RAID-Z2 vdev to increase capacity in the pool (I know I can just add a mirror vdev at this point, but I don't like the idea of mixing vdev types in a single pool). However, I'm still open to the RAID-Z2 if it is the best option for my application.

BigDave, I think that's some good advice. Before I restore my data to the new NAS, I might play with it for a week or two and see which configuration I prefer. It'll also give me a chance to delve into more of the items FreeNAS has to offer without risking any of my data.

Thanks for the input everyone! My parts will be in tomorrow, and then it'll be playtime!

 

[gpsguy]

Given your backup strategy and experience as a SE, I'd say mirrors are fine. For the truly paranoid, one could go with 3-way mirrors.

I went that route, for many of the reasons you did and am happy with *my* decision.

Nothing on the pool will be irreplaceable, and I'm a little over-obsessed with keeping backups of my critical files anyway, so those will be safe.