Hello from Richmond, CA

[Dusty]

Hello All,

I’ve been reading the documentation and the forums for a couple weeks and have started to put together a system to replace the NAS that I have been using.

This will be my first FreeNAS build. Does anyone see a problem or have suggestions?

FreeNAS version:
FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE

Motherboard:
Supermicro X10SL7-F
Intel BX80646E31230V3 Xeon E3-1230V3 Haswell 3.3GHz
4x Crucial CT4484993 (4x8GB = 32GB)

Boot Drive:
Crucial CT16GBUSBTT 16GB USB DRIVE

Storage Drives:
5x 3TB Western Digital WD30EFRX RAID-Z2

Case:
Nanoxia Deep Silence 4 Mini Tower Case
CORSAIR RM750i

Additionally I will keep a cold spare 3TB drive.
I have yet to decide on a UPS, but I will definitely get one before this system goes into service.

I have been running "badblocks" for the past day. Should I have run it with the “-b 4096” switch? I thing so! Hopefully it will be done by Monday morning.

Again, "Hello" and thank you for the time.

-dusty

 

[BigDave]

A newer version of that cpu is now here
The E3-1231 V3 is now 100MHz faster at same cost.

Welcome to the forum :)

 

[Jailer]

Just a suggestion if you are set on having that drive sitting around as a spare. Put it something and burn it in to rule out infant mortality. Sure would suck to have a drive sitting on the shelf eating up it's warranty period only to have it die shortly after putting it in your system when the time comes.

 

[Darren Myers]

Welcome to the forums, i agree with @BigDave might as well get the newest CPU for the same price, and @Jailer i would deff burn in the cold spare drive so that you dont suffer a drive loss, start reslivering, and then loose the new drive. Also boot drives are cheap, get 2 mirror them for boot. Im not sure how good the thermals on that case are, but just make sure you have some good air moving over the drives.

 

[Dusty]

Thanks @BigDave, but too late there! I already purchased the older, slower processor. No returns allowed.
@Jailer, I am burning in the 6th drive. Thanks for the advice.
@Darren Myers, I will get a 2nd boot drive.
This case comes with two fans, one that blows across the hard drives, and one that exits.
SMART reports hardrive temperatures of 30,29,28,28,28, and 28 degrees Celsius.
Visually, It looks like the hard drive fan might be missing two of the drives. I wonder if those are the ones with temps of 30 and 29.
After badblocks finishes I will look at the hard drive temps again and see if the two outer drives (not being directly hit by the fan) are running hotter. Ultimately I only need five of the drives to be cooled. I can add a fan so that no drive is missing out on air flow.

I haven't yet flashed the LSI to IT mode, I see that this is recommended.

Thanks all! If only I had proposed my system before purchasing, then I would have a faster processor and a second boot drive on the way.

badblocks continues to run...

 

[Dusty]

Update on temperatures: 37, 35, 34, 35, 33, and 35 degrees Celsius.
These temps were taken with the case closed for a day and badblocks running for 34 hours, ambient temperature 23 degC.

 

[Darren Myers]

Thanks all! If only I had proposed my system before purchasing, then I would have a faster processor and a second boot drive on the way.

Its cool man, you got 98% of it right which is better then most people lol. So kudos to you on that, just make sure after you done with badblocks and start itching to move your data you schedule SMART tests both short and longs, scrubs, and i could also jump over and get some fancy scripts https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...d-identification-and-backup-the-config.27365/ from the very awesome Bidule0hm

 

[BigDave]

Update on temperatures: 37, 35, 34, 35, 33, and 35 degrees Celsius.
These temps were taken with the case closed for a day and badblocks running for 34 hours, ambient temperature 23 degC.

Given your region's weather patterns (year round low ambient), Those temps are good as gold (during badblocks testing) IMHO.
Perhaps next summer a front intake fan (with a speed controller) could boost your CFM during warmer weather and turned down
during the cooler winter months. Drives running too cool (below 30 degrees C) has been said to have neg. effects as well.

just make sure after you done with badblocks and start itching to move your data you schedule SMART tests both short and longs, scrubs

@Darren Myers is right on here, hammer your hardware really hard, load a few files on the newly formed pool and hammer some more ;)
Simulate a hard drive failure, learn how to fully administer, monitor and recover your volume BEFORE loading that important data.
I'm quite sure you already know this stuff, but my arthritic fingers require a bit of loosening first thing in the morning

 

[Darren Myers]

Yes pleaseee setup alerts, they come in so handy, even if its useless info that you already know; i rather have more info and not need it, then never get info and wish i had known about an issue. For instance, i upgraded my M1015's firmware from P16 to P20, but i followed @cyberjock 's advice and shutdown the server, pulled all my drives, updated FreeNAS to 9.3.1-stable-whatever; and sure enough within a few minutes of being booted it shot off an email that my 3 pools were "UNKNOWN", sure i knew this since i had them unplugged but its good to know it well, does what its supposed too. After installing the update, shutting down, flashing the card, and then plugging the drives back in, everything was 100% as if they drives were never not there.