Hello from Sydney, Australia

[Hesqe]

Hello TrueNAS/FreeNAS community,

I am an Aussie new to any type of NAS systems, and would like to explore how I could utilise TrueNAS for my SOHO as part of my DIY projects and as an excuse to learn about NAS

Glad to join the TrueNAS/FreeNAS community and hope that I can learn from other experts, and provide artifacts for other people looking for the same answers.

 

[Constantin]

Welcome to the community!

Australia is an amazing continent. Every time I go back, there is something new to experience. I am using FreeNAS but am planning on making the transition in the near future to TrueNAS. So many cool features, it's like exploring Kings Canyon with its tons of features and not enough time to drink them all in.

The Australia trip made for a great inspiration re: Paper-Mache for Halloween, resulting in a Drop Bear, Saltie, and Dream Serpent.

 

[Hesqe]

Welcome to the community!

Australia is an amazing continent. Every time I go back, there is something new to experience. I am using FreeNAS but am planning on making the transition in the near future to TrueNAS. So many cool features, it's like exploring Kings Canyon with its tons of features and not enough time to drink them all in.

The Australia trip made for a great inspiration re: Paper-Mache for Halloween, resulting in a Drop Bear, Saltie, and Dream Serpent.

Australia is a great and blessed place!

There are so many places that you could explore at the outback, and the beach/reefs are marvelous as well.

I saw TrueNAS has now gone pass the initial development stages and is more stable to use with all the great features, so I would like to give that a try.

Your artwork reminds me of Vivid Sydney right away. Have you ever visit sydney for Vivid Sydney? If not, I think you should and you might showcase some of your artwork there someday

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

Hi @Hesqe - Welcome aboard. You first starting points should be going through the resources:

• General: https://www.truenas.com/community/resources/
• Hardware Recommendations Guide Rev 2a) 2021-01-24
• What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?
• Building, Burn-In, and Testing your FreeNAS system

 

[Constantin]

...you might showcase some of your artwork there someday

The folks who put Vivid together are on another level. We got to see it in 2018, inside the Tauranga zoo as well as downtown Sydney. A great event.

Our efforts is just having some fun with the kids building paper-mache! Some day I want to recreate a dune worm. But that’s likely when the kids are out of the house, I have more time, and my wife wants me out of the house too! :)

 

[Hesqe]

Hi @Hesqe - Welcome aboard. You first starting points should be going through the resources:

• General: https://www.truenas.com/community/resources/
• Hardware Recommendations Guide Rev 2a) 2021-01-24
• What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?
• Building, Burn-In, and Testing your FreeNAS system

Hi @Newfoundland.Republic,
Thanks for the great tips! There will be a fair bit of reads for me to get myself up to scratch with TrueNAS

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

@Hesqe - Reading is good

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Look through the forums (especially, TrueNAS General and Will it FreeNAS? - FreeNAS Build Discussion) and keep in mind there are things that you can do, and things that you should do. There are "known good/know to work" components, and configurations - if your data is important to you keep on the "known good/know to work" side of things. Other configurations may work, may cause frustration in getting to work or (maybe the worst case) may work and then "bad things happen". The community is generally really good in helping out on the "known" side of things. Your mileage may vary on help outside of that.
2. Always remember that ZFS (and RAID, for that matter) is no substitute for good backups!
3. With respect to ZFS, take a good read on ZFS configuration - it can be a bit of a slog (but not that slog - when you read the ZFS stuff you will understand if you haven't already )
4. Do not use a RAID card unless it can be properly flashed to IT mode.
5. Do not rule out "previously loved" (i.e., used) older generation server gear. It is great bang for the buck. The only downside can be the format (e.g., rack) and noise (e.g., server gear is made for the data centre where noise generally isn't an issue)
6. Keep in mind that TrueNAS is a server - not a gaming rig.
7. Watch out for SMR drives - WD Red SMR Drive Compatibility with ZFS. It is not only WD Red, either; other vendors also have drives that are SMR.

Finally, good luck! I have found that TrueNAS is a learning experience; sometime frustrating. But when you get it worked out, it is a rock.

--Edit--
I forgot to add that enterprise server gear has IPMI. Once you start to use it, you will come to love it. One thing to keep in mind is try to get a newer board/server with IPMI that uses HTML5 instead of java.

--Edit 2--
Depending on your experience you may know most of the above - I'm just trying to cover all the bases

 

[Constantin]

I agree that it's a very good idea to plan a lot in advance and use the collective wisdom of the community to help you plan your system. I started with a Mini and graduated to a SuperMicro board with a bit more capacity and a much better reliability. So make use of the resource guides (there are several) for recommended builds and I heartily agree that buying used can be a much better deal than importing new gear into Oz.

The use case should drive your decision-making process, especially if you plan to use the system for a while. For example, a simple SOHO installation with just file serving on the menu is a very different hardware requirement than someone editing 4K videos on a server or transcoding 4K via Plex. I overbought on the CPU side, would be $500 richer if I'd bought the D-1508 vs. the D-1537 version of my motherboard. (Plus better performance for SMB and AFP).

Despite the best efforts of the community re: guides and IXsystems, the initial setup is a steep learning curve. There will be plenty of things that will frustrate you because they seem so clear in the manual and then they still don't work when you try them out. Searching the forum here can usually answer questions and if not, the community is very supportive. When I rebuild my server for TrueNAS 12, I hope to nuke my ipconfig 100% and start over, hopefully ending up with a bridged SFP+ port setup.

I agree that IPMI is helpful though in a SOHO setting less so than in a server farm. After all, it's not that hard to head to whatever your "server room" is, hook up a USB keyboard and monitor to achieve many of the same features as IPMI. I leave IPMI disconnected due to security unless I need it. I'd also consider putting the IPMI MAC / IP address into a sandbox where it doesn't get to talk to the internet at all (at the router level).

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

SOHO setting less so than in a server farm

I don't know about you @Constantin, but I rather like sitting back in my recliner in my TV room instead of being in my office!

 

[Constantin]

Fair enough, especially in the context of potential drop bears and bunyips lying in wait on the way to the office. Can never be too careful.

that said, the biggest benefit I found with IPMI is that it’s the easiest way to upgrade a BIOS firmware.