Help on a build for a small video production company

[Sherwoodwf]

I’ve a few questions about building a FreeNAS, I’ve never done this before but our main goal here is to save costs.

A bit of background on us, we’re a small video production company who have about 15 x 2TB drives that we storage our projects and work off. We use HDD docking bays to work off and it’s just not safe, we had one drive fail and we were stupid not having any backup or redundancy system in place.

I know this system isn’t a backup system it’s just a small step for us to ensure we have a bit more redundancy in place for our storage. I’ve done a lot of research into this and seemed to come up with more questions than answers the more I look into it.

Anyways I’ve got a system in mind after some research which is as follows:

• ASRock C2550D4I https://www.smartteck.co.uk/asrock-...-avoton.html?gclid=CNH7uMqVgssCFcSRGwodHZUKlw
• Crucial DDR3 16GB ECC https://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-crucial-ddr3-pc3-12800-(1600)-240-pins-ecc-registered-cas-11
• SilverStone Technology Premium Mini-ITX / DTX Small Form Factor NAS Computer Case, Black (DS380B)https://www.scan.co.uk/products/8-b...nas-case-with-3-fans-35-25-hdd-ssd-sata-sas-w
• SanDisk Ultra Fit 16 GB USB http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ult...1455828399&sr=8-8&keywords=SanDisk+Cruzer+Fit
• Silverstone Strider 450W Modular Power Supply - https://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-silverstone-sst-st45sf-g-strider-sfx-modular-80plus-gold-psu

In terms of hard drives I’m torn between 8 x 2TB WD RED drives or 8 x 4TB WD Red Drives. It all depends on how easy it is to expand the storage later on.

I have a few questions and thoughts on this setup and how well/bad it would work?

• Will this set up support our workflow?
• I’ve read a lot about intel nics and that they are the way to go and this motherboard has 2 of them? Would I need more?
• Also I’ve read about linking up ports to a switch? Is this really worth it if I’m hooking up 3 machines to these
• Realistically how fast would it take to copy a 250GB set of files from the NAS to a local machine through ethernet cables? How much would this time go up if we did 2 at once to 2 workstations?
• Is a switch worth getting for 3 workstations? And what are the benefits for it?
• I was going for RAIDZ2, if a hard drive failed how long realistically would it take to rebuild? Is it an easy process? Are there certain requirements for the new hard drive to replace it?
• How easy is it to increase the storage of hard drives? Would I be able to replace 2TB drives to 4TB drives? Or would I need to build a new raid?

 

[anodos]

... our main goal here is to save costs.

Never a good main goal. :D

A few quick points.
1) Although the motherboard has lots of SATA ports, the ones linked to the marvell controllers aren't exactly stable under FreeBSD. So you have 6 usable ports.
2) Perhaps a node 804 (not sure about this one) + Supermicro X10SL7 + Pentium Processor (or i3) + 550W PSU is a better option (and might be cheaper).
3) LACP isn't worth it with only 3 machines, and you need a managed switch to do that anyway.
4) I think it'd take maybe an hour or two to move 250GB set of files, but it depends on their size.
5) A switch is worth getting. It doesn't have to be fancy. Don't skimp on network hardware or take shortcuts. You'll regret them later.
6) I'd start with 8 * 4TB drives. ZFS likes to have lots of free space. It'll save money in the long run.
7) Figure out your backup solution now while the wallet is open. My experience with small business IT is that getting the wallet open is an accomplishment. Get all your purchases done before it closes again.

 

[Mirfster]

I was going for RAIDZ2, if a hard drive failed how long realistically would it take to rebuild? Is it an easy process? Are there certain requirements for the new hard drive to replace it?

RaidZ2 is my recommendation, that way you can withstand 2 drive failures. Process is pretty easy to replace a failed drive. Only requirements for a replacement hard drive is that it is the same size of bigger. If bigger, it will only use the same space of the smaller drive. Like if your drives are 4TB and in you replace one with a 8TB, it will only use 4TB of the new drive.

How easy is it to increase the storage of hard drives? Would I be able to replace 2TB drives to 4TB drives? Or would I need to build a new raid?

Easy as well, just replace one drive at a time and let it re-silver. Then "wash and repeat" the process. When all the drives in a vdev have been replaced with larger drives, the space will "auto-expand" and you will now have increased storage. As well, you could also just add the new drives as a separate vdev; then add that vdev to the pool and viola! more space. :)

 

[anodos]

RaidZ2 is my recommendation, that way you can withstand 2 drive failures. Process is pretty easy to replace a failed drive. Only requirements for a replacement hard drive is that it is the same size of bigger. If bigger, it will only use the same space of the smaller drive. Like if your drives are 4TB and in you replace one with a 8TB, it will only use 4TB of the new drive.


Easy as well, just replace one drive at a time and let it re-silver. Then "wash and repeat" the process. When all the drives in a vdev have been replaced with larger drives, the space will "auto-expand" and you will now have increased storage. As well, you could also just add the new drives as a separate vdev; then add that vdev to the pool and viola! more space. :)

Of course, if you're billing your time swapping out drives, resilvering, and mucking around with GUI, it might be more cost-effective to just buy the larger drives outright.

 

[Mirfster]

Of course, if you're billing your time swapping out drives, resilvering, and mucking around with GUI, it might be more cost-effective to just buy the larger drives outright.

Shh... How you gonna make more money if you don't leave "work" for yourself?.... :P

 

[Sherwoodwf]

Mirfster thanks for them answers!

Never a good main goal. :D

A few quick points.
1) Although the motherboard has lots of SATA ports, the ones linked to the marvell controllers aren't exactly stable under FreeBSD. So you have 6 usable ports.
2) Perhaps a node 804 (not sure about this one) + Supermicro X10SL7 + Pentium Processor (or i3) + 550W PSU is a better option (and might be cheaper).
3) LACP isn't worth it with only 3 machines, and you need a managed switch to do that anyway.
4) I think it'd take maybe an hour or two to move 250GB set of files, but it depends on their size.
5) A switch is worth getting. It doesn't have to be fancy. Don't skimp on network hardware or take shortcuts. You'll regret them later.
6) I'd start with 8 * 4TB drives. ZFS likes to have lots of free space. It'll save money in the long run.
7) Figure out your backup solution now while the wallet is open. My experience with small business IT is that getting the wallet open is an accomplishment. Get all your purchases done before it closes again.

Thanks for that, I never realised that about the motherboard and that would have been a pain down the line! I also put this up on another board and have been suggested that a HP microserver may be a good route for the time being while we get time to expand further on.

Also in terms of the wallet being open, I'm one of the directors of the business (it's only a small business at the moment, 3 directors + 1 employee) which means it's not as easy as I have the 2 others trying to bring costs down for the time being. However we are all aware this is just something to keep us going until we get some more funds.

Have you guys had any experience with the microserver as the guy who recommended it said it's a extremely common "prebuilt" freenas rig in the community?

Thanks

 

[gpsguy]

There have been at least 5 different models of the HP Microserver. In general they are limited to 4 drives.

Based on what you've told us, you will have outgrown it before you start. If cost is holding you back - I would start with with fewer/smaller drives, but start with the Supermicro server and grow into it.




Sent from my phone

 

[Mirfster]

+1 for what GPSGuy said. Plus I think that they max out at 16 GB Ram (I may be incorrect on that..). Of course that also disqualifies the normally recommended Dell T20 (which can do 32 GB Ram)..

3 directors + 1 employee

What did you unionize from the start... :P

Will toss out a shout to my favorite system (older but I love em)..... Dell C2100/FS12-TY with a H200 (flashed to IT Mode). It is a 2U and not for everyone, but may be worth a looksy...

 

[Sherwoodwf]

Based on what you've told us, you will have outgrown it before you start. If cost is holding you back - I would start with with fewer/smaller drives, but start with the Supermicro server and grow into it.

I mean in terms of actual live data that we need ready to use should only be 3-4TB at most and then they should be archived once finished, but my plan is to get a few options together that I can show the rest of the team and outline what's the drawbacks/advantages of each one and put it to a vote so I'm open to any option at the moment.

Do you have any in mind that you would recommend as I just wouldn't know where to start with supermicro?

Thanks

 

[depasseg]

I really like my freenas1 supermicro setup. specs in my sig.