Help with Supermicro Motherboard

[Market Guru]

Hello Community,

I hope this isn't annoying since these type of threads pop up regularly. Well here it goes:

I still haven't decided how to incorporate FreeNAS into my network setup (presented in another thread). I would start with it first and then its easier to follow guides (ex. OpenVPN by another member here).
My goal with FreeNAS would be:
1. Create Redundancy then move all my data currently sitting scattered around multiple drives into FreeNAS
2. FreeNAS will service multiple connections to my Workstation, AW 18 Laptop, Business Laptop and around the home (media: movies, videos, and music).
3. Follow OpenVPN Guide to build ownCloud so specific data can be shared, modified, uploaded to my FreeNAS outside of my WAN

Initially I was concerned about the network transfer rate been limited by common interfaces (Gigabit Ethernet) and would like to pursue 10GgE switches I quickly realize the price of these switches are currently prohibitive. (Switches $1200+) Also, it will only benefit local access times. Internet connection with only 350Mbps (max 43MB/s down and up).

Componenets in questions:
Supermicro Server Boards
X10SAE vs X10SLH-F

Without using LSI SAS9300 8i HBA, will I be able to use the onboard SATA3 to make my zpool?

Components Selected so far for FreeNAS:
CPU E3 - 1276 V3 I will be using it for transcoding and would you recommend something else?
RAM 32GB of Crucial (voltage not sure yet)
HDD: 8 x 3TB WD Red NAS Drives (doing raidz2 with 2 vdevs----vdev 1: 2+2, vdev 2: 2+2)

Please comment if this is optimal HDD setup:

My understanding is: total for raidz2 is 4, 6, 10 so without the parity 2, 4, 8 usable space multiply by drive capacity. My setup should give me vdev 1 6TB and vdev2 6TB.
Throughput and IOPS are they optimized like this?

Thank you.

 

[jgreco]

The SAE is a workstation board, and is somewhat less than optimal for NAS uses. It requires that the CPU support video and doesn't provide IPMI features as a result.

The 1231v3 is a 3.4GHz part for $250 while the 1276v3 is a 3.6GHz part for a hundred bucks more.

Personally I'd suggest that you go to the server grade hardware and go with a less expensive Xeon.

For IOPS, RAIDZ2 is never a winner, you need to mirror to have best IOPS. But a pair of RAIDZ2 vdevs is at least a good option.

 

[DJ9]

I have a X9SAE-V motherboard with a Xeon 1230v2 on my workstation. That CPU has no video support, but yes .. no IPMI feature.

For a workstation, I love this thing. :)

 

[Market Guru]

Thank you jgreco for your input!! My initial choice of 3.6ghz thought higher clock better suit FreeNAS and since I will be doing some transcoding. But I will switch it to 1231V3 and use server motherboard X10SLH-F instead.

If IOPS is moot with vdevs should I increase throughput with one vdev in raidz2 with 6+2. But this might not be optimal drive number for 4,6,10

 

[jgreco]

The faster clock speed is always nice, but you have to look at diminishing returns for significantly more cost. The reality is that if your workload is on the edge with the slightly slower CPU, then you were also going to be close with the faster CPU... so I usually avoid the sooooooper high priced highest clock speed offerings in the E3's.

IOPS is not moot but know what you need and why. Using a ZFS pool for VM datastore requires a different strategy than using it as an ISO storage archive.