Freakin
Cadet
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2016
- Messages
- 3
First, this forum is amazing for the huge wealth of knowledge on FreeNAS and ZFS in general.
I've got an aged media server running on Win2k8 (with a now-broken FlexRAID install I use just for pooling) and it's time to replace.
I have some ZFS experience from building a NAS for some friends that I provide IT support for (Xeon w/ 32GB ECC, 12x WD RE4 drives, ~500GB L2ARC & 20GB ZIL on SLC NAND) that handles about 150 running VMs over iSCSI. This is running on OpenFiler/OpenIndiana and is about 4 years old at this point.
My need is primarily for media storage, but my ESXi server (w/ local storage) also died so I'd like to build something that could handle low-moderate VM workloads over iSCSI or NFS. I will likely not be running VMs directly on the NAS.
I've been a long-term XBMC/Kodi user but recently I've been planning a switch to Plex. I'm looking for a build that will handle 4-6 simultaneous 1080p streams/transcodes (mostly inside the network), as well as all media downloading (sab/CP/sickbeard) without choking on a badly damaged set of rar files.
Here's what I'm looking at right now
Mainboard:Supermicro 10SRH-CLN4F-O
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1620
Memory: (2x) Samsung M393A4K40BB0-CPB = 64GB total
Case:Leaning towards a 3U Norco (RPC-3216) unless I can get a deal on a used SuperMicro
Power Supply:Seasonic X-1050 (I require at least 700-750 peak by my calculations)
Disk: (10x) WD RED 6TB
So a few questions
1) Should I get that SuperMicro board with integrated LSI controller (which I'd probably have to flash to IT mode anyway) and 4 gigabit ports, or just get a different model in the same family and use a M1015 instead for extra sata ports?
2) Knowing I want to support some virtual machines, what should I do for L2ARC? Would something like a pair of ~250gb MLC or TLC SSDs striped be effective?
3) ZIL/SLOG - I'm not as familiar with the term SLOG, but it appears it is just putting the ZIL on a separate/dedicated device to store the write intents (which is what I did last time I built a ZFS nas). Is a MLC SSD fast enough, or should I be going with an SLC based SSD? Are there any inexpensive options (<$200) w/ supercaps?
4) Is RAIDZ2 a good choice for primarily media storage? Will that still allow me to handle some VMs with a decent sized L2ARC? I don't know if I can stomach the extra cost for RAID10 right now.
5) With a 16 bay chassis, am I better off just getting 2x M1015 and running entirely off there, or should I use the motherboard sata ports?
6) Are SATA DOMs a good choice for boot device? Should I mirror these? How much space does a base FreeNAS install consume?
Thanks in advice! Can't wait to get this build going!
I've got an aged media server running on Win2k8 (with a now-broken FlexRAID install I use just for pooling) and it's time to replace.
I have some ZFS experience from building a NAS for some friends that I provide IT support for (Xeon w/ 32GB ECC, 12x WD RE4 drives, ~500GB L2ARC & 20GB ZIL on SLC NAND) that handles about 150 running VMs over iSCSI. This is running on OpenFiler/OpenIndiana and is about 4 years old at this point.
My need is primarily for media storage, but my ESXi server (w/ local storage) also died so I'd like to build something that could handle low-moderate VM workloads over iSCSI or NFS. I will likely not be running VMs directly on the NAS.
I've been a long-term XBMC/Kodi user but recently I've been planning a switch to Plex. I'm looking for a build that will handle 4-6 simultaneous 1080p streams/transcodes (mostly inside the network), as well as all media downloading (sab/CP/sickbeard) without choking on a badly damaged set of rar files.
Here's what I'm looking at right now
Mainboard:Supermicro 10SRH-CLN4F-O
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1620
Memory: (2x) Samsung M393A4K40BB0-CPB = 64GB total
Case:Leaning towards a 3U Norco (RPC-3216) unless I can get a deal on a used SuperMicro
Power Supply:Seasonic X-1050 (I require at least 700-750 peak by my calculations)
Disk: (10x) WD RED 6TB
So a few questions
1) Should I get that SuperMicro board with integrated LSI controller (which I'd probably have to flash to IT mode anyway) and 4 gigabit ports, or just get a different model in the same family and use a M1015 instead for extra sata ports?
2) Knowing I want to support some virtual machines, what should I do for L2ARC? Would something like a pair of ~250gb MLC or TLC SSDs striped be effective?
3) ZIL/SLOG - I'm not as familiar with the term SLOG, but it appears it is just putting the ZIL on a separate/dedicated device to store the write intents (which is what I did last time I built a ZFS nas). Is a MLC SSD fast enough, or should I be going with an SLC based SSD? Are there any inexpensive options (<$200) w/ supercaps?
4) Is RAIDZ2 a good choice for primarily media storage? Will that still allow me to handle some VMs with a decent sized L2ARC? I don't know if I can stomach the extra cost for RAID10 right now.
5) With a 16 bay chassis, am I better off just getting 2x M1015 and running entirely off there, or should I use the motherboard sata ports?
6) Are SATA DOMs a good choice for boot device? Should I mirror these? How much space does a base FreeNAS install consume?
Thanks in advice! Can't wait to get this build going!