Home File Server/Backup/Plex Build

[yetipaw]

We have a lot of family data strewn about in HD's (USB), so it is time to put everything in one place and have some HA (High Availability in probably two different arrays (will use one array comprised of 4 HD's and the other array will also be 4 HD's)

Please advise on the following build:

1) Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSH-CTF-O

2) WD Red 6TB NAS Hard Drive - 5400 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD60EFRX (8x)

3) Intel Xeon E3-1275 Processors BX80677E31275V6 (will do some transcoding and a couple of VM's)

4) Supermicro MEM-DR480L-CL02-EU24 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) ECC Unbuffered Memory RAM (8x of these to max out mobo)

5) & 6) & 7) Have PSU (gold) and Case enclosure. Also, have GTX 1080 Ti (although not sure about this) <-- olde build spare parts.

8) Do I need this for read speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Read Cache (L2ARC) Upgrade.

9) Do I need this for write speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Write Cache (ZIL) Upgrade

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jailer]

Also, have GTX 1080 Ti (although not sure about this)

Not needed, the board you have selected has IPMI so there's no need for a video card.

8) Do I need this for read speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Read Cache (L2ARC) Upgrade.

For your use case you likely won't need L2ARC.

9) Do I need this for write speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Write Cache (ZIL) Upgrade

Again not needed for your stated use case.

The rest of what you have selected looks good. One thing you haven't listed is what you plan on using for a boot device. I would strongly recommend an inexpensive SSD.

 

[yetipaw]

Not needed, the board you have selected has IPMI so there's no need for a video card.

For your use case you likely won't need L2ARC.

Again not needed for your stated use case.

The rest of what you have selected looks good. One thing you haven't listed is what you plan on using for a boot device. I would strongly recommend an inexpensive SSD.

Ok.. will procure a 250 Gig SSD for the boot file. Also, why do IXsystems mention the Read/Write SSD's if they are not needed? What's the use case scenario to take advantage of these read/write SSD's?

 

[Constantin]

I found some benefit from a ZIL and a L2ARC. The former helps dealing with my Z3 array (lots of parity to write), the latter seems to speed up rsync performance for backup purposes. But I have yet to do more tests.

 

[yetipaw]

Thanks Constantin. It may be a bit of overkill, albeit I rather be proactive rather than reactive for unusual server i/o activity and will most probably get two additional SSDs just for that purpose.

 

[Bozon]

We have a lot of family data strewn about in HD's (USB), so it is time to put everything in one place and have some HA (High Availability in probably two different arrays (will use one array comprised of 4 HD's and the other array will also be 4 HD's)

Please advise on the following build:

1) Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSH-CTF-O

2) WD Red 6TB NAS Hard Drive - 5400 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD60EFRX (8x)

3) Intel Xeon E3-1275 Processors BX80677E31275V6 (will do some transcoding and a couple of VM's)

4) Supermicro MEM-DR480L-CL02-EU24 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) ECC Unbuffered Memory RAM (8x of these to max out mobo)

5) & 6) & 7) Have PSU (gold) and Case enclosure. Also, have GTX 1080 Ti (although not sure about this) <-- olde build spare parts.

8) Do I need this for read speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Read Cache (L2ARC) Upgrade.

9) Do I need this for write speed or any regular SSD will do? FreeNAS Mini Write Cache (ZIL) Upgrade

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Just an FYI, this board requires the onboard SAS controller to be flashed to IT Mode. Some inexperienced people have had problems with this. You can get another popular Supermicro board and get one of the many pre flashed SAS controllers from ebay ( I think it actually ends up being a few dollars cheaper). Check recent builds threads for suggestions. In the resources area is information on flashing the SAS controller.

Good Luck.

 

[yetipaw]

Just an FYI, this board requires the onboard SAS controller to be flashed to IT Mode. Some inexperienced people have had problems with this. You can get another popular Supermicro board and get one of the many pre flashed SAS controllers from ebay ( I think it actually ends up being a few dollars cheaper). Check recent builds threads for suggestions. In the resources area is information on flashing the SAS controller.

Good Luck.

Thank you. I read this on an amazon review about this particular SAS controller needing to be in IT mode; you have another board in mind w/ preflashed SAS controllers?

 

[Jailer]

Just an FYI, this board requires the onboard SAS controller to be flashed to IT Mode. Some inexperienced people have had problems with this. You can get another popular Supermicro board and get one of the many pre flashed SAS controllers from ebay ( I think it actually ends up being a few dollars cheaper). Check recent builds threads for suggestions. In the resources area is information on flashing the SAS controller.

Good Luck.

It's no more difficult than flashing in add in card. Just follow the directions posted here many times and you'll have no issues. I've flashed mine a couple times since I've owned it.

 

[Jailer]

What's the use case scenario to take advantage of these read/write SSD's?

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/some-insights-into-slog-zil-with-zfs-on-freenas.13633/

 

[Bozon]

It's no more difficult than flashing in add in card. Just follow the directions posted here many times and you'll have no issues. I've flashed mine a couple times since I've owned it.

Agreed. I had 2 points, I was trying to make. One was to make sure that the person knew to flash the onboard SAS controller to IT mode, because it hadn't been mentioned in the thread, yet. Point two, I didn't know how experienced the user was in flashing boards.
I mentioned SAS cards on eBay, because many of the SAS cards sold on eBay come pre-flashed, so someone doesn't have to go through the trouble if they are uncomfortable with the process.

 

[Bozon]

Thank you. I read this on an amazon review about this particular SAS controller needing to be in IT mode; you have another board in mind w/ preflashed SAS controllers?

I could, but then that would be helpful. ;-) Actually, it will be more helpful for me to tell you to spend 30 minutes viewing some other recent threads in this forum. Several super contributors have recommended boards, and combinations of SAS controllers with links to eBay listings.

 

[Jessep]

1) Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards X11SSH-CTF-O

3) Intel Xeon E3-1275 Processors BX80677E31275V6 (will do some transcoding and a couple of VM's)

4) Supermicro MEM-DR480L-CL02-EU24 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) ECC Unbuffered Memory RAM (8x of these to max out mobo)

.

The MB you selected only has 4 DIMM slots, you would need (x4) 16GB DIMMs
There is no use for a E3-XXX5 CPU as those have video which you wont use in FN, save money and power by getting a E3-1270 v6 CPU.

 

[Stevie_1der]

There is no use for a E3-XXX5 CPU as those have video which you won't use in FN

The IGP could be of use when FreeNAS and the Plex plugin will support hardware transcoding.
But I don't know when this will be available...