Home/SB NAS Build Feedback Request

[rmblr]

Hi folks,

I've been lurking for some months now, soaking up as much info as I can. I've finally got the budget to build my FreeNAS setup, so I'm humbly submitting it for you feedback.

Goals

• Build a NAS for personal and business use (I'm a freelance software engineer)
• No plex/media transcoding streaming
• Long term storage and archival
• Expandable storage
• Budget ~1400 EUR

Use Cases

• Home media storage (repeat: no transcoding required): photos and video: periodic writing of mid-large size files and infrequent random read (aka, storing new photos videos daily and periodically browsing old media)
• Reliable and performant access to work storage (package/dependency mirrors, docker images, debian pkgs, npm modules etc): frequent R/W of many small files
• Running several services in VMs (nextcloud, sync/backup daemons, other home/work services to migrate off of public cloud services as necessary)
• Many (30+) ephemeral VMs used several at a time for development during my work day

The Build

I know for some it is popular to buy used server pulls, but here in Europe this is a little more difficult. First, the don't seem to be as available, second the cost savings from used hardware is mitigated by the fact that buying used often means paying VAT. Whereas if I buy new from a normal vendor, I can save 19-20% on VAT.

Case: Inter-Tech 3U-30255 3U €120
Motherboard: Supermicro X11SCH-F €216
CPU: Intel Core i3-8100 (socket 1151 coffee lake) €124
RAM: 2x16GB Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CTD DDR4-2666 ECC UDIMM €168
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 12 CO (ACFRE00030A) €20
Power Supply: Seasonic Prime Ultra Gold 550W ATX 2.4 (SSR-550GD2) €93
SATA Cables: 6 pack SATA cables €8
Quiet Fans: Arctic P12 120mm fans, 5-pack €18

Pre-storage subtotal: €766.66

Boot Drive: Intenso High Performance SSD 120GB, SATA (3813430) €16
vdev1: WD My Book (shucked) 8TB x2 €227
vdev2: WD Red 8TB x2 €401

Storage subtotal: €644

Final total: €1,410.13

Commentary

Case: I would love to get a Rosewill 4U chassis witth 15 bays, but they are very expensive here in europe due to low/no availability. So I found this Inter-Tech case with 12 3.5" bays. Using 4+1 bays now, leaves me witth 7-8 bays for future vdev expansion (if i move the ssd off sata). with I know this community likes to recommend the Supermicro xU, but these are just way out of my budget, even used off ebay. I prefer the rackmount chassis for aesthetics. Who knows in the future I could build another 4U as a DSA and get a mini cabinet. Are the 4x 120mm fans sufficient?

Mobo: Motherboards here in EU are just much more expensive. I chose this one because it has 8 SATA ports, 2 PCI3 slots, and an M.2 slot. The plan is to eventually max out the 8 SATA ports, then add an LSI HBA to one of the PCI slots. The other PCI slot could eventually be used for a NIC or other LSI HBA controller. For now I am not using the M.2 slot, but later on I could move the boot disk to M.2 off of SATA to free a port, or just add an M.2 ZIL/SLOG disk if I find it necessary.

CPU: I'm conflicted about the i3-8100, I'd much prefer a Xeon, but I don't think I can justify the extra 100 EUR they start at.

CPU Cooler: I'm not sure it will fit. With the 3U case having a height of 133.5 cm and the cooler spec sheet stating it is 130cm, that leaves only 3.5cm for mobo clearance.

Boot Drive SSD: A complete no name brand for sure, but a great price.

RAM: Usually I build my PCs with Kingston, but I've read here that it should be avoided (at least that was the word several years ago). Anyways I found an ok deal for these 2 sticks of Samsung (€83 apiece)

Storage: I plan to use mirroring with sets of 2 in order to make expansion easier. Though with RAIDZ expansion landing in the future, maybe I should reconsider?

Any thoughts or tips? Would love to reduce the price a bit more if possible.

 

[Ericloewe]

CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 12 CO (ACFRE00030A) €20

Don't bother. Either stick with the stock cooler or get something like the Noctua NH-D9L.

Case: Inter-Tech 3U-30255 3U €120

I have some doubts about that, it's reminiscent of the crappier rackmount chassis.

Quiet Fans: Arctic P12 120mm fans, 5-pack €18

Five for 20 bucks? That seems like a bad idea, they're going to be absolute bottom of the barrel sleeve bearings that'll be lucky to last a year. "Quiet" is also a dangerous adjective to use in combination with rackmount chassis, so you'll definitely want to keep an eye on thermals.

CPU Cooler: I'm not sure it will fit. With the 3U case having a height of 133.5 cm and the cooler spec sheet stating it is 130cm, that leaves only 3.5cm for mobo clearance.

That's likely a problem, too. The NH-D9L is supposed to fit in typical 3U chassis,. though.

 

[rmblr]

Thanks Ericloewe. I'll check out the NH-D9L. Do you have any recommendations when it comes to fans? What about another chassis? I can't find any supermicro 3u or 4u for less than 450 EUR.

 

[Ericloewe]

Do you have any recommendations when it comes to fans?

It's hard to say without knowing the chassis.

I can't find any supermicro 3u or 4u for less than 450 EUR.

Yeah, they're more expensive and hard to find than in the states, but there are occasionally deals to be found. Note that they typically include PSUs, though, so pricing is often not quite as bad is it looks at first glance.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Motherboard: Supermicro X11SCH-F €216

For now I am not using the M.2 slot, but later on I could move the boot disk to M.2 off of SATA to free a port, or just add an M.2 ZIL/SLOG disk if I find it necessary.

Some folks have made use of the M2 for their boot pool to try to save a SATA slot. I personally think this is a bad choice so long as you have the physical space for SSDs.

For one the use of 4 PCIe lanes for your boot pool is not the most efficient use of bandwidth.

You can pick up an HBA for cheap that will let you add support for TONS of drives, so SATA port count shouldn't be a factor here.

Also, for a SLOG device you may consider using two SLOG devices rather than a single one so that you can mirror them. Not a requirement, but something to consider if you're going with a board with only a single M2 slot.

Some folks have opted to use the M2 for their boot pool because their case didn't have enough places for HDDs and SSDs. This is certainly a good use case if you can't find another solution that would work. Many cases, not all, have dedicated places for SSDs which won't hold HDDs so you wouldn't be wasting HDD slots on your SSDs.

All that said, I am adding a PCIe->M2 card to an x8 slot in my system to support two M2 modules. If my board had opted to use that x8 slots lanes for 2 x4 M2 slots it would save me a step.

I'm not saying you're making a stupid choice with this board, just offering things to consider. Lots of folks aren't quite as opinionated as me on this topic either so take what I say here with a grain of salt.

Boot Drive: Intenso High Performance SSD 120GB, SATA (3813430) €16

Great price and size for a boot SSD.

RAM: 2x16GB Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CTD DDR4-2666 ECC UDIMM €168

I don't know as much about different manufacturers but the thing I generally advice is to go with the largest modules your board supports so you can expand later without tossing any of your current modules. That being said, 32GB modules may be hard to come by and if you get 4x16GB (eventually) modules you'll still have 64GB of ram.

 

[Kei]

@PhiloEpisteme sorry for the unrelated question, but the RAM model in your signature is described as ECC, but searching for CT16G4WFD8266 it appears to be a NON-ECC module.

Also, are you guys sure that M391A2K43BB1-CTD will be compatible with X11 boards? Afaik, only the CRC model (DDR4-2400) is reported as tested.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

@PhiloEpisteme sorry for the unrelated question, but the RAM model in your signature is described as ECC, but searching for CT16G4WFD8266 it appears to be a NON-ECC module.

No worries. Here is crucial's product page for the memory I use listing it as ECC.

Also, are you guys sure that M391A2K43BB1-CTD will be compatible with X11 boards? Afaik, only the CRC model (DDR4-2400) is reported as tested.

I wouldn't say X11 boards in general but the board you asked about specifically I don't see any differences between the RAM requirements for the board and the specifications for that module. Often times the board won't list every module as being tested. Does the memory manufacturer list your board as being tested? Definitely be sure it is compatible before you purchase though.

 

[rmblr]

Small update.

I've built the system using most of the suggestions from this thread:

• Cooler changed to Noctua NH-D9L.
• No M.2 card for now, boot ssd is regular 2.5" on a SATA line
• I stuck with the Inter-tech case because (1) it was affordable and (2) available. So far I'm quite pleased with it, after switching out the PSU for a redudant 2U sized PSU.
• Using the stock fans for now