Home Use 100TB DIY

[Noobie5]

hi there , i am a complete noob when it comes to building a NAS server , however i am a tech savy have been working with linux,windows,vms networks servers etc for the past 10 years,
i've been reading abit on the forum , however i dont want to do any mistakes & i want a piece of mind therefor i am here posting to hear what you guys have to say .

in general , i'd like to build a NAS server in my home , for home use , all type of file will be stored at the moment i plan to download 50tb of videos and some other crap.

i will probably use SMB , however from what i've read and heard , it has a big flaw which is , single threaded i dont know if the rumors are true , but! if you guys have anything else to suggest i would love to hear .

i am not sure yet what kind of application i will be running , however , i will be tempted to install maybe vms and some other applications . like plex, mail server , maybe nextcloud .
maybe in the far far future allow friends and family to download stuff from it, i yet decided . but at the moment i think of it as a storage place and in the future maybe some time of applications .
i wont use lots of IOPS this is what i think .


about the budget , i have my own small home bussines , instead of paying income taxs i rather build myself a nas server
so instead of paying the gov and i am writing off the nas as an outcome for the bussines , i yet know how much i have to pay in taxs, but a build that is cost effective (the lower the better) this is what i am aiming for , it can be also second hand chasis cpu or what not , i am all ears to learn and follow .

networking , in the near future i guess 5-6 month from now a fiber will be placed with 1Gbps up&down , so no need to be over kill with 40gbps+ network cards, a normal 10G is enough , i will probably use a RJ45 from the router they are going to provide me with .
at the moment i will be the only one who will hit the nas , perhaps more from the net in the far far future ("if even").


100tb~ raw data , i am looking for RAIDZ2 (incase of 2 hdd failure ) , at first i was thinking 8x18TB but i dont know if its a good idea you tell me . (i have doubt because of reading/write speed)

anyhow , if you have ANY! question to me to help you to help me dont hesitate to ask .

looking for all of u'r suggestion .


Thanks alot in advance .

 

[Heracles]

i wont use lots of IOPS this is what i think .

VMs are using IOPS, just like

allow friends and family

The more simultaneous users, the more IOPS.

100tb

That is very significant...

Be sure to plan your backups accordingly (see my signature about backups...). No single server can be more than a single point of failure.

i plan to download 50tb of videos and some other crap

So you plan to jump up to and over 50% of usage from day 1. That is a sign that you are aiming too low. To add space in a pool is possible but hard to do. Also, the fragmentation and disk usage will not be balanced as if everything was there day 1. If you really plan to get that much data day 1, you should consider how much you will add every year. I would suggest you to plan for not reaching 50% before about 4th year.

but a build that is cost effective (the lower the better) this is what i am aiming for

Considering how big you are looking for and the need for backups, I think it will be important to get more precise numbers... If you end up with a volume of say 250TB per server and go for 2 copies instead of 3, it is still 500TB of space that you need. Sizing RAM will also be important.

So first thing would be the most realistic sizing possible for your initial storage ans growth.

Second is to design your backup plan.

Third would be to extrapolate the need in about 4 or 5 years to be cost effective.

Then you will be able to design the system, ensuring that nothing (RAM, disk bay, storage, ...) is loaded to its maximum. It is not cost effective to replace everything when a new need arrives.

Once there, you will see better and it will be more realistic to design something.

Have fun designing your system.

 

[ChrisRJ]

In addition to @Heracles' points, I would recommend to look at access patterns in detail. Example: Many forum newcomers mention video files as a use-case. But that could mean extremely different things. Ranging from an archive with the occasional single sequential read access for streaming to the TV. Up to 8K live editing off of the NAS, done by 10 people simultaneously, which means a ton of random read and write operations in parallel. Yes, the latter is an extreme scenario. But it should illustrate the point that a certain level of detail is needed to make reasonable recommendations.

 

[Noobie5]

VMs are using IOPS, just like


The more simultaneous users, the more IOPS.



That is very significant...

Be sure to plan your backups accordingly (see my signature about backups...). No single server can be more than a single point of failure.



So you plan to jump up to and over 50% of usage from day 1. That is a sign that you are aiming too low. To add space in a pool is possible but hard to do. Also, the fragmentation and disk usage will not be balanced as if everything was there day 1. If you really plan to get that much data day 1, you should consider how much you will add every year. I would suggest you to plan for not reaching 50% before about 4th year.



Considering how big you are looking for and the need for backups, I think it will be important to get more precise numbers... If you end up with a volume of say 250TB per server and go for 2 copies instead of 3, it is still 500TB of space that you need. Sizing RAM will also be important.

So first thing would be the most realistic sizing possible for your initial storage ans growth.

Second is to design your backup plan.

Third would be to extrapolate the need in about 4 or 5 years to be cost effective.

Then you will be able to design the system, ensuring that nothing (RAM, disk bay, storage, ...) is loaded to its maximum. It is not cost effective to replace everything when a new need arrives.

Once there, you will see better and it will be more realistic to design something.

Have fun designing your system.

hey thanks you alot for responding .

i would like to note again that , it is for home use nothing professional , therefor i am not looking to get half a peta :o , this is also right for backup aswell , raidz2 is the only backup i plan to have.
i wont have enough cash for double the system . (2 systems will be way over the income tax i have to pay :D :) )

if i plan to put vms , they will be dockers of some sorts , anyhow a normal HDD speed would be enough for those .

i plan to fill 50% up the hdd from day 1 (will take about a week++ to download everything) , but after that it will take Years to fill up ,
in the last 10 years or so i've been using about 10tb of space so im not worried there .
i guess with a nas server i will be tempted to save more stuff , but i dont see in the coming years not even in 4y how i will take most of the space.

i've read and re reading the hard Hardware 2021 R2a guideline , also read multiple post thread on the forum ,

noted :) , not loaded to maximum incase of expanding (i dont see myself expanding it, as it is really for home use, BUT! just incase) .

@ChrisRJ
you'r right maybe i wasnt clear enough ,
i wont be editing 4-8k videos , just archiving movies and such . (and i think most of the population are not looking to edit 4-8k videos . most of the people are not linus tech tips team xD )



when writing this (first) post i was looking more for design parts , models of chasis mobos etc.. from ur experience . as they are many models and version of hardware.

"it does not need to be data center grade"

thanks

 

[jgreco]

"it does not need to be data center grade"

A thing frequently said by people who have no idea what that actually means.

Server grade gear, especially used, is generally the cheapest and best way to go, but does come with some tradeoffs. It's generally designed a lot more closely for the NAS use case than anything you can cobble together as an end user, meaning significantly more reliable, more expandable, using decent components, etc. But it also tends to come in the infuriating 2U/4U formats that make for noisy servers, which is something you shouldn't try to "fix" in most cases.

If you have a place to site a server that will be moderately noisy, your best choice quite possibly IS a used server that used to be in a data center.

 

[Noobie5]

A thing frequently said by people who have no idea what that actually means.

Server grade gear, especially used, is generally the cheapest and best way to go, but does come with some tradeoffs. It's generally designed a lot more closely for the NAS use case than anything you can cobble together as an end user, meaning significantly more reliable, more expandable, using decent components, etc. But it also tends to come in the infuriating 2U/4U formats that make for noisy servers, which is something you shouldn't try to "fix" in most cases.

If you have a place to site a server that will be moderately noisy, your best choice quite possibly IS a used server that used to be in a data center.

well i thought of a secondhand 2u server (this is why i wrote earlier secondhand) , but i dont know which , as they are ALOT of them this is why came here to receive couple of names so i can look online to perhaps purchase one.

however i dont have a "server" room at home or a small rack , so a silence server would be ideal .

 

[Heracles]

2u server

so a silence server would be ideal

There is a simple law of physic here : 2U are smaller than 4U.... Being smaller than 4U, so are their fans. These fans being smaller, they do not move as much air per spin. To move the same air volume, they must spin faster. The faster they spin, the more noise they do. The consequence is that a 4U server will be more quiet than a 2U.

raidz2 is the only backup i plan to have

Know that RaidZ2 is no backups. It will not let you recover a file deleted by accident.
Snapshots would do that but still, they are not backup either. They will be damaged by the same thing that will eventually damage your pool (logical) or hardware (physical).

So that means that you plan to go without backups, so be ready to loose it all one day or another.

if i plan to put vms , they will be dockers of some sorts

Well, Docker containers are no VMs... Indeed, containers will not require as much IOPS as VMs would. Still, better be safe than sorry when designing a pool, even more when the pool is that big.

i plan to fill 50% up the hdd from day 1 (will take about a week++ to download everything) , but after that it will take Years to fill up ,
in the last 10 years or so i've been using about 10tb of space so im not worried there .

Strange to jumpstart with that much and instantly slow down to so low.... Just be sure of your measurements. To add space after deployment is possible if the hardware is capable of more, but it is not as good, it is a risk, ...

when writing this (first) post i was looking more for design parts , models of chasis mobos etc..

Well, my experience tells me that your starting point is to be double checked before being realized. I consider backups as essential, just like sizing. The confusion between VMs and Docker containers is an example. VMs requires much more RAM and IOPS than Docker containers.

To offer better chance to expand, I would do either mirrors or smaller RaidZ2 vDev. Instead of 1 vDev using 8 18TB drives, I would do something like 3 vDevs of 6x 10TB drives. More vDevs means more performance, more IOPS, easier to expand with an extra vDev, easier to auto-expand by replacing less drives, .... But that also means the need to have more disks at once.

 

[jgreco]

well i thought of a secondhand 2u server (this is why i wrote earlier secondhand) , but i dont know which , as they are ALOT of them this is why came here to receive couple of names so i can look online to perhaps purchase one.

however i dont have a "server" room at home or a small rack , so a silence server would be ideal .

If you want a silent server, buy a 24 drive chassis, fill it with 12 drives in an alternating pattern, so that no two drives are adjacent, and replace the high static pressure fans with some quiet fans. Supermicro's 920SQ power supplies aren't entirely quiet, but this is a pretty good way to get a server that's both high quality and relatively quiet.

 

[Noobie5]

ok , so i looked online in my country and found multiple people that sales a Dell PowerEdge R720 .

e5-2660 v2 - 192g ram , 2 raid controllers (idk which one yet) and 12x 1.2tb sas + 4x 300gb 2 psu for 1220$ is that worth it ? (ofc i will have to swap the disks) ,

is that any good ?

 

[Heracles]

2 raid controllers

Careful here : Be sure not to use any hardware Raid, not even JBOD mode, with TrueNAS. You must have them flashed to IT mode. More about this in this post by @jgreco...

 

[sretalla]

e5-2660 v2

Good

192g ram

Great

2 raid controllers (idk which one yet)

Potentially terrible... plan to replace with LSI or rebranded HBA. See response from @Heracles

and 12x 1.2tb sas

Not sure about the form factor... if it's 3.5", should be fine, but that then locks you to getting SAS disks as the backplane is probably built for them.
This (https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-r720) seems to be telling me it's 2.5" drives.

2 psu for

Not a bad thing.

 

[Noobie5]

@sretalla
@Heracles

what about the price ?
i plan to change change raid controllers to IT .
can connect 8 3.5 hdd to it .

 

[Heracles]

Hi again,

Here, I bought all my TrueNAS servers brand new... The only server I bought used was my ESXi server, an R820 with 256G of RAM and 32 cores. That one ended up around 2,500$ Canadian. No idea what costs can be where you are as you said that you are from No Where...

 

[Nani]

hi there , i am a complete noob when it comes to building a NAS server , however i am a tech savy have been working with linux,windows,vms networks servers etc for the past 10 years,
i've been reading abit on the forum , however i dont want to do any mistakes & i want a piece of mind therefor i am here posting to hear what you guys have to say .

in general , i'd like to build a NAS server in my home , for home use , all type of file will be stored at the moment i plan to download 50tb of videos and some other crap.

i will probably use SMB , however from what i've read and heard , it has a big flaw which is , single threaded i dont know if the rumors are true , but! if you guys have anything else to suggest i would love to hear .

i am not sure yet what kind of application i will be running , however , i will be tempted to install maybe vms and some other applications . like plex, mail server , maybe nextcloud .
maybe in the far far future allow friends and family to download stuff from it, i yet decided . but at the moment i think of it as a storage place and in the future maybe some time of applications .
i wont use lots of IOPS this is what i think .


about the budget , i have my own small home bussines , instead of paying income taxs i rather build myself a nas server
so instead of paying the gov and i am writing off the nas as an outcome for the bussines , i yet know how much i have to pay in taxs, but a build that is cost effective (the lower the better) this is what i am aiming for , it can be also second hand chasis cpu or what not , i am all ears to learn and follow .

networking , in the near future i guess 5-6 month from now a fiber will be placed with 1Gbps up&down , so no need to be over kill with 40gbps+ network cards, a normal 10G is enough , i will probably use a RJ45 from the router they are going to provide me with .
at the moment i will be the only one who will hit the nas , perhaps more from the net in the far far future ("if even").


100tb~ raw data , i am looking for RAIDZ2 (incase of 2 hdd failure ) , at first i was thinking 8x18TB but i dont know if its a good idea you tell me . (i have doubt because of reading/write speed)

anyhow , if you have ANY! question to me to help you to help me dont hesitate to ask .

looking for all of u'r suggestion .


Thanks alot in advance .

Hi..

I suggest you to use high speed router and switches. For video playback use Plex and connect your Smart TV/Computers using LAN connection. This shall provide you with high throughput without any video buffer. For sharing of your disk space its suggest to use NextCloud with Quota for each data user. You need to port forwarding on your router for users to access from outside local network.