How to choose the Hardware Server For TrueNAS?

[nqkhoi]

Hi Everyone,

I'm planning to purchase the hardware server to install the TrueNAS Scale software to serve as backup data and storage for virtual machines running on the Hyper-V and VMware, the physical hosts will connect via the iSCSI method. Could you propose any hardware options for my case? I need to provide 30TB for backup data and VMs.

Thanks.

 

[sretalla]

Have a look at this:

FreeNAS® Quick Hardware Guide

This is the FreeNAS Quick Hardware Guide. It is not meant as a replacement for the Hardware Recommendations Guide - it is just a sort of quick reference for popular parts. To download this document use the orange button. If you know of...

www.truenas.com

Then think about how you will get to a system with as much RAM as you can manage to fit in it, with as many HDDs as you can arrange for your pool (in Mirrors for the IOPS you'll need)

Read this:

The path to success for block storage

It seems like I haven't written a sticky for awhile, but just in the last week I've had to cover this topic several times. ZFS does two different things very well. One is storage of large sequentially-written files, such as archives, logs, or data files, where the file does not have the middle...

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Then consider a SLOG (you'll really want an optane):

SLOG benchmarking and finding the best SLOG

I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about SLOG devices and what makes good ones versus bad ones. I have no doubt that this will be a controversial topic since this is not well understood by many people. In short, there's 3 things that you...

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[Patrick M. Hausen]

In addition: don't buy anything that comes with a RAID controller as many preconfigured Dell (or other brand name) systems like to do. Unless you have a budget to pay for that item, then replace it with a proper HBA.

What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

Many regulars have good experience with and knowledge of Supermicro products. Quality and price is fair and they have endlessly customisable options in terms of case rack units, power supplies, drive bays etc.

 

[firesyde424]

Hi Everyone,

I'm planning to purchase the hardware server to install the TrueNAS Scale software to serve as backup data and storage for virtual machines running on the Hyper-V and VMware, the physical hosts will connect via the iSCSI method. Could you propose any hardware options for my case? I need to provide 30TB for backup data and VMs.

Thanks.

If you end up with a Dell, the HBA330 for internal and the "12GB SAS HBA, Dual Port"(Part Number 0T93GD) for external connections works very well. Dell's part number and naming schemes can be annoying confusing. Make sure you get the "HBA330" and not the "H330".

In terms of SLOG, if you can find them, Micron NVDIMMS are amazing and IXSystems use them in their TrueNAS Enterprise models. I have heard good things about the Intel Optane persistent memory modules but don't have any personal experience with them. If you go with an SSD, make sure it has "Power Loss Protection" or some other method to ensure that what's in the drive's cache can be written to flash in the event of a power failure. In terms of sizing, you only need enough space to hold 5 seconds of writes at maximum throughput of the network interfaces on your server.

 

[Jessep]

Business use? Buy from vendor (Dell, iX Systems, etc.) with support contract/warranty.
Homelab? Buy used enterprise gear, IMO.