BUILD HP microserver G8 (check my build)

[doomed]

Hey guys

I would like some input on the build I've been thinking about:

HP MICROSERVER G8

• Cpu: INTEL CELERON G1610T (2 CORE, 2.3 GHZ, 2MB, 35W)
• RAM: 2GB (1X2GB) UDIMM (type: 1R x8 PC3-12800E-11)
• LAN: Broadcom 1GB 332I ETHERNET ADAPTER (2 ports)
• NO DVDRW, NO RAID CONTROLLER
• (HP is currently doing some promotions on this specific model so the price is not bad)

HP 8GB 2Rx8 PC3-12800E-11 Kit

• Quantity: 1
• (For a total of 10 GB ECC RAM)

Western Digital HDD 4TB RED 64mb cache SATA 6gb/s

• Quantity: 4
• p/n: WD40EFRX
• Thinking of ZFS1, because I can only "sacrifice" 1 disk for parity.

Purpose:

1. Host videos (movies and stuff - a mix of FHD, HD and SD content), and personal media (family videos, photos)
2. Use Plex Media Server (only 1 or 2 streams at the same time, if ever, and usually no transcoding required - according to my recent tests)
3. Might be interested in using other plugins like Transmission, Sickbeard and couch potato (need to investigate this better)
4. Backup destination for 3 Windows computers.

I was concerned about Plex Media Server and transcoding. But according to the official Plex website, they say any CPU with a Passmark of at least 2000 can transcode one 1080p stream no problem. And i doubt I will need more than that (for now).

I checked and the Celeron has a 2336 passmark.


So one of my concerns at the moment is to understand what kind of "overhead" is introduced by the FreeNAS system under its normal operation (with and without Plex running), and anything that could spoil the performance of the system above.
If i was to use the same build with Windows 7 Pro and say, SnapRAID, would I have similar performance on harddrive reads and writes and Plex transcoding, or better, or worse?

Any suggestions, any input is welcome. Thank you.


PS: I have yet to test FreeNAS. I've spent considerable time reading threads on this forum and gathering valuable information. My next step is definitely a virtual machine to test stuff before I buy the system.

 

[doomed]

Stuff I've learned :) reading the guides and other posts.

1. Intel CPU is best!
2. Intel NIC is best!
3. ECC RAM or die
4. RAID controllers not needed
5. UFS support is gone
6. ZFS2 minimum recommended
7. Never let the dataset get full (80% max).

 

[marbus90]

I'd add another 8GB DIMM replacing the existing 2GB one. Also look for WD Red 6TB or Seagate Archive v2 8TB drives to use in a raidz2. The risk with z1 is only tolerable if you have a reliable backup solution for the important data and restoring wouldn't matter.

 

[doomed]

I'd add another 8GB DIMM replacing the existing 2GB one. Also look for WD Red 6TB or Seagate Archive v2 8TB drives to use in a raidz2. The risk with z1 is only tolerable if you have a reliable backup solution for the important data and restoring wouldn't matter.

About upgrades:
The budget is stretched as it is :/ I'll consider the second dimm, but the bigger hard drives are going to be very hard. But even with the setup I've posted above i have plenty of room to grow. A lot actually.
But if i wanted to follow your suggestion, one possibility I'm thinking of is to go with the bigger drives now but get less of them (like 2 instead of 4). How hard would it be to expand later? This is something I haven't read about yet, so if you have valuable information on this, post away!


About backup:
I will have to implement a backup of the important stuff.

Would i be able to schedule a copy (or similar function like sync) of a specific folder or set of folders to an external hard drive? (like a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 hard drive)
If yes, then this might be a solution for me. I would connect the drive from time to time just to have a backup of my most important stuff. This would not be the whole dataset (impossible), this would be like 500 GB tops.

 

[doomed]

For those who have the HP microserver gen8 or any other server from HP.

How are you dealing with firmware updates? I've read they recently cut the public access and restrict it to those who have a valid warranty or service contract (carepack). In fact i tested this on hp.com and they do ask for Login.

Another question.. How expensive is HP Integrated Lights Out (iLO) and how useful is it in your case? Give examples where it was very helpful to have that.

Since i want to run this server headless, perhaps it would be good to have it.

 

[doomed]

For those who have the HP microserver gen8 or any other server from HP.

How are you dealing with firmware updates? I've read they recently cut the public access and restrict it to those who have a valid warranty or service contract (carepack). In fact i tested this on hp.com and they do ask for Login.

Another question.. How expensive is HP Integrated Lights Out (iLO) and how useful is it in your case? Give examples where it was very helpful to have that.

Since i want to run this server headless, perhaps it would be good to have it.

In fact this whole thing with the carepack and iLO license is bugging me.

I've read it here about Supermicro boards and that they have IPMI which is a really cool feature.

I would love some suggestions for a Supermicro build. Something small-form like the HP Microserver Gen 8.
That is an option I have to study before pulling the trigger on the HP.

 

[marbus90]

If you don't need all storage from start, you could use the 4TB drives in a raidz2 and later replace all drives with intermittent resilvering. That's the only way you could grow a vdev. Backing up via USB isn't really recommended since USB doesn't gurantee corruption-free data transfer. I'd just sync that folder respective those important contents to a/all desktop computers.

Not only Supermicro offers IPMI, but also asrock. Here's the system from @DKarnov: as an example for a nice 6bay NAS:
Motherboard: ASRock E3C224D2I Mini-ITX
CPU: Intel i3-4160 CPU cooler: Intel OEM
RAM: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 CT2KIT102472BD160B
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-360
Case: Fractal Design Node 304

 

[doomed]

If you don't need all storage from start, you could use the 4TB drives in a raidz2 and later replace all drives with intermittent resilvering. That's the only way you could grow a vdev. Backing up via USB isn't really recommended since USB doesn't gurantee corruption-free data transfer. I'd just sync that folder respective those important contents to a/all desktop computers.

Not only Supermicro offers IPMI, but also asrock. Here's the system from @DKarnov: as an example for a nice 6bay NAS:
Motherboard: ASRock E3C224D2I Mini-ITX
CPU: Intel i3-4160 CPU cooler: Intel OEM
RAM: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 CT2KIT102472BD160B
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-360
Case: Fractal Design Node 304

Do you mind linking the specific thread? Would like to confirm if it's one I've been at or not.

And btw, ASRock motherboard? Isnt that weak sauce? The image I have of ASRock is kinda bad. But admittedly, it's been a while for me (out of the hardware game).

 

[doomed]

If you don't need all storage from start, you could use the 4TB drives in a raidz2 and later replace all drives with intermittent resilvering. That's the only way you could grow a vdev. Backing up via USB isn't really recommended since USB doesn't gurantee corruption-free data transfer. I'd just sync that folder respective those important contents to a/all desktop computers.

Intermittent resilvering. That sounds complicated. I'm not into that really :p I would love to set this thing up and forget about it.

About syncing the "important stuff" back to the computers, that's not an idea I like very much. My plan is to use the NAS for unique data.

Obviously we would still keep private files on computers. These files are important too and their whole backup, as i said in my original post, is planned to be done on Windows and be sent to the NAS. And I might keep doing the one I currently do directly on a USB drive as well, just for extra protection.


My concern is the backup of the very "important stuff" (family media, etc) that reside permanently in the NAS.
My original idea was to just back it up directly from the NAS to a USB drive (that I would connect/disconnect manually). If this proves to be problematic or very complex with FreeBSD / FreeNAS then for me, it's a minus.

 

[doomed]

I would love some suggestions for a Supermicro build. Something small-form like the HP Microserver Gen 8.
That is an option I have to study before pulling the trigger on the HP.

I checked quickly. And the cost of building from scratch (with new parts) is similar to buying the HP microserver. And while going the DIY needs more work, it might give more value for the money (more sata ports, more space for drives, ipmi).

 

[marbus90]

Read the chapter on replacing a drive in the docs. You do that for every 4TB disk which you want to replace with a bigger drive. Of course not all drives at the same time, but one after another. Then, if the last bigger drive finished resilvering, the pool expands automatically.

Recommendation is to always max out all sata ports/bays first, you can replace the disks later to add more space without having to rebuild everything.

 

[doomed]

... just back it up directly from the NAS to a USB drive (that I would connect/disconnect manually). If this proves to be problematic or very complex with FreeBSD / FreeNAS then for me, it's a minus.

Can anyone comment on this?

 

[mjws00]

USB 3.0 support is poor in FN. For that external drive it is easiest to put it on the client/workstation. You can rsync it, or use syncbackfree, or any number of pieces of software. Most will do incremental syncs to keep things quick over the wire. The other advantage is you can keep that external usb drive ntfs or something that is accessible easily on a windows box.

 

[doomed]

USB 3.0 support is poor in FN. For that external drive it is easiest to put it on the client/workstation. You can rsync it, or use syncbackfree, or any number of pieces of software. Most will do incremental syncs to keep things quick over the wire. The other advantage is you can keep that external usb drive ntfs or something that is accessible easily on a windows box.

I see. Thanks.