HP Z230 Xeon E3 1240 V3 as NAS. Recommended?

[albercuba]

I have an HP Z230 with a Xeon E3 1240 V3 and 20GB of RAM that I do not use anymore and I was thinking about building a NAS with it. I am not gonna be using it for any crazy stuff like I have read in this forum. Just wanna save pictures and important documents. Actually it wont even be ON all the time. Only when needed and that is not very often.

Right now I only need 4TB to keep everythimg important backed up. So I was thinking on getting 3x4TB drives in RAID5. Also have 2x180GB Intel SSDs and I will use one of them as boot drive.

Dou you guys/girls have any advise on the hardware or recommendation on what to do with the other SSD?

Thanks

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

 

[Inxsible]

Xeon E3 1240 V3 and 20GB of RAM

That is a lot of processing power to only be used for a file server. Build the NAS, maybe you will find a few other uses in terms of plugins etc that you might be able to utilize.

Actually it wont even be ON all the time. Only when needed and that is not very often.

NASes tend to be running all the time. Running it all the time would allow you to set up backup plugins or rsync using cron to backup stuff automatically on a schedule instead of doing it manually when you start up the machine.

what to do with the other SSD?

180GB is overkill for your boot drive as you cannot use the boot drive for anything else. You can choose to mirror the boot pool and use both SSDs since you just have them lying around.

 

[IceBoosteR]

I have an HP Z230 with a Xeon E3 1240 V3 and 20GB of RAM that I do not use anymore and I was thinking about building a NAS with it. I am not gonna be using it for any crazy stuff like I have read in this forum. Just wanna save pictures and important documents. Actually it wont even be ON all the time. Only when needed and that is not very often.

Right now I only need 4TB to keep everythimg important backed up. So I was thinking on getting 3x4TB drives in RAID5. Also have 2x180GB Intel SSDs and I will use one of them as boot drive.

Dou you guys/girls have any advise on the hardware or recommendation on what to do with the other SSD?

Thanks

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Hi,

so going with this setup you will be able to do everything possible with ZFS and FreeNAS including jails but not deduplication.
You don't need to put a NAS as always on, but the question is, for what will you need a NAS? So if you are not going to access the data from elsewhere or from multiple clients in your home, you will not need a NAS...
Do you want to use FreeNAS as the backup location, or the primary fileserver?
Please do not use the SSDs for boot. This is like throwing money right out of the window. 2x 16GB USB drives would be sufficient.
You can mirror the SSDs and use them as a ultra-fast ZVOL.

From my experience, you will get to love thing are possible with FreeNAS, and if you like hacking/playing a bit around, this is the place you want to go. So maybe you will later like to try the "crazy stuff" ;)

 

[albercuba]

Thanks Inxsible.

I know it's overkill for what I want, but as I said, this computer is unused and I do not have to worry about buying anything other than the data drives

That is a lot of processing power to only be used for a file server. Build the NAS, maybe you will find a few other uses in terms of plugins etc that you might be able to utilize.

I am thinking about Nextcloud or Owncloud to upload pictures and docs when I'm away from home

NASes tend to be running all the time. Running it all the time would allow you to set up backup plugins or rsync using cron to backup stuff automatically on a schedule instead of doing it manually when you start up the machine.

I know, but since I do not need to backup things so often (months can pass) it will be more economic (electricity). Actually I think my wife will use it more than me, every two or three months she needs to backup the pictures in her phone and usually she asks me to do it.

180GB is overkill for your boot drive as you cannot use the boot drive for anything else. You can choose to mirror the boot pool and use both SSDs since you just have them lying around.

Yes I know, but again, I have no other use for these drives

Now I am gonna read a bit more around the forum to see what can I do in case of hardware fail. Specifically motherboard, boot drive or RAID card fail. Don't know if I need to buy exactly the same model when something breaks.

But thanks again for the advices

 

[albercuba]

Hi,
so going with this setup you will be able to do everything possible with ZFS and FreeNAS including jails but not deduplication.

Hi IceBooster

You don't need to put a NAS as always on, but the question is, for what will you need a NAS? So if you are not going to access the data from elsewhere or from multiple clients in your home, you will not need a NAS...

I have no use for this machine, it is under my desk disconnected. What I need is a system to store my and my wife's pictures and documents. That does not happen so often (once every two or three months) Right now I use 3 external HDDs to keep backups. So the FreeNAS solution is better and simpler

Do you want to use FreeNAS as the backup location, or the primary fileserver?

Only as a backup location

Please do not use the SSDs for boot. This is like throwing money right out of the window. 2x 16GB USB drives would be sufficient.
You can mirror the SSDs and use them as a ultra-fast ZVOL.

I have no use for those SSDs. Can I use one as boot and one for the ultra-fast ZVOL (even if right now I do not need that)

From my experience, you will get to love thing are possible with FreeNAS, and if you like hacking/playing a bit around, this is the place you want to go. So maybe you will later like to try the "crazy stuff" ;)

I am thinking about Nextcloud or Owncloud to upload pictures and docs when I'm away from home

Thanks again

 

[wblock]

Please do not use the SSDs for boot. This is like throwing money right out of the window. 2x 16GB USB drives would be sufficient.

I disagree. People frequently have trouble with USB drives, as most are meant for occasional use as photo storage rather than online, frequently-written boot drives.

SSDs are meant for typical drive use. As a boot device, the extra space is useful for both additional boot environments and to give a long device life through wear leveling.

So don't think of SSDs as a boot drive as a waste. Think of it as a better-quality, faster, much more reliable USB drive.

 

[Ericloewe]

In my opinion, using SSDs for booting is definitely worth the 35 buck premium over a decent USB flash drive. They are not worth the 100 buck premium involved if an otherwise unnecessary HBA needs to be acquired, in home use.

For any vaguely business environment, SSDs all the way.

 

[Inxsible]

They are not worth the 100 buck premium involved if an otherwise unnecessary HBA needs to be acquired, in home use.

Bingo !

If you have available sata ports and are going to buy a new flash drive anyway, just get a SSD. Lack of SATA ports in your chassis should be the only reason you go with a USB flash drive as boot.

 

[Inxsible]

What I need is a system to store my and my wife's pictures and documents. That does not happen so often (once every two or three months) Right now I use 3 external HDDs to keep backups. So the FreeNAS solution is better and simpler

I would disagree here. FreeNAS is great, but for your use case, external HDDs are the best solution.

I have no use for this machine,

You should think about selling the parts or the machine as a whole on ebay or craigslist. Pocket the money instead of putting more money (for data disks etc) into a machine that is not going to be used.

 

[albercuba]

I would disagree here. FreeNAS is great, but for your use case, external HDDs are the best solution.

Not really, my wife has 3 external HDDs and everytime she wants to backup her pictures I have copy them in all of the external HDDs. It is annoying. Also they are all different sizes

You should think about selling the parts or the machine as a whole on ebay or craigslist. Pocket the money instead of putting more money (for data disks etc) into a machine that is not going to be used.

Well we do need a backup server so it will be used now.

The only problem with the case is that it only supports 2x3.5 and 1x2.5 drives and has 5 SATA ports, but I have two RAID cards in box (LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i and LSI Logic sas3041e-hp) and then I will buy some bays to install the HDDs in the 5.25 bays

Something like this https://www.amazon.de/Sharkoon-Quic...8&qid=1508266204&sr=8-1&keywords=sharkoon+bay

I know for sure that the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i is compatible with FreeBSD, and the other one should also be, but I only need one card, so the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i will be enough