Idiot-check hardware for first FreeNAS Build

[Juliean]

Building my first FreeNAS server. I think I got everything I needed from the various articles, but would love a double-check.

The purpose of this server is two-fold. First, it'll act as a backup repository for my office server and workstations. We have a backup solution (Vembu) at the office that will back up everything to a local backup machine, and will send a copy off-site. This server will hold the off-site. It's not going to be running the actual software that manages it - that'll be on separate hardware, in a VM. This system will only hold the data. This currently required about 2TB, and I expect it to grow to 3-4TB over the next 5-10 years (it's grown from 1.3TB to 2TB in the last 10 years). So write often, read almost never, no demand for high speed (since the bottleneck will be the limited upload bandwidth at the office).

Second, it will be used as a general home data store - photos, videos, media, etc.

I'm assuming it's possible to create separate "volumes" on the same zPool? So that one "volume" is accessible over an NFS share and holds the office backup data, and the other "volume" is accessbile over a separate NFS or Samba share for use for the home data. If this isn't possible, and I need 2 separate zPools, I'll have to rethink the configuration.

The plan is to have 6 3TB drives in a single RaidZ2 vDev. The hardware below is likely overkill, but that's ok, as long as it works.

Case: Supermicro 2U case

MB: SUPERMICRO X10SL7-F http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3182821&cm_re=X10SL7-F-_-13-182-821-_-Product

Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1231v3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KB4A2XA/?tag=ozlp-20

RAM: SAMSUNG M391B1G73QH0-YK0 (8GB, ECC, non-buffered) * 4, total 32GB https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXM0GSI/?tag=ozlp-20

SATADOM: SUPERMICRO SSD-DM064-PHI SATA DOM - 64GB SATA DOM for running FreeNAS from. More reliable than a USB stick. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...uf2TMDFTGHycsbtPN-1zwaAjiD8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

HDD: WD Red 3TB * 6

It is my understanding that the RAID controller on the MB can be flashed to work well with FreeNAS.

Am I missing anything obvious? Will this build work?

Thanks.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I'm assuming it's possible to create separate "volumes" on the same zPool?

Yes, in ZFS speak they're called datasets. And while we're here, pools are called pools, not zpools (unfortunately, in the GUI they're called Volumes, which is confusing).

 

[Juliean]

Yes, in ZFS speak they're called datasets. And while we're here, pools are called pools, not zpools (unfortunately, in the GUI they're called Volumes, which is confusing).

Aha! Knowing the terminology is half the battle...

Thanks.

 

[Jailer]

Aside from the 2U chassis your build looks very similar to mine. I think you'll be very happy with it for it's intended purpose. You could likely drop the memory to 16GB to save some bucks and be just fine since it's a backup location unless you plan on adding jails later and running other software on it.

 

[Stux]

You could consider upgrading to an X11 system with a v5 CPU (i.e. Current gen not last gen)

8 Sata ports + max ram of 64GB.