BUILD Is my old PC a good choice for a FreeNAS server?

[Chronist]

Hello there Everyone,

I'm new to the game and came to this beautiful place by the recommendation of Wendell. After seeing his videos about free nas I thought to build one myself.

The Build aka my old PC:
Sabertooth z77
16gb Ram
2500k CPU
120GB Evo 840
3x 4TB WD Red
bequiet 850W P9 Pro

I know the PSU is overkill but it's what I've got here.

I'm thinking about adding a dual gig nic and would choose the intel pro 1000.

First of all I'd love to hear your thought on my setup, second are a few questions I've got.
Can I use the SSD I put free nas on as a cache for my raid or should I buy an other one for the operating system?
I believe free nas only needs about 8GB for the operating system. should I buy a small SSD to put it on?

Have a tek day! Greetings, Chronist

 

[Dice]

Welcome to the forums.

Have you studied the following links? It's highly recommended.
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ll-a-proper-home-freenas-setup-cost-me.28936/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

 

[Chronist]

Welcome to the forums.

Have you studied the following links? It's highly recommended.
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ll-a-proper-home-freenas-setup-cost-me.28936/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/

My main take away from this: Buy a Supermicro Board, ecc Ram and a new low wattage PSU. And a Sata Dom for OS.
Perfect that's a great help, I'll sell the other things then ;)

 

[Mirfster]

Can I use the SSD I put free nas on as a cache for my raid or should I buy an other one for the operating system?

Better to keep them separated IMHO

I believe free nas only needs about 8GB for the operating system. should I buy a small SSD to put it on?

I would, while others are fine with putting FreeNAS on USB Sticks I prefer a SSD. You can get two 32 GB ones pretty cheaply on eBay and mirror it if so inclined.

 

[Dice]

Furthermore, I'd disregard the X10 recomendations and look for Skylake X11. That part of the hardware recomendation was outdated last time I checked.

 

[Mirfster]

My main take away from this: Buy a Supermicro Board, ecc Ram and a new low wattage PSU. And a Sata Dom for OS.
Perfect that's a great help, I'll sell the other things then ;)

Props to you for being one of the few who actually takes the time to educate themselves and understand that their case is not the exception. Can't count the amount of times I have decided to bail on a thread due to the OP thinking that they are *special* and all the warnings/advice is not applicable to them.

I swear at times, it seems like talking to a brick wall... or *trying* to have a debate with my wife... ;)

 

[Jailer]

The recommendations for ECC memory and accompanying hardware that support is based on the fact that you value your data and data integrity is a priority. Just because you don't have ECC memory doesn't mean your NAS will explode and consume all your data. Having said that ECC memory support brings the security of data integrity from start to finish. Most people looking to use FreeNAS have data entegrity and security as high priorities. While you can use your old hardware and it would likely work just fine for your intended usage, it's up to you to determine how much risk you are willing to take when it comes to hardware selection.

Now as to your questions:

Can I use the SSD I put free nas on as a cache for my raid or should I buy an other one for the operating system?

The OS drive is for the FreeNAS installation and nothing more. You may choose, as some have, to put the .system dataset on the boot drive but that's a personal choice.

I believe free nas only needs about 8GB for the operating system. should I buy a small SSD to put it on?

Again this is a personal choice but if you already have the 840 evo why spend money you don't have to purchasing an additional drive? I'd use it.

 

[Chronist]

Props to you for being one of the few who actually takes the time to educate themselves and actually understand that their case is not the exception. Can't count the amount of times I have decided to bail on a thread due to the OP thinking that they are *special* and all the warnings/advice is not applicable to them.

I swear at times, it seems like talking to a brick wall... or *trying* to have a debate with my wife... ;)

:D this hits very close to home for me. I came here for good advise, why should I ignore it? ;)

 

[Dice]

Props to you for being one of the few who actually takes the time to educate themselves and actually understand that their case is not the exception. Can't count the amount of times I have decided to bail on a thread due to the OP thinking that they are *special* and all the warnings/advice is not applicable to them.

+11111

 

[Chronist]

The OS drive is for the FreeNAS installation and nothing more. You may choose, as some have, to put the .system dataset on the boot drive but that's a personal choice.

Again this is a personal choice but if you already have the 840 evo why spend money you don't have to purchasing an additional drive? I'd use it.

I'll use my 120gb ssd for the OS and will get an other one for caching. Is there a rule of thump how big the cache should be in relation to the aray?

 

[Stux]

It has more to do with how much extra ram you have, since the cache drive needs to have a map in ram and this reduces the amount of ram available for caching! Thus the bigger your l2arc, the less ram cache you have Ie your arc

Skip the cache drive at first. Stock up on ram, and if you then determine you would benefit from l2arc then get one.

 

[Spearfoot]

I'll use my 120gb ssd for the OS and will get an other one for caching. Is there a rule of thump how big the cache should be in relation to the aray?

With only 16GB of RAM, you won't gain any benefit from an L2ARC device. As @Stux pointed out, it would actually make things worse, because your ARC will be reduced by the memory required to manage the L2ARC.

 

[Chronist]

This is a great community, I'm blown away by the tone, and well informed answers I've gotten!
Thanks @Dice @Mirfster @Jailer @Stux @Spearfoot

Thanks for the links and explanations I'll take the weekend to find a fitting system build for my needs. I'll return to a this post and link the new thread here for everyone that is interested.
BTW the short answer to this threads main question, "Is my old PC a good choice for a FreeNAS server?" Is "NO"

Have a tek day!

 

[Spearfoot]

BTW the short answer to this threads main question, "Is my old PC a good choice for a FreeNAS server?" Is "NO"

That's right. Usually. None of us wanted to be big meanies and just come right out and say it! :)

 

[nojohnny101]

you've already gotten solid advice on here so I don't have much to add except that:

you seem to have a great attitude in approaching this and I see you being very happy and successful with your new FreeNAS system when you get it built! Good luck!

 

[SweetAndLow]

Keep asking more questions and even try hoping in IRC to chat and learn more. Lots of educated users on these forums.

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