Looking for some input on building a free NAS for home

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Carl Swift

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Hello,

First off I'm a systems eng but I primarily am a Vmware/windows guy. Not huge into the storage realm but not dumb either.

With that said I currently have a DELL T420 at home as my ESX host with local storage. 8x 1tb drives. Running 4 1gb connections to the network. Also have a Juniper EX3300 48 port switch with 4 x10gb ports, I was thinking of running Iscsi on from the storage array to the host.

I have been looking at Free NAS for quite some time now. I would need to buy a system to hold a bunch of drives and some kind of controller. I have some parts already that should be fine to run a storage system (below). I have plenty of ssd's to cache for read's writes and a fusion IO duo card (if it's supported). I'm also planning on running a plex server so my kids will stop scratching my DVD/blueray's (going to rip them).

Looking for some of your thoughts on the best approach to build a system with what I have. Thanks for your time!
Carl

things to buy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118142

Own:
M/B: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157523
CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/82765/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-v3-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz
128GB ram
DELL PERC H710
DELL PERC H310
2xIntel dual port 10gb nic (one already in esx host)

all drives are ent grade except ssd's(drives avalable for use)
3x Fusion IO DUO 640GB
2x 600gb 15k
6x 3tb drives
10x 1tb drives
3x samsung 850 evo 250gb
5x samsung 840 evo 250gb
2x older 90gb ssd use for os in a mirror
 

flyinfitz1

Explorer
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
Messages
91
I built a NAS this year using the Lenovo TS140. Only holds 4 drives which may be an issue for you, but for 4 users in the home and two remotely that access Plex and FTP Ive had no issues. We ran 5 concurrent streams at 720p and it didn't really even blink.

TS140 - E1225
12GB ECC RAM
4x3TB WD RED Drives in RaidZ2
 
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Oct 2, 2014
Messages
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Well kudo's for you for having awesome toys! The Fusion cards i would kill for, and the 128Gb of RAM is DDR3....so drooling over that a bit too, anywho. While the norco case is nice, i'd much rather have a supermicro 4U superchassis , and you could take the 300 id spend on the 16 port cards and pick up a dual port card instead as the supermicro backplane only uses 2. I would be aware that if youre going to use FreeNAS to serve iSCSI targets do NOT use over 50% of the pool/vdev you give to iSCSI to share, as this will cause some pretty serious issues (all documented and have come up on the forums in the last 3 months), otherwise, someone else will need to weigh in on the support of the Fusion Drives as i am not familiar with them in freenas.
 

Carl Swift

Dabbler
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Jul 21, 2015
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LOL @ Darren, your setup ain't half bad either dude. Ya i had read that. Some is going for iscsi (for a few VM's and for playing with) most will be for NFS shares I'm thinking. I honestly don't need all 3 of the fusion cards. But I have them and I may try and sell two of them. I have a test box up and running and freenas doesn't see the fusion Io card I have in it right now. I was thinking of using the DELL PERC H710 with my 6x 3tb drives. Raid5 with a hot spare it also allows for caching with a ssd ( i have a 128gb ssd sitting here somewhere). The rest of the ports would be run off the LSI host bus adapter card and controlled threw freenas is what i was thinking.
 
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Messages
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LOL @ Darren, your setup ain't half bad either dude. Ya i had read that. Some is going for iscsi (for a few VM's and for playing with) most will be for NFS shares I'm thinking. I honestly don't need all 3 of the fusion cards. But I have them and I may try and sell two of them. I have a test box up and running and freenas doesn't see the fusion Io card I have in it right now. I was thinking of using the DELL PERC H710 with my 6x 3tb drives. Raid5 with a hot spare it also allows for caching with a ssd ( i have a 128gb ssd sitting here somewhere). The rest of the ports would be run off the LSI host bus adapter card and controlled threw freenas is what i was thinking.
Thanks, i may take a fusion card off your hands :P . Anywho just keep in mind FreeNAS doesnt play nicely with HW raid, if its for a host that would connect to FreeNAS, then have at it. I've seen far too many ppl loose there pools, and valuable data due to HW raid or lack of recommended hardware, you seem like youre on the right track and did some homework so we appreciate that :D . As an FYI if you're going to 10Gb your FreeNAS the Chelsio cards i use come highly recommended from myself and a few other senior members here if you're going that route as you already have 1. I'll also ask...how much data do YOU think you have now, and how much do you think you'll have in 6 months to a year...i ask because i originally started my RAID10 with windows 2 years ago....i then found myself last year around Oct investigating how i can get rid of windows because i realized i'm a data hoarder (yes i have a problem, no i dont want help, yes it is possible its contagious), so i started looking into my options i wanted to get away from possibly suffering bitrot....so i found myself here, at FreeNAS forums....i gathered up my stuff, did some posts, got help from the awesome @cyberjock @SweetAndLow and last but not least @jgreco , all of which are amazing, and amusing. I find myself now sitting here with ~25 odd Tb...and starting to run out lol....This is due to the factor my gf has a obsession with movies and TV shows, which is causing me to slowly fill 2 of my 3 pools lol....Now if you're going to be ripping blu rays that are 20-50Gb each and all....id suggest looking into @DataKeeper 's beautiful build , or @pclausen naughty naughty build . I point them out...because well...if you're riping blu rays i might say pack a 24 bay chasssis with 4Tb disks, and then get a second chassis for lower size disks... To put it in perspective i've barely scratched the surface of my 4Tb pool....but the other 2 that are half the size are filling up quickly and i'll need to start ordering 4Tb hdds before summer is over.
 

Carl Swift

Dabbler
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Jul 21, 2015
Messages
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I'm encoding them. So they turn out to be anywhere between 6-10gb in size. So far real good quality watching on a 60in tv. I don't have a ton of data (yet), so for now what I have will suffice. The other reason for the 24 bay is as I get more larger drives I can create new pools and move data over and decomm the smaller drives. If that's the case then I'll just use the 310 adapter as a jbod and let freenas run everything inc the lsi.
 

DataKeeper

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@Darren Myers likes to showoff my build I think.. Wonder when we see him build one of his own?? I've provided him with the links.. lol! :D It is an incredible system for a home owner and admittedly way more then I need right now, it was built to last and meet my needs for the next 8-10 years hopefully. Factor in most people build a new system every few years, in the long run I hope I'm ahead of the costs. The DDR4 ram cost hurts! All the 4TB hard drives ordered so quickly... well I felt like someone bent me over it hurt so much! :eek: In truth, I have moments when I feel bad I went so big however it passes quickly.

@Carl Swift .. I'd skip that Norco case and suggest one of the Supermicro SC846E16-R1200B instead for $319.00 on eBay saving you money and getting a vastly better chassis. A number of people here have bought these from this seller with great experiences. See my "beautiful build" :rolleyes: in my sig or via Darren's comment above for specs and the eBay link. They are in stock most of the time but run out for short periods now and then. Send them an email if sold out as they have the same case in different configurations. Just make sure you specify the SAS2 backplane. Pick up one of the M1015 SAS/SATA controllers (sell the 310 to pay for one) and 2 longer cables.. again, links in my sig. What 10GbE nics do you have?

If you're looking to use two SSDs as mirrored boot drives there is an optional rear window 2 x 2.5" hot-swap kit available which would allow you to run them directly from the main board independently from the M1015 card and backplane. This continues to give you 24 bays in the front for data drives. I considered this however went with the 64GB Sata DOMs instead mainly because I didn't have SSDs on hand and they didn't require additional cables.

I'm going to guess you have a decent UPS already and understand it's pretty much required for a FreeNAS system. Yes? If not I now have 2 of these and the price with free shipping is great. I've bought from this seller in the past without issues as well. The hardware works and the replacement batteries are new and strong.
 

Carl Swift

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Jul 21, 2015
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@DataKeeper Yes I have a UPS APC . I'll definitely look into the supermicro case. how loud is it? I have that Dell PERC h710 also. So realistically I shouldn't have to buy a diff card then, it'll handle more than 24 drives? I have the same intel 10gb cards. So I did some reading on the fusion IO cards. Looks like I'd have to do some stuff I'm not used to in the os (not a linux guy) in order to get it to work. Before I buy anything I need to sell 2 or all 3 of those fusion cards...LOL
 

DataKeeper

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Nice.. same APC I have. I wanted the 3000xl with the extended battery pack but after ordering the darn hard drives I stayed with the 2200 units.

The SM846 chassis can be loud when everything is cranked up. Mine is currently in our unfinished basement directly below our kitchen table eating area with only the plywood and thin vinyl flooring between. When turned to max speed you can just hear it while at the table. When turned down to the lowest setting I cant hear it at 2am when its dead silent in the house. Of course sitting beside it downstairs its obviously louder then a desktop however I don't find it that loud. That said.. it is not something you want in a bedroom. ;) Others have swapped out the SM fans for quieter fans but I don't like that.
 

Carl Swift

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Jul 21, 2015
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Well it's going right next to my desk so I'll be swapping out fans then or the wife will kill me...LOL what size fans 80mm?
 

DataKeeper

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Fan sizes and part numbers can be found here. Yes 80mm but the front 3 and rear 2 have different thicknesses. Even on low I'm sure I wouldn't want any rackmount chassis by my desk.. in the closet perhaps if it were cool enough but not directly beside me. I have a watercooled Alienware beside my desk and the sound of that bothers me these days. That constant hum drives me mad at times! Heck, I'm looking to move my desktop into the basement and simply having a mouse, k/b and monitors on my desk for sweet silence.
 

Ericloewe

Server Wrangler
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Feb 15, 2014
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Fan sizes and part numbers can be found here. Yes 80mm but the front 3 and rear 2 have different thicknesses. Even on low I'm sure I wouldn't want any rackmount chassis by my desk.. in the closet perhaps if it were cool enough but not directly beside me. I have a watercooled Alienware beside my desk and the sound of that bothers me these days. That constant hum drives me mad at times! Heck, I'm looking to move my desktop into the basement and simply having a mouse, k/b and monitors on my desk for sweet silence.
Dunno about Alienware (just that they're unnecessarily loud), but Asus gaming desktops use 120mmx38mm San Ace fans. Those are loud.
 

Carl Swift

Dabbler
Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
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@DataKeeper and @Darren Myers ya dude at mrrackables (Justin) is cool! "Hello thanks for the email and tell everyone Justin from the NAS forums I said hello." I'm working with him on that case and maybe adding 6 more 3tb drives. We'll see what the price comes too.

Carl
 
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Well he's out of the sas2 backplanes. May have some next month. I'm on a list.
Ah that kinda sucks, did you look up certifiedserers at all and give them a buzz or just mrrackables ?
 

DataKeeper

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I've watched CertifiedServers's stock and in the past I typically see stuff back in within a few weeks. They were actually out of stock when I went to purchase. A week later they were back. I'd say hold off if you can..

MrRackables corrected an order mistake I made and refunded my money without any issues. I'd say Thumbs Up! for the service side of things with them. The downside is I cant remember ever seeing them with a SAS2 backplane in a system for under $500 bucks.
 
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