My first NAS parts (starting again from scratch)

[Wipi]

Show : 6 JAN 2017 (cancelled: will start from scratch)

Hello, I'm new to the NAS world after two consecutive power surges that took out my PSU three months ago. I started looking for a UPS and somehow found some NAS videos which got me hooked.

I wasted a lot of time learning based on my own experience with consumer and enthusiast hardware until I found cyberjock recommended hardware posts... and guess what... they were truly highly recommended... I almost bought an Asus board before finding it.

Many users recommend the ASRock Rack C2750D4I ($460) but for that money I prefer to have something with better performance. The ASRock D1521D4I ($460) is an interesting choice but with an old Broadwell Xeon D-1521. Later I found the ASRock E3C236D2I and I'm happy with that. I also found the ASRock C236 WSI that was missing some management features but I added it to my comparison.

I did my own comparison (2.9MB very large image) with these three motherboards because ASRock website doesn't offer comparison. Here are the parts:

Code:

CASE	  $45	 Fractal Design Node 304
CPU	   $200	Intel Xeon E3-1225 v5
MOBO	  $261	ASRock Rack Motherboard E3C236D2I
RAM	   -		   -
HBA	   $91	 LSI Logic SAS9211-8I 8PORT Int 6GB Sata+sas Pcie 2.0
HDD	   -		   -
SSD	   -		   -
PSU	   $170	Seasonic 750W 80 PLUS Titanium ATX12V Power Supply with Active PFC F3 (SSR-750TD)
---------------
SUM:	  $767+

CPU+MOBO cost $460 almost the same price of a single ASRock C2750D4I... basically a win situation... however it maxes out at 32GB RAM vs 64GB for the C2750D4I.

I have some points I need some help with:
1. the Xeon E3-1225v5 isn't listed in the CPU supported list for the motherboard, does it mean there is a chance of incompatability or is it just not tested?
2. Not many ECC memory modules listed in the supported memory list for the motherboard. If I used untested modules will there be issues.

Sometimes stupid thoughts cross my mind:

Show

3. Can I get a WD-BLUE and enable TLER (and other options from WD-RED drives) using smartmontools? I can't seem to find a clear answer. Also, I tried to enable it on 1TB-GREEN, 2TB-GREEN, 4TB-GREEN and 4TB-BLUE, bought over the last 5 years but non of them support TLER. Is there a way to enable this hack?

4. Can I use freeNAS as a no-raid backup system (with a HBA and ECC RAM) for a single hard drive? I was hoping to take advantage of the robust file system ZFS to keep an eye on files with the integrated checksums and integrity checks. I'm on low budget, Mirroring and RAIDZ2 is very costly.

5. I learned about "RAID is not backup" and "There should be three copies of the data" original, raid and offsite cold backup. Should the backup be in RAID or raw data form?

Thoughts and comments are appreciated. Criticism is welcome also.

Sorry for the huge edit. after reading some replies, I decided to start again from scratch.
Why aren't Asus boards recommended?

 

[FreeNASBob]

I would stay away from Asrock hardware. They have had some major hardware reliability issues that they are either unwilling or unable to address.

 

[SweetAndLow]

ASRock hardware is just fine. There was one problem with FreeNAS on their system and it bricked a specific model of motherboard.

Your CPU should be the 1220 or 1230, the 1225 has graphics support which will never be used.

Your power supply is way overkill, you would be done with the Seasonic 450w and maybe even the 360w.

Why do you have the HBA? There should be enough SATA ports on your motherboard for all your drives.

Don't get WD blue they will probably have issues over time. WD reds have a nice warranty and are built for NAS usage.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[FreeNASBob]

ASRock hardware is just fine. There was one problem with FreeNAS on their system and it bricked a specific model of motherboard.

The problem you are talking about bricks two models of motherboards, but my problem is not related to the watchdog timer. I'm talking about the failure of the voltage sensors on the board which results in the board being unable to even power on. A quick Google search shows that this is another common problem with ASRock boards and that many people are going through the RMA process just to receive more boards with the same defect.

 

[Wipi]

Your CPU should be the 1220 or 1230, the 1225 has graphics support which will never be used.

Because maybe I might dive into virtualization in the future and the integrated graphics will help a lot.

Your power supply is way overkill, you would be done with the Seasonic 450w and maybe even the 360w.

I want the power supply to run at minimum load, not even half-load. The prime series is the most efficient given the highest rating by JonnyGuru (as I linked in my first post). On a second though, you are definitely correct, I might go for the cheapest Prime 650W at $10 lower.

Why do you have the HBA? There should be enough SATA ports on your motherboard for all your drives.

I learned from experts never to trust on board ports. Less layers between FreeNAS and HDDs mean lower probability that something will go wrong .Get a trust worthy HBA from a trust worthy brand and flash it into IT MODE or JBOD.

Don't get WD blue they will probably have issues over time. WD reds have a nice warranty and are built for NAS usage.

I didn't plan anything regarding HDDs yet, but I'm in the process of trying to determine if I can get a WD BLUE and hack it into a WD RED. I believe it is all just marketing, only to get more money out of consumers.

A quick Google search shows that this is another common problem with ASRock boards and that many people are going through the RMA process just to receive more boards with the same defect.

YES! this was a concern to me... I can see you had two ASRock C2550D4I failures... but what other option do I have? Supermicro is unreasonably expensive and that doesn't guarantee it won't have issues. Can you share some mini-ITX recommendations please?

 

[FreeNASBob]

YES! this was a concern to me... I can see you had two ASRock C2550D4I failures... but what other option do I have? Supermicro is unreasonably expensive and that doesn't guarantee it won't have issues. Can you share some mini-ITX recommendations please?

Is SuperMicro more expensive when you factor in the lifetime of the part? I don't know since I haven't used them, but I know that I spent close to $300 for an ASRock part that lasted only two years. If the Supermicro cost $1,000 and lasted for 7 years it would be cheaper than the ASRock in terms of operational cost.

 

[SweetAndLow]

How do the integrated graphics help with virtualization?

Running a power supply at min load isn't always the most efficient. You need to have it sized correctly for the system so it's in the sweet spot. It's also a waste of money.

How do the onboard ports differ from a added HBA card? Sata is sata as long as the controller is fully supported by the host OS. For example realtek controllers kind of suck but intel's are supported on freebsd pretty well.

 

[wblock]

I want the power supply to run at minimum load, not even half-load. The prime series is the most efficient given the highest rating by JonnyGuru

These two statements don't go together. If you want high efficiency, size the power supply correctly. Optimum efficiency is usually at half load. Much less, and your expensive gold power supply might be no better than a bronze.

I learned from experts never to trust on board ports. Less layers between FreeNAS and HDDs mean lower probability that something will go wrong .

Adding a board is adding a layer. Intel chipset ports are hard to beat.

trying to determine if I can get a WD BLUE and hack it into a WD RED

Buying a $170 power supply and then trying to save money by converting consumer drives into NAS drives is doing things the hard way.

 

[Wipi]

I thought a lot about it and I decided to start again. There are so many factors to take into account.
FreeNAS is way more complicated than I thought for a first build.

I used the forum search to try and get some statistic (obviously inaccurate and unreliable) about brand names and terms like "issue" and "problem" and here are my findings:

			asus				   asrock				  supermicro
count	   11k					12.2k				   31k
issue	   4.5k				   4.6k					14.4k
problem	 5.7k				   5.7k					18.1k
issue %:	41%					38%					 46%
problem %:  52%					47%					 58%

So why aren't Asus boards recommended? I love this company and might go with the Asus P10S-I.

 

[Ericloewe]

So why aren't Asus boards recommended?

They used to have very poor pricing. 20-50% more than supermicro, with crap mezzanine connector hogging some PCIe lanes and IPMI locked behind a 30 buck dongle.

Haven't looked at their current lineup.