My humble 1st build for home

[Sphinxicus]

Hello All


After a lot of reading (including the hardware guide) I feel its time for me to put my potential build out there for review.


Main usage will be as home NAS with max 3 users to store video/image files and to serve movies to Kodi on a Raspberry Pi. So NFS and SMB.

Will also need to host the following VM's:

- OwnCloud(as I use that as a frontend for file storage/sharing)
- Zoneminder to caputure IP camera footage

These are currently running on a HP Gen 7 Microserver with local datastore, I would like to free this Server up for other duties.


Space is limited where i need to locate this, I have a 450mm deep rack enclosure (which is a nightmare for finding short depth cases) and have 1U free space currently.


So to the specs

1. Motherboard - Asus P10S-I with ASMB8-IKVM for Remote management
2. CPU - Xeon E1220 V5
3. Heat Sink - Dynatron K199 1u Active Cooler
   
4. Memory - 16GB RAM - 2 x Crucial 8GB DDR4 ECC (CT8G4WFD824A.18FB1)
5. Boot Disk - 64GB SATA3 SSD (make/model escapes me) that I had been using as a cache disk in my PC
6. Storage - 4 x 3TB WD Reds (leaning towards Z2 configuration rather than 2 mirrored pairs)
7. Case - istarUSA M-140-ITX 1U Rackmount cse with 4 hotswap bays
8. Powersupply - 250W Enhance 1U Flex ENP-7025B 80 Plus Bronze (Comes with the case)

If i free up space, potential Future expansion of number of drives to a short depth external JBOD enclosure via some form of SAS controller card (need to read up on this)

I know that the Asus board is not in the hardware guide. I had originally planned to go for the Asrock Rack E3C232D2I but I can get the above spec a great deal cheaper. I havent found any horror stories with this board and Freenas but to be fair, there doesnt seem to be a great deal of chat about it.

So there you are, feel free to critique my build.

Thanks for taking the time to read

 

[Arwen]

You might look at the Xeon E3-1220 V6, similar performance and pricing, but runs a little bit cooler. That's
a plus in a smaller chassis. And, it's possible to run DDR4-2400 instead of the maximum DDR4-2133.

Otherwise, I can't really comment if the CPU performance will be adaquate for your needs.

It is nice that there is now more competition in the low end server market. I did not know Asus was making
server style boards. (Basically server style leaves off audio, firewire, and other useless things, and adds IPMI
as well as remote monitoring.)

 

[Ericloewe]

The biggest problem is going to be the PSU. Never, ever trust a PSU that ships with a chassis unless it's from a large and reputable server OEM like Supermicro.

 

[Sphinxicus]

Otherwise, I can't really comment if the CPU performance will be adaquate for your needs.

Ohh Ok. Do you think its underpowered? I didnt think i was asking too much of it? I will look into the V6 varient of it.

The biggest problem is going to be the PSU. Never, ever trust a PSU that ships with a chassis unless it's from a large and reputable server OEM like Supermicro.

I had a feeling that the PSU may be a sticking point. So in the bin the supplied one will go and replaced with:

Seasonic SSP-300SUG

Would that be acceptable? If so does the rest of the build fit my requirements? I'm not looking for lightening performance (i currently have a netgear Redynas Duo v1 so anything will be an upgrade in that department). If it can keep up with edits that i do in Adobe Lightroom to my RAW camera images then i will be very happy as i can store files there and work from the NAS direct rather than from local disk and then backup changes

 

[Ericloewe]

Would that be acceptable?

Yes, but you don't have much room to expand, if any.

The rest should be fine.

 

[Sphinxicus]

Yes, but you don't have much room to expand, if any.

There is a single PCI expansion slot in the case, i had thought about adding something like the lsi-sas-9207-8e to enable me to expand in the future when i have room and funds buy connecting it to a JBOD chassis. I know its not the most elegant all in one setup but if that is a feasible option then great.

If not then I guess is back to the drawing board (and a deeper rack).

Thanks

 

[Ericloewe]

It is feasible.

 

[Sphinxicus]

It is feasible.

Ha ha ok. Feasible but obviously not ideal. I think i need to go back to the drawing board before trying again.

Thanks very much for your time and feedback.

 

[Ericloewe]

Ha ha ok. Feasible but obviously not ideal. I think i need to go back to the drawing board before trying again.

Thanks very much for your time and feedback.

The only thing that makes it less-than-ideal is the whole "what happens if the disks all get disconnected at once" thing, which most people just don't want to deal with.

 

[Dice]

Well feasible can also be seen as "just sink the funds into it and you're fine".
Without some next-to-free hardware the dual chassis solution wont be economically competitive, but none the less - cool.

 

[Sphinxicus]

The only thing that makes it less-than-ideal is the whole "what happens if the disks all get disconnected at once" thing, which most people just don't want to deal with.

ok this is where my distinct lack of knowledge shines through. Do you mean, all drives get disconnected in the event of a fault with the HBA card/Cable/JBOD enclosure? Or something else i'm missing entirely?

If its a case of i can just replace the card/cable power the JBOD back on again then i can live with that. Its not a mission critical setup, its for home. What is imperative is the safety of my data. If something like the above happens and I cant just replace parts and plug it back in and have freenas carry on from where i left off, then this option is definitely no good for me.

The only reason I am entertaining this route is due to current space and fund limitations. The first part of my build (the 1u case etc) is a stepping stone but im sure expansion will be required in the future. However, I don't want to get to the point of where increasing my storage capacity involves going down a path where i start putting my data at a greater risk. I do, very much so, "care about my data"

If the JBOD isnt a safe option, then there is no point in this build and i will have to either find more funds, another location for the NAS (to accommodate a bigger case with more drive capacity) or all of the above.

 

[Dice]

If its a case of i can just replace the card/cable power the JBOD back on again then i can live with that.

You might be fine with re-connecting a cable.
The question is what ZFS thinks about being interrupted in such ways.
There are reasons to why an UPS is highly recommended if you <really care about your data>.

 

[Sphinxicus]

Well feasible can also be seen as "just sink the funds into it and you're fine".
Without some next-to-free hardware the dual chassis solution wont be economically competitive, but none the less - cool.

Yeah i know overall it will cost me more, unfortunately, space and money are both at a premium right now. Hence the 2 phase approach.

Get my platform stood up on Freenas, increase my storage capacity from what i currently have (2TB) to 6TB to buy me some time while i save up funds to increase capacity again in a larger JBOD chassis.

At least, that was the plan :)

 

[Ericloewe]

Or something else i'm missing entirely?

Generally, the concern is "someone nudged the cable and it disconnected".

 

[Sphinxicus]

You might be fine with re-connecting a cable.
The question is what ZFS thinks about being interrupted in such ways.
There are reasons to why an UPS is highly recommended if you <really care about your data>.

Sorry i didnt mention that I already have a UPS in place which this will of course be fed into! (it wasnt part of the new build so it skipped my mind).

The question is what ZFS thinks about being interrupted in such ways

This is what concerns me most and where my knowledge is most lacking. A power failure I can handle, my UPS will take care of that and shut the host down, but if ZFS is going to be fussy about being interrupted due to a cable/HBA card fault then I'm not so keen on the idea now. I feel like this is adding another element of risk that i dont want.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention