NAS build, need advice

[nooryani84]

Basically planning on making a homeserver for XBMC. Other than serving as a NAS i plan to enable the Sickbeard/Couchpotato/SABNZBD and the built-in torrent client (Transmission?)

A way of controlling all of this remotely from a smartphone would also be nice, though that probably isn't specific to FreeNAS.

All of this taken into consideration, here's what I've managed to come up with based on threads from this forum and help from users in this thread:

My first FreeNAS

Chassis: Fractal Design Node 304
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1225v2 3,2GHz If anyone has any input here, it would be much appreciated. Overpowered/underpowered?
PSU: HX Series HX650 Power Supply — 650 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Modular PSU
Motherboard: Intel S1200KPR
Memory: 8 or 16 GB of ECC ram, probably Kingston
HDD: 4 x WD30EFRX (3TB red disks) - might go with the 2TB. Initially I think it will be 2 drives, then i'll add another 2-4 later.
OS HD: SANDISK CRUZER BLADE USB 2.0 8GB I've always favored Sandisk for USB or SD memory

IBM ServeRAID M1015 crossflashed seems to be the right way to go.

So any suggestions on what I should change in this build?

 

[Sir.Robin]

If you are aiming for raidZ with your ServeRaid controller, you will wan't to flash it to straight through mode (no hardware RAID)
Nice read on that here:
http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

BUT if you're only going for 4 drives, i see no need for the extra controller. The onboard ports are fine for SATA spindles.

I would however recommend 6 drives for raidz2 as those are the official recommendation aswell.
Also, since youre build is quite small, you might wanna consider 2.5" drives. 6x 2TB 2.5" gives you 8TB with raidz2.

8GB RAM would be enough in my opinion for this build.

 

[nooryani84]

If you are aiming for raidZ with your ServeRaid controller, you will wan't to flash it to straight through mode (no hardware RAID)
Nice read on that here:
http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

Thanks for the response!

I was looking at that page earlier and it seems like the right card for me. I'd just need to figure out if I need any extra cables.

BUT if you're only going for 4 drives, i see no need for the extra controller. The onboard ports are fine for SATA spindles.

The issue here is that one pair are SATA 300 and the other SATA 600, so they're most likely seperate controllers.

I would however recommend 6 drives for raidz2 as those are the official recommendation aswell.
Also, since youre build is quite small, you might wanna consider 2.5" drives. 6x 2TB 2.5" gives you 8TB with raidz2.

I think that the 3.5" drives will provide better performance and stability, of course I may be wrong. Either way, 2.5" drives are more expensive.

 

[Sir.Robin]

Thanks for the response!

I was looking at that page earlier and it seems like the right card for me. I'd just need to figure out if I need any extra cables.

The issue here is that one pair are SATA 300 and the other SATA 600, so they're most likely seperate controllers.

Your welcome! :)

I don't think so. It's like with all Intels newer chipsets. Only two SATA 3 (6Gbps) but i's the same controller. Nothing to worrie about in other words.

I think that the 3.5" drives will provide better performance and stability, of course I may be wrong. Either way, 2.5" drives are more expensive.

Yes, but they will also cramp you space and add more heat.

 

[ProtoSD]

Did you read this "Sticky" post at the top of the Hardware section?

http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?11901-Confused-about-that-LSI-card-Join-the-crowd

 

[nooryani84]

Thanks for the response!

I was looking at that page earlier and it seems like the right card for me. I'd just need to figure out if I need any extra cables.



Your welcome! :)

I don't think so. It's like with all Intels newer chipsets. Only two SATA 3 (6Gbps) but i's the same controller. Nothing to worrie about in other words.



Yes, but they will also cramp you space and add more heat.

This case has sufficient cooling, a fan blowing directly at the disks and an outtake above it.

Did you read this "Sticky" post at the top of the Hardware section?

http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?11901-Confused-about-that-LSI-card-Join-the-crowd

Yes I read through it briefly and considered the crossflashing option.

My question really is if it's at all necessary to use ECC memory if this is just for a homeserver connected to XBMC? If not then I could simply go with an i3 and some non-ECC memory. Are the chances of problems greater with ZFS compared to UFS when running a NAS like this?

 

[cyberjock]

My question really is if it's at all necessary to use ECC memory if this is just for a homeserver connected to XBMC? If not then I could simply go with an i3 and some non-ECC memory.

If your RAM goes bad and you don't have ECC RAM, you WILL suffer ZFS corruption.

Are the chances of problems greater with ZFS compared to UFS when running a NAS like this?

There are tradeoffs, not absolutes. There is no "yes" or "no" for your question. You should read up on both and understand the advantages and disadvantages and decide for yourself.

 

[ProtoSD]

My question really is if it's at all necessary to use ECC memory if this is just for a homeserver connected to XBMC? If not then I could simply go with an i3 and some non-ECC memory. Are the chances of problems greater with ZFS compared to UFS when running a NAS like this?

No, it's not necessary, but it depends on how valuable your data is. If your RAM goes bad as several people here have found out, ZFS will happily chug along silently corrupting your data.

I have a non-ECC RAM system that has been running for almost 3 years with ZFS raidz2. I'm in the process of upgrading my disks and decided now would be a good time to run a MEMTEST just to be cautious. Backups aren't any good if you're backing up corrupt data either. If you're not going to use ECC, then running a regular MEMTEST would probably be a good idea, especially before doing a scrub or backup.

 

[cyberjock]

Several people have had non-ECC RAM go bad while the server was running. I believe they all lost everything in the pool.

 

[nooryani84]

No, it's not necessary, but it depends on how valuable your data is. If your RAM goes bad as several people here have found out, ZFS will happily chug along silently corrupting your data.

I have a non-ECC RAM system that has been running for almost 3 years with ZFS raidz2. I'm in the process of upgrading my disks and decided now would be a good time to run a MEMTEST just to be cautious. Backups aren't any good if you're backing up corrupt data either. If you're not going to use ECC, then running a regular MEMTEST would probably be a good idea, especially before doing a scrub or backup.

Sorry for the noobish questions here. I believe I'll go with ECC ram and ZFS. Will definitely read up on the pros/cons of running FreeNAS with UFS and non-ECC ram.

If your RAM goes bad and you don't have ECC RAM, you WILL suffer ZFS corruption.



There are tradeoffs, not absolutes. There is no "yes" or "no" for your question. You should read up on both and understand the advantages and disadvantages and decide for yourself.

Thank you for the advice. I went ahead and read the guide in your signature, very informative and well structured. :)

If I understand correctly then RAID 5 is simlar to a vdev RAIDZ2? It's all a little new to me, although I plan to start off with a 60 GB ssd for the OS coupled with 2 x 3TB disks. Will add 2-4 additional 3TB disks later on. I can see now that I've got plenty of reading ahead of me. Thanks again :)

 

[wash]

Raid 5 is the equivalent to raidz1 I think.

I would carefully examine your PSU choice, on a 24-7 server, any improvement in efficiency will mean a lower electric bill and less heat generated.

I bought an 80+ gold Rosewill Capstone 450m mostly for the heat aspect because summers are hot enough already.

Look for efficiency curves and choose a psu that is good around your expected idle load.

 

[gpsguy]

RAIDZ1 would be similar to RAID5. RAIDZ2 is like RAID6.

Save the money you'd spend on the SSD boot disk. The OS only needs ~2Gb of space and the rest of the space won't be usable. Most of us just use a flash drive. If it ever wears out, just reinstall the OS on another flash drive and restore the configuration file.

If I understand correctly then RAID 5 is simlar to a vdev RAIDZ2? It's all a little new to me, although I plan to start off with a 60 GB ssd for the OS coupled with 2 x 3TB disks. Will add 2-4 additional 3TB disks later on.

 

[ProtoSD]

Save the money you'd spend on the SSD boot disk. The OS only needs ~2Gb of space and the rest of the space won't be usable.

+1 an SSD is a complete waste for a system drive.

Also, the FreeNAS image size is expected to grow to 4GB with FreeNAS 9.1, so plan ahead ;)

 

[cyberjock]

+1 an SSD is a complete waste for a system drive.

Also, the FreeNAS image size is expected to grow to 4GB with FreeNAS 9.1, so plan ahead ;)

Well, if they're planning to make it 4GB, then they're gonna start recommending 8GB+ sticks, so why not just make the darn image 6GB!?

 

[ProtoSD]

Well, if they're planning to make it 4GB, then they're gonna start recommending 8GB+ sticks, so why not just make the darn image 6GB!?

Because this time they're making the image smaller than 4GB (~3.7GB) so hopefully people don't encounter that problem.

 

[wash]

8gb thumb drives are dirt cheap, I actually prefer a 16+ GB micro sdhc card with a USB adapter, for a few dollars more than a thumb drive you can choose a speed class, have quite a bit of socket compatibility and will likely never need more for a freenas image.

To hide it inside your case, buy an internal USB port to expansion port cover. If you unscrew the expansion port cover part, you have two short USB internal header to female USB port cables with mounting screws for just a few bucks.

 

[nooryani84]

+1 an SSD is a complete waste for a system drive.

Also, the FreeNAS image size is expected to grow to 4GB with FreeNAS 9.1, so plan ahead ;)

RAIDZ1 would be similar to RAID5. RAIDZ2 is like RAID6.

Save the money you'd spend on the SSD boot disk. The OS only needs ~2Gb of space and the rest of the space won't be usable. Most of us just use a flash drive. If it ever wears out, just reinstall the OS on another flash drive and restore the configuration file.

Ok. Then I just need to use a decent USB stick from Sandisk or Corsair etc. Old habit of thinking an OS needs it's own drive, forgot how scaleable *NIX is :) Especially considering it doesn't need a GUI server side.

Raid 5 is the equivalent to raidz1 I think.

I would carefully examine your PSU choice, on a 24-7 server, any improvement in efficiency will mean a lower electric bill and less heat generated.

I bought an 80+ gold Rosewill Capstone 450m mostly for the heat aspect because summers are hot enough already.

Look for efficiency curves and choose a psu that is good around your expected idle load.

OK, unless SEASONIC G-360 360W GOLD is enough it looks like CORSAIR HX650 MODULAR GOLD 650W is the way to go. Not too familiar with any other PSU brands.

 

[nooryani84]

Just updated the main post so that it reflects upon the feedback from you guys :)

 

[wash]

I was picking out Xeon CPUs and I settled on the e3-1245v2 because it has hyperthreading and video.

If I didn't need video, e3-1230v2 would have been my choice but the e3-1225v2 is essentially an i5 equivalent, not i7.

360 watts should be fine, your idle load is going to be around 50 watts, heavy load around 100 watts. A 200-250 watt 80+ gold would be ideal for an efficient NAS but I haven't seen that in an ATX frame. I chose my Rosewill for efficiency curve, good reviews, availability, price and noise, then spent a little more for the modular version because I don't want a rat's nest of unused wires in my case.

So look for efficiency curves and reviews and especially reviews that test low power idle current.