Need urgent help with hardware...

[rangopango]

Hey everyone, I'm planning on building my own NAS. These are the parts that I'm thinking about purchasing, please let me know if there are any issues with it and FreeNAS.
Supermicro X10SLM+-F
Xeon E3-1220v3
LSI 9211-8i

I can buy all of it for $470 according to the seller, and we're both from Europe, is that a good price? I have only one goal with my NAS, and it's for data storage and nothing else. Maybe, just maybe, I'll use Plex on it when my kid and nephew is over and they want to watch something in the living room. I'll be accessing the NAS everyday for many hours everyday, deleting and adding new files. Currently, I have five 8TB hard drives and one 120GB SSD, will I need a bigger SSD? What type of ECC ram should I be using, buffered or unbuffered? I've heard it's better to install FreeNAS on a USB, instead of SSD, is that true?

 

[hescominsoon]

The LSi is a raid card not an HBA. this card is an HBA suitable for FreeNAS:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAD5G5JG6403

A quick google search of your board gives you this page about the board:
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c220/x10slm_-f.cfm
Your answers about ram are there.
What is the purpose of the SSD..if it is for booting..that's serious overkill. Just get two 16 GB usb thumbdrives for your booting purposes...it is all you will really need. If the SSD is just lying around then you can use it as your boot device..it will probably outlast your entire system as FreeNAS does not pound on the boot device. If you are only using this as an archive the ssd as a SLOG really is not needed IMO...based on the little bit you posted here.

 

[rangopango]

The LSi is a raid card not an HBA. this card is an HBA suitable for FreeNAS:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAD5G5JG6403

A quick google search of your board gives you this page about the board:
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c220/x10slm_-f.cfm
Your answers about ram are there.
What is the purpose of the SSD..if it is for booting..that's serious overkill. Just get two 16 GB usb thumbdrives for your booting purposes...it is all you will really need. If the SSD is just lying around then you can use it as your boot device..it will probably outlast your entire system as FreeNAS does not pound on the boot device. If you are only using this as an archive the ssd as a SLOG really is not needed IMO...based on the little bit you posted here.

Can I use the SSD for cache? The LSI card has been flashed to IT mode, so it's technically a HBA... does that not work with FreeNAS? What type of ECC ram is the best for FreeNAS?

 

[Jailer]

Can I use the SSD for cache?

Your use case doesn't warrant it. And I'm going to disagree with @hescominsoon on the boot device recommendation. You would be much better off with a single SSD as a boot device rather than any combination of USB. SSD's are much more reliable than USB drives.

The LSI card has been flashed to IT mode, so it's technically a HBA... does not that work with FreeNAS?

Yes and it's a highly recommended choice as well.

What type of ECC ram is the best for FreeNAS?

There are several on the Supermicro compatibility list. You want something that is compatible with your motherboard.

https://www.supermicro.com/support/...706C7B5216282&prid=0&type=0&ecc=0&reg=0&fbd=0

 

[rangopango]

So anything that's compatible with my motherboard, all right. Generally speaking, is it better to use buffered or unbuffered ECC with FreeNAS?

 

[wblock]

is it better to use buffered or unbuffered ECC with FreeNAS?

Usually, there is no choice, the motherboard supports one or the other.

The LSI 9211-8i flashed with IT firmware is pretty much the gold standard HBA for use with FreeNAS. The IBM M1015 and Dell PERC H200 and H310 are variations of that card, can also be used with IT firmware, and are also good choices.

 

[hescominsoon]

So anything that's compatible with my motherboard, all right. Generally speaking, is it better to use buffered or unbuffered ECC with FreeNAS?

Your motherboard will tell you what ram you can use..:)

 

[hescominsoon]

Your use case doesn't warrant it. And I'm going to disagree with @hescominsoon on the boot device recommendation. You would be much better off with a single SSD as a boot device rather than any combination of USB. SSD's are much more reliable than USB drives.

Yes and it's a highly recommended choice as well.

There are several on the Supermicro compatibility list. You want something that is compatible with your motherboard.

https://www.supermicro.com/support/...706C7B5216282&prid=0&type=0&ecc=0&reg=0&fbd=0

I have no issues with usb sticks. Others have. I tend to start with 16 GB and go up.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Chris Moore]

Hey everyone, I'm planning on building my own NAS. These are the parts that I'm thinking about purchasing, please let me know if there are any issues with it and FreeNAS.
Supermicro X10SLM+-F
Xeon E3-1220v3
LSI 9211-8i

I can buy all of it for $470 according to the seller, and we're both from Europe, is that a good price? I have only one goal with my NAS, and it's for data storage and nothing else. Maybe, just maybe, I'll use Plex on it when my kid and nephew is over and they want to watch something in the living room. I'll be accessing the NAS everyday for many hours everyday, deleting and adding new files. Currently, I have five 8TB hard drives and one 120GB SSD, will I need a bigger SSD? What type of ECC ram should I be using, buffered or unbuffered? I've heard it's better to install FreeNAS on a USB, instead of SSD, is that true?

If you want to save a little cost, you might want to consider the hardware list here :

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?posts/439901

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[rangopango]

Thanks for the list, I'll check it out.

Can someone answer my original question and let me know if the price for those components in my original post is good or bad?

 

[Chris Moore]

Can someone answer my original question and let me know if the price for those components in my original post is good or bad?

You are paying pretty close (within $30 or so) of retail prices for it. If it is used gear, you should be paying less. It is not a great bargain but the price is not terrible either and those components will absolutely work. You mentioned Plex and I know for sure that CPU will handle transcoding in Plex with no difficulty.

PS. The same memory that I suggested for the X9 series board will also work in this board. The key difference between the two platforms is that the X9 board has PCIe v2.0 where the X10 board has PCIe v3.0, but the memory is largely unchanged.

 

[rangopango]

Thank you for your detailed post. I will look for cheaper parts, and yeah, the seller is selling his used equipment. I'll look for cheaper components on Ebay, I just hope the shipping won't cost too much since I'm from Europe.