Need your approval for a FreeNAS project

[daùienR]

Hello everybody.
I'm embarking on a new adventure: a homemade NAS with FreeNAS.

I would like your approval before embarking.

First the configuration:
1. The case Fractal Design Node 304
2. The Power supply Seasonic G-360
3. The motherboard ASRock H110M-ITX
4. The processor Intel Pentium G4400
5. The RAM Crucial DDR4, 2666 MT/s, PC4-21300, SR x4, ECC, Registered, DIMM, 288-Pin
6. One WD red 3to drive that I get back, and two WD red 4to drive : total 11to

Context:
My project is to construct a NAS for photography. I'm a professional photographer and I want to have access to my photographs from everywhere (computer and laptop). I need to keep my photographs safe too.
So I need speed and security.
If I have space I also want to save my films.

RAID Configuration:
I'm still hesitating but I think to build my RAID like that:

• One RAID 0 with all my WD red disk
• One RAID 0 or a big disk for back up my first RAID each week. I want this unit don't work all the time for limit the wear.

Plugins envisaged:
1: Owncloud: for clouding my photographs.
2: Plex: for streaming my films.

Tell me what you think about my project and especially if you see a flaw in my project.

Thank you very very very much.

Damien

PS: I'm French so excuse my English :)

 

[HoneyBadger]

Welcome.

Your case, power supply, and CPU are sufficient. Bear in mind that the Node 304 is rather tightly packed, and although you don't plan on fully loading it with drives you should consider installing the front fans and monitoring your drive temperatures.

Your motherboard supports but does not actually use ECC memory. From the manufacturer's page:

• Supports ECC UDIMM memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)

You will need to pick a board that actually uses ECC if you want to reap the benefits.

If you want data security, which I strongly recommend because one flipped bit can ruin a photo, you should run your two 4TB drives in a mirror.

For your RAM, 8GB is considered the "bare minimum" of memory for FreeNAS - if you intend to run Owncloud and Plex plugins, you should increase this to 16GB.

 

[Chris Moore]

The motherboard ASRock H110M-ITX

I would suggest an actual server board that has IPMI so that you can remotely manage the server without needing a Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor connected to it.

• One RAID 0 with all my WD red disk

• One RAID 0 or a big disk for back up my first RAID each week.

Better to do a mirror like @HoneyBadger said. ZFS can't correct errors (if they happen) without redundant disks.

One WD red 3to drive that I get back, and two WD red 4to drive : total 11to

If you were thinking to get 8TB of space by doing the two 4TB drives in a stripe (RAID-0) you would be much better off to skip the 3TB drive and get two 8TB drives in a mirror. If cost is the concern, you can purchase a backup drive later.
These drives have a very good track record: https://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00217954.html

 

[KrisBee]

@daùienR Your English is way better than my French, so no problem there. Really the key questions are your prepared to use/pay for a m/board that properly supports EEC RAM and must you use the small ITX format? Sticking with ITX will restrict your choice of m/board and comes at a price premium. Expand Chris Moore's useful links and have a look at the recommended hardware. You've not stated any budget, so you might need to re-think that. If the "HP Microserver Gen8" was still being made, I would have suggested that a s possible pre-built solution for safe storage. Unfortunately, now they hard to find & expensive if new, and even s/hand prices are relatively high.

 

[Chris Moore]

If the "HP Microserver Gen8" was still being made, I would have suggested that a s possible pre-built solution for safe storage.

At the entry level for pre-built systems, this is probably the best value right now:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5173247&Sku=13888996
It only gives 4GB of system memory, but that can easily be upgraded to the required minimum. After that, just add drives. If I were starting again, I wouldn't hesitate to start with one of them.

 

[daùienR]

Your motherboard supports but does not actually use ECC memory. From the manufacturer's page:

• Supports ECC UDIMM memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)

Ah shit. is it really useful the ECC memory ?

 

[daùienR]

For your RAM, 8GB is considered the "bare minimum" of memory for FreeNAS - if you intend to run Owncloud and Plex plugins, you should increase this to 16GB.

Ok i have a doubt about the memory. I will put a two of 8gb RAM

 

[daùienR]

I would suggest an actual server board that has IPMI so that you can remotely manage the server without needing a Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor connected to it.

Thanks ! how much cost type of card? I have a Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor with my home computer.

My priority is to have access to my photographs from everywhere (computer and laptop).

 

[daùienR]

If you were thinking to get 8TB of space by doing the two 4TB drives in a stripe (RAID-0) you would be much better off to skip the 3TB drive and get two 8TB drives in a mirror. If cost is the concern, you can purchase a backup drive later.

It would be a good option :) !

but the problem is i already have two disks of 4to and one disk of 3to, so i looking for a good way to use alll of this disk.

 

[daùienR]

If you want data security, which I strongly recommend because one flipped bit can ruin a photo, you should run your two 4TB drives in a mirror

So i will just have 4to to save all my photographs and films. It's is not much. Can i use my 3 to ?

 

[daùienR]

use/pay for a m/board that properly supports EEC RAM and must you use the small ITX format? Sticking with ITX will restrict your choice of m/board and comes at a price premium

Ah thanks i didn't think about this, i thinks i will give this idea up.

 

[daùienR]

I completely forget to give you my budget. I don't want to spend more than 300 dollars ( without the Hard drive disk) for built my NAS.

 

[daùienR]

PS: I'm French so excuse my English :)

The RAM Crucial DDR4, 2666 MT/s, PC4-21300, SR x4, ECC, Registered, DIMM, 288-Pin

I change my RAM selection it's Ballistix Sport LT BLS2C8G4D26BFSE 16Go Kit (8Gox2) (DDR4, 2666 MT/s, PC4-21300, DR x8, DIMM, 288-Pin) Mémoire - Rouge

 

[daùienR]

I have doubt. On the motherboard is noticed "Supports DDR4 2133". do you my Ram doesn't work with my 2666 RAM ?

 

[HoneyBadger]

Please consolidate your replies, it is very difficult to read broken up into many individual posts.

Ah crap. is it really useful the ECC memory ?

Ok i have a doubt about the memory. I will put a two of 8gb RAM

It would be a good option :) !

but the problem is i already have two disks of 4to and one disk of 3to, so i looking for a good way to use alll of this disk.

I completely forget to give you my budget. I don't want to spend more than 300 dollars ( without the Hard drive disk) for built my NAS.

You need to step back and re-evaluate your reasons for building this hardware.

You are a professional photographer - it is how you make your money. So I assume you would not use a failing memory card that corrupts your photos, or a dusty lens that could ruin a shot. In a similar sense, you need to use the proper hardware to ensure that your photos are protected once they are saved here.

ZFS is a very good tool to help ensure your data remains safe; but if you configure your drives with no redundancy, and use non-ECC memory, the effectiveness of that tool is drastically reduced.

Your budget is tight, but the system provided by @Chris Moore is a good option provided that you increase the installed memory to 16GB (if you plan to run Owncloud/Plex) - however, you may have to exceed your budget.

Regarding the cost of "doing it properly" I ask you this simple question - what is the cost of losing up to 4Tb of your photos?

I imagine it is much, much more than the extra hundred or even two-hundred dollars spent on building a solution with ECC memory and redundant hard drives.

 

[Chris Moore]

Ah crap. is it really useful the ECC memory ?

Yes.

but the problem is i already have two disks of 4to and one disk of 3to, so i looking for a good way to use alll of this disk.

Just because you have something doesn't mean that you need to use it. Do these drives already have data on them? They would need to be reformatted with the ZFS filesystem to use with FreeNAS.

So i will just have 4to to save all my photographs and films. It's is not much. Can i use my 3 to ?

Probably best to sell the old drives and start with new ones. If you are doing a mirror or RAIDz2 configuration, all the drives need to be the same. Making single drive pools or stripes of drives with no redundancy is not a good idea for reliable storage.

I completely forget to give you my budget. I don't want to spend more than 300 dollars ( without the Hard drive disk) for built my NAS.

That is a very low price. I don't see building a good system at that price. The HP server I linked to with some RAM added is probably your best bang for the buck, but it isn't going to be that low. Mostly because you would need to add a couple memory modules, so that will probably put you over the $300 limit you have imposed.

Another option would be some older used parts like these:
I have had very good luck over the years with retired data-center gear.

I used a system board like this for more than two years to run my NAS:
Supermicro X9SCM-F LGA 1155/Socket H2 DDR3 Motherboard with Heatsink/Fan & I/O Shield - - US $75.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273350608871

You have to get components that are compatible, but you can do everything you need to do with this board.
If you just want a mirrored pair of drives, plus a boot drive, easily done using the onboard SATA ports.
8GB-Memory-RAM-for-SuperMicro-X9-Series-X9SCM-F-X9SCL-F-O-X9SCD-F-X9SCM-X9SC - - US $82.00 ----- probably want to double this...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/163130855012

Intel Xeon Processor E3-1230 v2 8M Cache, 3.30 GHz SR0P4 TESTED - - US $99.95
https://www.ebay.com/itm/223007566701

That system board won't fit in the teeny tiny case you wanted to use, so I would suggest one like this:
Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BKO Blackout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - - US $96.12
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173352521681

I really don't see the reason for trying to go with such a small chassis ever.

That is about $355 of parts and it gives you a server grade system board with a quad core Xeon CPU, 8GB of ECC memory. I don't know what your components add up to, but I used a rig like this for a couple years and I know it will work.

I still think you will need to double the memory to 16GB, but there are challenges no matter which way you go.

 

[daùienR]

Please consolidate your replies, it is very difficult to read broken up into many individual posts.



You need to step back and re-evaluate your reasons for building this hardware.

You are a professional photographer - it is how you make your money. So I assume you would not use a failing memory card that corrupts your photos, or a dusty lens that could ruin a shot. In a similar sense, you need to use the proper hardware to ensure that your photos are protected once they are saved here.

ZFS is a very good tool to help ensure your data remains safe; but if you configure your drives with no redundancy, and use non-ECC memory, the effectiveness of that tool is drastically reduced.

Your budget is tight, but the system provided by @Chris Moore is a good option provided that you increase the installed memory to 16GB (if you plan to run Owncloud/Plex) - however, you may have to exceed your budget.

Regarding the cost of "doing it properly" I ask you this simple question - what is the cost of losing up to 4Tb of your photos?

I imagine it is much, much more than the extra hundred or even two-hundred dollars spent on building a solution with ECC memory and redundant hard drives.

You are right, I thought it was less cost to build a NAS. But i can reconsider my budget.

 

[daùienR]

I used a system board like this for more than two years to run my NAS:
Supermicro X9SCM-F LGA 1155/Socket H2 DDR3 Motherboard with Heatsink/Fan & I/O Shield - - US $75.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273350608871

You have to get components that are compatible, but you can do everything you need to do with this board.
If you just want a mirrored pair of drives, plus a boot drive, easily done using the onboard SATA ports.
8GB-Memory-RAM-for-SuperMicro-X9-Series-X9SCM-F-X9SCL-F-O-X9SCD-F-X9SCM-X9SC - - US $82.00 ----- probably want to double this...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/163130855012

Intel Xeon Processor E3-1230 v2 8M Cache, 3.30 GHz SR0P4 TESTED - - US $99.95
https://www.ebay.com/itm/223007566701

That system board won't fit in the teeny tiny case you wanted to use, so I would suggest one like this:
Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BKO Blackout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - - US $96.12
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173352521681

thank you very much for your example. I will looking for old stuff.

 

[daùienR]

Right now i searched for new option for my NAS.

I just see a new Mini ITX motherboard the X99E-ITX/ac . I tought put this with Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3.

What do you think about this motherboard ?

 

[Chris Moore]

You are right, I thought it was less cost to build a NAS. But i can reconsider my budget.

It still takes some hardware to put together a capable computer and companies expect to be paid for their hardware for some reason.

Right now i searched for new option for my NAS.

I just see a new Mini ITX motherboard the X99E-ITX/ac . I tought put this with Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3.

What do you think about this motherboard ?

You are looking at the wrong product range. You are looking at desktop / gaming systems. You need to be looking at this gear:
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/products.asp#Server