Hi,
Been lurking a while now and doing a lot of reading. I'm about ready to take the plunge and build a proper FreeNAS system, but before I do I'd like to get a sanity check off you knowledgable folk.
Use Case:
The FreeNAS system will primarily be used as an iSCSI storage server for a small vSphere 6 environment consisting of 4 servers in a home-lab environment. When I say four servers, what I actually mean is...
2 x Intel Xeon E3-2603V2, 64GB whiteboxes
1 x AMD 7870K, 32GB whitebox
1 x HP DL585 G5 16 x Opteron, 128GB server
VAAI support is essential.
Additionally, I'll probably be hosting Plex in a jail on the FreeNAS, but its usage will be light. No more than 2 simultaneous streams.
Storage Network:
I'll be using multiple 1Gbps copper connections. Each ESXi host will have 2 x 1Gbps interfaces used solely for iSCSI traffic on different VMKernel interfaces and be configured to use round-robin for load balancing along each path. Everything goes through a HP1920-48G gigabit switch. iSCSI will be on its own dedicated VLAN with 9000 MTU.
Build Spec:
I'm looking at the following kit list right now which incorporates new and existing components I'll be re-purposing from other machines...
Case - 15 HDD bay, 4U X-Case Easystore
PSU - Corsair CSM 650W
Mobo - Supermicro X10SL7-F
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
RAM - Crucial CT102472BD160B 8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC x 4 (32GB total)
HDDs - 6 x 3TB Western Digital Red (3 I have already, 3 I will buy)
NICs - 2 onboard (for LAN) + 2 x dual port Qlogic Netxtreme II BCM 5706 with H/W iSCSI + TOE (already have these)
SSDs - 2 x 128GB Plextor SSDs (already have these)
Based on all this I have a few questions...
1) Is the spec and chosen components OK? I think it is.
2) I'm a little concerned about the lack of extensibility of the X10SL7-F as it only has two PCI slots. If I needed to add more NICs or a HBA for example I would be S.O.U.L. Supermicro boards seem difficult to get hold of here in the UK for a reasonable price, but I do like the idea of having IPMI.
3) I don't know what to do with the SSDs. I've read lots about ZILs, SLOGs, L2ARCs and all the pros and cons and ways you can make the performance worse. I've also read that SSDs used for write logs need to ideally be hardwearing and able to survive a power loss (e.g. super capacitor variety). I don't want to fork out more money for additional SSDs, so what could I do with these two that would give me some more benefit without compromising write integrity.
4) How does VMFS work on top of iSCSI? I assume it would have to be file backed iSCSI so a VMFS volume would sit on top of ZFS right?
Thanks!
Been lurking a while now and doing a lot of reading. I'm about ready to take the plunge and build a proper FreeNAS system, but before I do I'd like to get a sanity check off you knowledgable folk.
Use Case:
The FreeNAS system will primarily be used as an iSCSI storage server for a small vSphere 6 environment consisting of 4 servers in a home-lab environment. When I say four servers, what I actually mean is...
2 x Intel Xeon E3-2603V2, 64GB whiteboxes
1 x AMD 7870K, 32GB whitebox
1 x HP DL585 G5 16 x Opteron, 128GB server
VAAI support is essential.
Additionally, I'll probably be hosting Plex in a jail on the FreeNAS, but its usage will be light. No more than 2 simultaneous streams.
Storage Network:
I'll be using multiple 1Gbps copper connections. Each ESXi host will have 2 x 1Gbps interfaces used solely for iSCSI traffic on different VMKernel interfaces and be configured to use round-robin for load balancing along each path. Everything goes through a HP1920-48G gigabit switch. iSCSI will be on its own dedicated VLAN with 9000 MTU.
Build Spec:
I'm looking at the following kit list right now which incorporates new and existing components I'll be re-purposing from other machines...
Case - 15 HDD bay, 4U X-Case Easystore
PSU - Corsair CSM 650W
Mobo - Supermicro X10SL7-F
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
RAM - Crucial CT102472BD160B 8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC x 4 (32GB total)
HDDs - 6 x 3TB Western Digital Red (3 I have already, 3 I will buy)
NICs - 2 onboard (for LAN) + 2 x dual port Qlogic Netxtreme II BCM 5706 with H/W iSCSI + TOE (already have these)
SSDs - 2 x 128GB Plextor SSDs (already have these)
Based on all this I have a few questions...
1) Is the spec and chosen components OK? I think it is.
2) I'm a little concerned about the lack of extensibility of the X10SL7-F as it only has two PCI slots. If I needed to add more NICs or a HBA for example I would be S.O.U.L. Supermicro boards seem difficult to get hold of here in the UK for a reasonable price, but I do like the idea of having IPMI.
3) I don't know what to do with the SSDs. I've read lots about ZILs, SLOGs, L2ARCs and all the pros and cons and ways you can make the performance worse. I've also read that SSDs used for write logs need to ideally be hardwearing and able to survive a power loss (e.g. super capacitor variety). I don't want to fork out more money for additional SSDs, so what could I do with these two that would give me some more benefit without compromising write integrity.
4) How does VMFS work on top of iSCSI? I assume it would have to be file backed iSCSI so a VMFS volume would sit on top of ZFS right?
Thanks!