BUILD New Build replacing existing FreeNAS box.

[Bob-Mnemonic]

Hello All

Back in 2011 and based on the advice found on these forums I built my 1st FreeNAS box, and despite a few hiccups with my initial HDD choice, the box has served me well. I use it mainly for storing media files, backup of files stored on my PC and hosting some iSCSI LUNs for my home Lab.

The specs of my current machine are as follows:

Mobo: Asus E35M1-I Deluxe (With onboard AMD Fusion E-350 Dual Core CPU)
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1066 NON ECC (go on shoot me now :) )
HDD: 4x 2TB WD Blacks (Configured as a RAIDZ1)
PSU: 450W Seasonic PSU - Connected to APC Smart-UPS 1500
Case: LanLi PC-Q08
FreeNAS Version: 8.0.2-Release-amd64 (8288) which is installed on a 60GB SSD

Now after reading these forums again, and Cyberjock’s excellent guides, it would appear that my current hardware is woefully inadequate, so I abandoned my plan to upgrade it to FreeNAS 9.3 and instead began the task of specing a new box.

I plan to use the new box for general file storage, streaming media and serving my virtualized home lab.

So here are the new specs;

Mobo: SuperMicro X10SDV-TLN4F
RAM: 32GB (2x Samsung 16GB M393A2G40DB0)
SATADOM: InnoDisk 32GB MLC SATA DOM (surprisingly difficult to find in the UK, may swap this for an M.2 PCIe SSD)
Case: Silverstone DS380B
PSU: Silverstone Strider 600w Modular SFX
HBA: Silverstone ECS02 or IBM M1015
HDDs: I’m still working out the exact layout of the disks but it’s going to be one of the following combinations:

1. 6x 4TB WD Reds (Configured as RAIDZ2 in one pool) and 2x 3TB WD Reds (Configured as a mirrored vdev for iSCSI traffic in a separate pool)
2. 8x WD Reds (Configured as RAIDZ2 in one pool, size TBC) and 2x 2TB Samsung 850 EVO SSDs (Configured as a mirrored vdev for iSCSI traffic in a separate pool)

Due to space constraints the build needs to be Mini-ITX and after hunting high and low this SuperMicro board makes the most sense to me, its pricey but with its combination of features and power it should last me some time. I realize that the 10GB NICs on this board may not work at the moment with FreeNAS but there is no harm in a bit of future proofing.

The sticking point is the HBA card, going by the Silverstone website the specs say that the card is an LSI SAS 2008 board, and according to this https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/silverstone-ecs02-controller-sas-2008.6067/ it would appear that is able to be flashed to IT mode so as to work with FreeNAS.

1. Has anyone had any experience with this card or am I better off getting the IBM one?
2. Does anyone know the exact dimensions of the card as the ones on the site seem a bit suspect for a half height card (110mm (W) x 21mm (H) x 170mm (D))?

Please let me know if there is anything I may of overlooked and I welcome any suggestions.

 

[ChriZ]

IMHO this board is extremely expensive (for now, at least...)
An ASRock E3C224D4I-14S paired with an E3 Xeon will cost half the money, plus no need for an HBA..
And, depending on the CPU it will be faster...
The only thing to revise is whether it will fit in the case (I think I've read in other posts that it does - not sure though...)

 

[INCSlayer]

the E3C224D4I-14S does indeed fit into the DS380

 

[Bob-Mnemonic]

Thanks for the feedback guys. That board does look good, unfortunately supply here in the UK appears to be non-existent, we seem to have very little choice of server grade Mini-ITX boards over here for some reason.

 

[INCSlayer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. That board does look good, unfortunately supply here in the UK appears to be non-existent, we seem to have very little choice of server grade Mini-ITX boards over here for some reason.

have you checked amazon's uk site?

 

[ChriZ]

Even if you can't find any local supply in the UK, my guess is that buying from USA, even after import taxes, it will still be -much- cheaper than the X10SDV-TLN4F alternative.
Amazon uk does list it, though... at £252.00