New FreeNAS Build Sanity Check - Supermicro X11SSL-CF

[HuggableSquare]

This is going to be my first build, it has gone through a ton of iterations, but I think I've decided that this is my best option for my budget and future expandability. It's going to run Plex, and a few other programs like Sonarr, but that's about it. Before I end up dropping this much money I'd like to get the all good from some people smarter than me. I'm going to start with the six drives in RAIDZ2, and in the future might add another vdev to expand the storage.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V5 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSL-CF-O ($255.00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($112.95 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($112.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.98 @ Jet)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
UPS: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS ($200.13 @ B&H)
Total: $1868.92

 

[golfleep]

I just put together my first FreeNAS build with the same supermicro motherboard, which has been working great. It seems like a great way to have 14 SATA ports for a reasonable price. My specs are also otherwise fairly similar, so your build should be successful. My only suggestion would be that I'm not sure the Crucial memory you list in on supermicro's QVL list, so you might want to make sure it's compatible. I am using Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CPB which are on the QVL list.

 

[HuggableSquare]

I just put together my first FreeNAS build with the same supermicro motherboard, which has been working great. It seems like a great way to have 14 SATA ports for a reasonable price. My specs are also otherwise fairly similar, so your build should be successful. My only suggestion would be that I'm not sure the Crucial memory you list in on supermicro's QVL list, so you might want to make sure it's compatible. I am using Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CPB which are on the QVL list.

Oh awesome, I see you flashed the 3008 into IT mode, what version of the firmware are you on? And as far as I can tell, that Crucial memory is the rebranded Micron memory on the QVL, since they have the same manufacturer part number, and the Samsung memory seemed hard to find.

 

[thepixelgeek]

Great! I'm about to pull the trigger on a similar build, and would be interested to learn about your journey. Especially for installing, flashing, setup for Plex, etc...

My Build:

MOBO: Supermicro MBD-X11SSL-CF ($270)
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1270 v5 @ 3.60GHz ($360 / Passmark 10107)
RAM: (2) Crucial 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM (CT7982583) ($254/ea)
HDD: (12) WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM ($140/ea)
BOOT: ADATA Premier SP600 32GB SATA III (ASP600S3-32GM-C) ($30)
PSU: SeaSonic SS-1050XP3 1050W ($169)
CASE: Rosewill RSV-L4412 - 4U - 12 SATA / SAS Hot-swap Drives ($230)
PSU: APC Back-UPS Pro 1000VA (BR1000G) ($122)

TOTAL: $3369 / $84.225 per TB === 32TB usable space (80% rule)

 

[Ericloewe]

This is going to be my first build, it has gone through a ton of iterations, but I think I've decided that this is my best option for my budget and future expandability. It's going to run Plex, and a few other programs like Sonarr, but that's about it. Before I end up dropping this much money I'd like to get the all good from some people smarter than me. I'm going to start with the six drives in RAIDZ2, and in the future might add another vdev to expand the storage.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V5 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSL-CF-O ($255.00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($112.95 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($112.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.98 @ Jet)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
UPS: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD UPS ($200.13 @ B&H)
Total: $1868.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-01 21:10 EST-0500

Looks fine, but I'd probably go with an X11SSM-F. When you do want to expand later, just add an HBA.

RAM: (2) Crucial 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM (CT7982583) ($254/ea)

254 bucks each? That's rather expensive.

 

[Jailer]

I wouldn't trust my $1800+ worth of parts in that case and it's rather dubious looking cooling capacity. Specifically I'd find something that provides better hard drive cooling. You're also going to need a bigger case if you plan on adding more drives at some point.

 

[thepixelgeek]

254 bucks each? That's rather expensive.

each kit...32gb...is $254...expensive? I'll keep searching if it is.

 

[thepixelgeek]

Looks fine, but I'd probably go with an X11SSM-F. When you do want to expand later, just add an HBA.

Any special reason? I'm considering two boards, X11SSL-CF with onboard LSI, or X11SSM-F and add HBA. Or,
X11SSH-LN4F.

 

[Ericloewe]

each kit...32gb...is $254...expensive? I'll keep searching if it is.

Oh, 32GB kits. That's fine then.

Any special reason? I'm considering two boards, X11SSL-CF with onboard LSI, or X11SSM-F and add HBA. Or,
X11SSH-LN4F.

@HuggableSquare is starting with just six drives, with uncertain future expansion. Paying for the SAS3008 upfront doesn't make much sense there.

 

[golfleep]

Oh awesome, I see you flashed the 3008 into IT mode, what version of the firmware are you on? And as far as I can tell, that Crucial memory is the rebranded Micron memory on the QVL, since they have the same manufacturer part number, and the Samsung memory seemed hard to find.

P12 IT firmware:
ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/Driver/SAS/LSI/3008/Firmware/

Sounds good about the Crucial memory, in case you decide to go for Samsung, I purchased through two different third party sellers on Amazon and had positive experiences.

Edit: Just additional info in case anyone needs it, I used these miniSAS HD to SATA breakout cables from SuperMicro to connect my SATA drives to the two onboard miniSAS HD connectors from the LSI3008:

http://store.supermicro.com/50cm-minisas-sata-cbl-sast-0616.html

 

[thepixelgeek]

Oh, 32GB kits. That's fine then.

@HuggableSquare is starting with just six drives, with uncertain future expansion. Paying for the SAS3008 upfront doesn't make much sense there.

Reading reviews for the X11SSM-F...thoughts on the below? It's tough to weed out the bullshit. Should I be concerned with the PWM coments, and "board is very thin"?

Cons: - Five PWM channels is misleading. There are only two, as four of them are controlled by a single signal and effectively locked together. To make matters worse, this is the channel responsible for CPU temperature control, which makes no sense given one only uses one CPU fan, but multiple case fans. There is also a not fully configurable lower RPM threshold below which interprets fans as stalled and ramps all fans to maximum, making it unsuitable is low noise is desired.

- Terrible manual. Almost none of the BIOS options are explained, and a many of them have totally incorrect explanations. Cannot control fan profiles. No option to disable IPMI or to configure which LAN port it will use (it has a dedicated LAN port, but it falls back to sharing LAN1). Cannot fully disable built-in video as some of the POST messages are always shown using the built-in IPMI video.

- Terrible quality. Board is very thin, and feels cheaply built. In about two hours of use one component on the board literally caught on fire, which could have resulted in a house fire in left unattended. Keep in mind this is supposedly a server-quality board that is made to be used unattended.

 

[Ericloewe]

Let's see:

Cons: - Five PWM channels is misleading. There are only two, as four of them are controlled by a single signal and effectively locked together. To make matters worse, this is the channel responsible for CPU temperature control, which makes no sense given one only uses one CPU fan, but multiple case fans.

Technically true, but irrelevant.

There is also a not fully configurable lower RPM threshold below which interprets fans as stalled and ramps all fans to maximum, making it unsuitable is low noise is desired.

Pure crap. I literally wrote the figurative book on how to set these, you'll find more information in the X10/X11 FAQ linked in my sig.

- Terrible manual. Almost none of the BIOS options are explained, and a many of them have totally incorrect explanations. Cannot control fan profiles. No option to disable IPMI or to configure which LAN port it will use (it has a dedicated LAN port, but it falls back to sharing LAN1). Cannot fully disable built-in video as some of the POST messages are always shown using the built-in IPMI video.

The BIOS is indeed crap and poorly documented, but that applies to everyone these days. Blame AMI.
Fan control is not handled by the BIOS, so nothing to see there. IPMI LAN works exactly as advertised and described in the manual. Video can be disabled with a jumper, but why would anybody want to do that?

Terrible quality. Board is very thin, and feels cheaply built. In about two hours of use one component on the board literally caught on fire, which could have resulted in a house fire in left unattended. Keep in mind this is supposedly a server-quality board that is made to be used unattended.

This one you could fertilize a field with. Build quality is typical for a quality board. And I have a hard time believing it would catch fire semi-spontaneously. 50 buck motherboards don't do that.
Also, the mythical fire would not have spread, since nearly all PCBs are fire retardant and there's nothing feeding it.

 

[thepixelgeek]

Let's see:

Technically true, but irrelevant.

Pure crap. I literally wrote the figurative book on how to set these, you'll find more information in the X10/X11 FAQ linked in my sig.

The BIOS is indeed crap and poorly documented, but that applies to everyone these days. Blame AMI.
Fan control is not handled by the BIOS, so nothing to see there. IPMI LAN works exactly as advertised and described in the manual. Video can be disabled with a jumper, but why would anybody want to do that?

This one you could fertilize a field with. Build quality is typical for a quality board. And I have a hard time believing it would catch fire semi-spontaneously. 50 buck motherboards don't do that.
Also, the mythical fire would not have spread, since nearly all PCBs are fire retardant and there's nothing feeding it.

Good to know, thank you!!

 

[HuggableSquare]

I wouldn't trust my $1800+ worth of parts in that case and it's rather dubious looking cooling capacity. Specifically I'd find something that provides better hard drive cooling. You're also going to need a bigger case if you plan on adding more drives at some point.

I spent so much time researching other parts I neglected to look a ton into a case, you're definitely right. I don't have a ton of room for a rack mount case right now, so I'm thinking about going with a typical tower case. I see that the Fractal Design Define R5 is commonly recommended, so I might go with that. It still has the issue of not having room for expansion though, but I'm not looking at expanding for a good amount of time. If anyone else has any other good recommendations I'm all ears.

Looks fine, but I'd probably go with an X11SSM-F. When you do want to expand later, just add an HBA.

I think you're right, I don't really plan to expand for a good while (probably a few years unless something weird happens), so an HBA might be better suited as future me's problem.