New Server Setup - First Steps

[SeaWolfX]

Hi guys. After much appreciated input from the forum my new server hardware is on its way. I am currently trying to plan and going through the steps I need to do after it is assembled and I begin the setup and installation.

• Intel Xeon E-2246G
• Supermicro X11SCH-F
• Micron DDR4 2666MHz ECC 32GBG
• Seagate Exos 7E8 8TB (x4)
• Samsung 970 Pro Series 512GB (x2)

The Samsung disk will be set up in a ZFS mirror and the Seagate storage disks in a 2 x 2 mirror vdev zpool. I will make use of the vGPU for hardware transcoding (Plex).

Its been quite som time since I did my previous build an a lot of this is quite new to me so I am hoping for some input on the first steps to help me on my way. Specifically what should I do before installing the OS? I imagine there perhaps might be settings I need to change in the BIOS related to disks and the vGPU (although I do not what those might be). Are there any other preliminary configurations I need to do in the BIOS or other things I need to consider before installing the OS?

 

[JohnDigital]

Nice rig your going to have there. You'll likely want to get everything assembled (slowly, be especially careful installing the processor make sure a rogue motherboard standoff doesn't short out the board, etc), do some basic hardware testing the first day, less the disks. You can run thru the BIOS and check things out but Supermicro BIOS is pretty simple. Disable the audio, the serial ports etc, set up your boot device orders, set correct time etc. Run a RAM test and or do a Linux Live boot and let a BURN in test run awhile. Once that is sorted you can give your disks the run thru, conveyance, short, long SMART test. Id also use a Linux Live USB here (Hirens Boot is a fave). And ill be honest here, I have stopped doing full BIT on my disks because I run a Z3 main pool, and I figure if a disk is bad it will present itself soon enough at which time I just "Amazon" return it (they give you a long time, 90 days ive seen), no RMA involved. Its on you though. If this is anything more than a media server Id be more thorough. I do like running the Solnet Array Test on new pools to spot disks which don't perform as well as the others, ill return these immediately. This test is much shorter than BB which seems to take a week to run and is destructive.

Then after all this install TrueNAS and get to configuration.

 

[SeaWolfX]

Nice rig your going to have there. You'll likely want to get everything assembled (slowly, be especially careful installing the processor make sure a rogue motherboard standoff doesn't short out the board, etc), do some basic hardware testing the first day, less the disks. You can run thru the BIOS and check things out but Supermicro BIOS is pretty simple. Disable the audio, the serial ports etc, set up your boot device orders, set correct time etc. Run a RAM test and or do a Linux Live boot and let a BURN in test run awhile. Once that is sorted you can give your disks the run thru, conveyance, short, long SMART test. Id also use a Linux Live USB here (Hirens Boot is a fave). And ill be honest here, I have stopped doing full BIT on my disks because I run a Z3 main pool, and I figure if a disk is bad it will present itself soon enough at which time I just "Amazon" return it (they give you a long time, 90 days ive seen), no RMA involved. Its on you though. If this is anything more than a media server Id be more thorough. I do like running the Solnet Array Test on new pools to spot disks which don't perform as well as the others, ill return these immediately. This test is much shorter than BB which seems to take a week to run and is destructive.

Then after all this install TrueNAS and get to configuration.

Thank you for your thorough reply. I must admit I have never performed any such Burn-In or disk tests before, but I see why it is useful. Are all these tests done by applications comes with a Linux Live version or would I need to download them?

 

[JohnDigital]

There are several disros pre configured to do this. Stresslinux comes to mind. Passmark makes a linux version. Parted Magic also has some tools.

 

[SeaWolfX]

Is there any issue performing the test on the harddrives on another hardware than the one I am building (it would save me some time)? Just hook them up to an existing system, boot on a Linux Live USB and perform the following tests:

• Burn-In
  • SMART Short
  • SMART Conveyance
  • SMART Long
• Badblocks

As I have never done this previously I would like to test the procedure out on some old 500GB harddrives I have laying about.

 

[Etorix]

No, but if you carry out the badblocks test in the actual NAS you'll test that cooling is appropriate even during sustained workload (in this case, several days).
Short and conveyance (if supported) are matters of minutes; long SMART, up to one day.

 

[JohnDigital]

You can test disks in a different machine as well. But as @Etorix noted with a LL and testing everything as it will be in TrueNAS is a great idea.

 

[SeaWolfX]

I found this nice guide here at the forum that goes through the different tests. I have the drives now, but have to wait some time for the rest of the hardware so I wanted to start testing some of the drives right away to save some time and be able to detect any issues as soon as possible so I can return any faulty ones if necessary.