New to NAS - Feedback Requested

[Sire_Salty]

Hello! I'm getting into a local NAS for storing/securing a variety of data and would like some feedback on my supposed setup.

This is not going to be much outside of data storage... maybe in the future use for random plex, but at the moment it will be online when data is needed (looking at doing Wake-on-Lan) for most usage, with periodic automatic runtime just to maintain the raid automatically. This is using primarily old parts from a desktop in addition to a set of new drives.

Looking at getting 7 x 4TB WD Red Plus (I don't care about shucking), and doing a Raid-Z2 with 2 drives of failure (20 TB is more than enough for likely over a decade of data needs, only have 5-7 TB currently).

Link to PCPartPicker for owned computer parts

8600k
Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB
Case: Thermaltake A90 Armor
Corsair TX 650 W
Will either have AC/AX wifi or powerline LAN.... speed is of little concern

Parts to acquire:
8 x 4TB WD Red Plus drives (7 for the config and 1 backup in case of a failure).
1 SATA controller card (dunno which one to look at), as the motherboard has 6 SATA 6GB slots, and I need 1 more).

Any advice or feedback on my supposed setup would be fantastic and appreciated.

Thanks,
Salty


Edit: After many helpful suggestions, I am going to switch my Raid configuration to 6 x 6 TB to avoid requiring additional ports and use my Intel onboard SATA controller in conjuction with TrueNas for a Raid-Z2 for 24 TB of space. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[elvisimprsntr]

You will likely have problems with the onboard SATA controller.

Read the following.

What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?

1) An HBA is a Host Bus Adapter. This is a controller that allows SAS and SATA devices to be attached to, and communicate directly with, a server. RAID controllers typically aggregate several disks into a Virtual Disk abstraction of some sort...

www.truenas.com

Will either have AC/AX wifi

TrueNAS does not support Wifi adapters

 

[Sire_Salty]

Out of curiosity, whats wrong with the onboard, as with ZFS we are ignoring the built in Raid capability?

I just was reading about wifi, I guess I'll invest 20-50 bucks in a client based WAP

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Read the link I posted. Be prepared to buy a separate HBA controller.

 

[Samuel Tai]

TrueNAS does not support Wifi adapters

More like very poorly supports Wi-Fi adapters. There are a few Wi-Fi drivers packaged in /boot/kernel, which require loader tunables to activate:

• if_rsu.ko - Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8192SU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device
• if_rum.ko - Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device
• if_run.ko - Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless network device
• if_uath.ko - Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device
• if_upgt.ko - Conexant/Intersil PrismGT SoftMAC USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device
• if_urtw.ko - Realtek RTL8187B/L USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device
• if_zyd.ko - ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device

For all of these, set a tunable if_<driver name minus .ko>_load="YES" and reboot. I don't know why these are packaged with TrueNAS, and I can't say if they'll work in AP mode. If you want to experiment, feel free, but don't expect these to provide reliable service.

 

[Sire_Salty]

Hrm, I have this mobo currently on my primary rig (going to likely upgrade to Zen 3D or Zen 4 then use this for the raid). I wonder if I check if its using HBA mode within windows... as everything seems to be working well individually.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Out of curiosity, whats wrong with the onboard, as with ZFS we are ignoring the built in Raid capability?

From what I can gather, the Z370 has the Intel RST SoftRAID controller. This is similar to the controller on my TrueNAS server. Just set all the SATA ports to AHCI mode, and you'll be able to use the on board ports without problems.

 

[Sire_Salty]

More like very poorly supports Wi-Fi adapters. There are a few Wi-Fi drivers packaged in /boot/kernel, which require loader tunables to activate:

• if_rsu.ko - Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8192SU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device
• if_rum.ko - Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device
• if_run.ko - Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless network device
• if_uath.ko - Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device
• if_upgt.ko - Conexant/Intersil PrismGT SoftMAC USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device
• if_urtw.ko - Realtek RTL8187B/L USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device
• if_zyd.ko - ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device

For all of these, set a tunable if_<driver name minus .ko>_load="YES" and reboot. I don't know why these are packaged with TrueNAS, and I can't say if they'll work in AP mode. If you want to experiment, feel free, but don't expect these to provide reliable service.

Yeah, I didn't realize till just after I posted. I'll just budget for a WAP

 

[Sire_Salty]

From what I can gather, the Z370 has the Intel RST SoftRAID controller. This is similar to the controller on my TrueNAS server. Just set all the SATA ports to AHCI mode, and you'll be able to use the on board ports without problems.

Appreciated. My system is setup in AHCI within windows, any way to check out exactly what's running? I'm trying to look through Adia64 right now.

 

[Samuel Tai]

The mode is set from the BIOS.

 

[Sire_Salty]

The mode is set from the BIOS.

Yeah I know its set to AHCI, I make sure of that every time I setup a computer (stupid not to have it set that way unless using an old OS). I was wondering about these smartctl results in the article that was referenced by Elvis, as honestly, I am not familar with this level of raid setting intricacy

 

[Samuel Tai]

The article @elvisimprsntr linked to is for hardware RAID controllers, like the old Adaptecs.

 

[Sire_Salty]

The article @elvisimprsntr linked to is for hardware RAID controllers, like the old Adaptecs.

Cool, so I just need a SATA controller for a singular drive... would something like Newegg link or Amazon Link work, as the RED Plus are SATA not SAS, as long as I avoid a card with a built in raid controller? Sorry for the barrage

 

[Samuel Tai]

No, don't use those, as those don't work well. They typically multiplex multiple physical ports through a single controller port, which works OK for Windows, but blows up spectacularly in TrueNAS, which expects direct access to all the physical ports. Your onboard ports should be sufficient.

 

[Sire_Salty]

No, don't use those, as those don't work well. They typically multiplex multiple physical ports through a single controller port, which works OK for Windows, but blows up spectacularly in TrueNAS, which expects direct access to all the physical ports. Your onboard ports should be sufficient.

I need 1 more port lol.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Then you should look into SAS HBAs which have been flashed to IT mode, and also have a boot ROM. See https://www.servethehome.com/flash-lsi-sas-3008-hba-e-g-ibm-m1215-mode/.

 

[Sire_Salty]

Then you should look into SAS HBAs which have been flashed to IT mode, and also have a boot ROM. See https://www.servethehome.com/flash-lsi-sas-3008-hba-e-g-ibm-m1215-mode/.

hrm, that severely bumps up the cost of the raid, as those are multi hundred dollar cards :-\ well, this sucks

 

[Samuel Tai]

You can find them on eBay from Art of Server for a little under $200.

 

[Sire_Salty]

Thanks. Maybe I should do a 1 drive redundant array to keep it within the intel onboard controller, I'll have a spare drive onhand at all times... I'm just afraid of concatenating failures before the replacement drive fully populates.

 

[Sire_Salty]

Well, I decided to do 6 x 6TB drives vs 7 x 4TB drives. More expensive overall... but it does afford me 24 TB total vs 20 TB. Thanks for the advice, I was able to sneak a cancellation into newegg on the 4TBs I just ordered @Samuel Tai