For a long time I have used hardware based RAID on a machine that's running ESXi, and as of late, my storage needs have outgrown what the machine can handle efficiently..
I have been toying with the idea of building a NAS that will accomplish the following...
1: Be somewhat energy efficient...
2: Not break my wallet - I can't go around dropping $10,000 all at once, but, I can build up over time if that's even possible. I rather not spend more than $200 on a CPU and not more than $200 on a motherboard if at all possible, however, it will need enough I/O to handle a NIC and SAS controller.
3: Be capable of handling an ESXi machine (or 3...) connecting to the storage array over iSCSI, I have 10 VM's on one host, and another host has 4 VM's, only one VM has any high disk I/O and that would be PLEX.
4: I would LIKE to have ZFS3 on any/all arrays as most of this data is actually work related. The more parity, the better, but I also need high performance as I work with both large and small files and will transfer a few hundred GB in a day most every day, some files are just a few KB, some are 30-50GB, sitting at 1Gbit or lower just isn't cutting it for me, I would like to see small file transfers go up a good bit more than 5-10MB/s as well, if at all possible!
5: I have a US-XG-16 on the way, so any recommendations on a 10Gbit NIC that doesn't break the bank? My main desktop WILL be connecting at 10Gbit to the switch, along with all servers.
I am thinking I will need two arrays, one for the ESXi hosts, and one for file storage, but all this talk about vdevs and other things just confuses me. I read, and read, but my study time on this is limited and tends to be after a 12 hour work shift.
So any recommendations on a build, such as amount of disks, what disks, setup of disks, and so on would be of great benefit, as well as links to resources that could help explain things. I basically need a full build and layout, and I know people don't like hearing, "there is no budget" when there obviously is, but at the same time I am not sure what my budget should be. I am looking at $3000-$4000 alone on disks (Been looking at 8TB Red Pros), and god knows what else for the rest of the hardware. I suppose the base build shouldn't go over the following...
CPU: $250
Mobo: $200
RAM: $200
PSU: ???
Case: Already got!
SAS Controller: I have an M5015 in one of my hosts, and an LSI 9220-8i, as well as an ancient 9650SE-12 laying around, would any of these suffice or should I look at something else?
NIC: $300? Would an Intel X710DA2 work well with FreeNAS?
HDD: I plan on WD Red Pros, probably 8TB ones, unless you have a better suggestion.
Also, please, suggest both ECC and Non-ECC RAM, I doubt I could afford to get ECC at the start of the build, but do plan to go ECC once it's up and my wallet stops throbbing.
Currently my VM's use about 6TB of storage, and I have approximately 16TB worth of files being stored on disks attached to Server 2012 for file-sharing purposes. I essentially want to double the storage space for both.
So, yeah, sorry if this post is in the wrong place, or if anything doesn't make sense, as I said, I don't have much free time, and tend to work my life away.
So, builds, ideas, suggestions for a tired grunt?
I have been toying with the idea of building a NAS that will accomplish the following...
1: Be somewhat energy efficient...
2: Not break my wallet - I can't go around dropping $10,000 all at once, but, I can build up over time if that's even possible. I rather not spend more than $200 on a CPU and not more than $200 on a motherboard if at all possible, however, it will need enough I/O to handle a NIC and SAS controller.
3: Be capable of handling an ESXi machine (or 3...) connecting to the storage array over iSCSI, I have 10 VM's on one host, and another host has 4 VM's, only one VM has any high disk I/O and that would be PLEX.
4: I would LIKE to have ZFS3 on any/all arrays as most of this data is actually work related. The more parity, the better, but I also need high performance as I work with both large and small files and will transfer a few hundred GB in a day most every day, some files are just a few KB, some are 30-50GB, sitting at 1Gbit or lower just isn't cutting it for me, I would like to see small file transfers go up a good bit more than 5-10MB/s as well, if at all possible!
5: I have a US-XG-16 on the way, so any recommendations on a 10Gbit NIC that doesn't break the bank? My main desktop WILL be connecting at 10Gbit to the switch, along with all servers.
I am thinking I will need two arrays, one for the ESXi hosts, and one for file storage, but all this talk about vdevs and other things just confuses me. I read, and read, but my study time on this is limited and tends to be after a 12 hour work shift.
So any recommendations on a build, such as amount of disks, what disks, setup of disks, and so on would be of great benefit, as well as links to resources that could help explain things. I basically need a full build and layout, and I know people don't like hearing, "there is no budget" when there obviously is, but at the same time I am not sure what my budget should be. I am looking at $3000-$4000 alone on disks (Been looking at 8TB Red Pros), and god knows what else for the rest of the hardware. I suppose the base build shouldn't go over the following...
CPU: $250
Mobo: $200
RAM: $200
PSU: ???
Case: Already got!
SAS Controller: I have an M5015 in one of my hosts, and an LSI 9220-8i, as well as an ancient 9650SE-12 laying around, would any of these suffice or should I look at something else?
NIC: $300? Would an Intel X710DA2 work well with FreeNAS?
HDD: I plan on WD Red Pros, probably 8TB ones, unless you have a better suggestion.
Also, please, suggest both ECC and Non-ECC RAM, I doubt I could afford to get ECC at the start of the build, but do plan to go ECC once it's up and my wallet stops throbbing.
Currently my VM's use about 6TB of storage, and I have approximately 16TB worth of files being stored on disks attached to Server 2012 for file-sharing purposes. I essentially want to double the storage space for both.
So, yeah, sorry if this post is in the wrong place, or if anything doesn't make sense, as I said, I don't have much free time, and tend to work my life away.
So, builds, ideas, suggestions for a tired grunt?