Noob IBM Workstation Build

[dmaxx67]

Just got my hands on a IBM Intellistation Z Pro 9228 on eBay for 105$ shipped to house.
Unit specs are:
-Intel Xeon 5150 2.66ghz Dual Core
-16gb ECC Ram
-Intel Gigabit Pci NIC
- 2 2tb Seagate HD in mirror

Went to boot memtest from USB and found unit would not boot from USB. Updated bios to latest revision still no luck. Ran memtest from CD ISO and ran three passes without errors. Installed FreeNas and here we are. LZ4 compression is on.
What do you guys think I need to work on after setting up my datasets and getting the shares correct?
Also give me your feedback on my hardware choice. It's not new but so far been running pretty good.
Also wouldn't mind feedback on best way to expand my capacity with mirror setups.

 

[DifferentStrokes]

Setup scrubs and SMART tests.

 

[Nick2253]

You want to make sure you are not using hardware raid. I have no idea how to configure the disks on that workstation to do it, but you want them presented to FreeNAS as raw disks, not an array.

Your hardware is very old. The Xeon 5150 was released in 2006; that's almost ten years old. Ignoring the performance implications of that (a new bottom-barrel Pentium is going to be about twice as fast as your processor), the larger issue is the reliability: even computer components have a finite life, and 10 years is pretty old. Now, I've see components last decades, and I've also seen them die after 5 years. I would say that 10 years is pushing it for something that's supposed to reliably hold data.

The easiest way to expand your capacity is with larger drives. However, I doubt that the hardware is capable of supporting drives larger than 2TB. You'll likely need a PCI(e?) controller for larger drives. If you go to four drives, you could do either RAIDZ2 or stripes of mirrors.

As far as setup goes: make sure you setup your SMART tests and scrubs. Make sure you have email notification working. If you care about data history, set up automatic snapshots. Make sure you backup your config (there's a script floating around these forums that will help you do it on a schedule).

Also, the number one way to be successful with FreeNAS is to RTFM. Really. It's a great manual, and it includes a ton of stuff that you won't get anywhere else.

Goodluck, and welcome to the cult family :D

 

[dmaxx67]

Alright appreciate the feedback. It was a good deal and could not pass it up.
I will look into the hardware raid.
Smart test are set to every 30 minutes and email notifications are turned on.
What is the consensus on the every 30 minutes? Reason I ask is I read that the smart test and scrub can't run at the same time.
I plan on starting a new build in about a year. Figured this was a good cheap way to learn FreeNas without dealing with VMS and non ECC desktops.
I will read the manual over again. Especially on scrubbing and I'll follow the recommended cycle for it.

 

[dmaxx67]

OK found info on smart test and scrub. I setup for it to do a smart check every 30 min. I will RTFM before asking any other questions.

 

[danb35]

Checking SMART data every 30 minutes is the default, and a good idea. Running SMART tests every 30 minutes is far too frequent. No more than once a day for short tests, no more than once a week for long tests.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

found info on smart test and scrub. I setup for it to do a smart check every 30 min

Don't confuse SMART checks with SMART tests, they are not the same thing.