Opinions on my First FreeNAS Build

[Mr_Zero]

Hello all,

Looking to replace my aging Synology DS212J and have the excitement of building my own home server. Ultimately looking for solid, well protected storage (planning on raidz2), and also dip into more of the functionality of having more of a true server with stuff like Plex. After reading a lot about hardware selection for FreeNAS, here is the current parts list I am thinking of:

Original Parts List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pqkWm8
Updated Parts List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C7JNsJ

Questions:

• Any potential pitfalls with my parts list?
• Is the G4400 be suitable for the purpose I'm looking at and being able to check out other plugins?
• Is it strongly recommended to have an SSD for OS / plugins?

Thanks much,

Mr_Zero

 

[bigphil]

Any particular reason you want mini-itx? They are so limited in space and not much expansion. I'm personally not a fan of the Pentium chips. The G4400 is only dual core. I much prefer a Xeon processor. Hell...for nearly the cost of the mobo you chose, you could pick up a Dell T20 Xeon series that has an E3-1225v3 in it! I just bought one as my backup NAS a few weeks ago during cyber week. $275 out the door! Spent $100 to upgrade the ram to 20GB and it's rockin! As for SSD, no...its not needed for the boot device. USB thumb drives work fantastic for this purpose.

 

[Kevin Horton]

I'm currently running a system with a G3258 CPU, which has a slightly lower Passmark score than the G4400. The G3258 rarely hits more than 20% load sustained, even when running Plex. But, my Plex server is only seeing one client at a time, and I've chosen file formats and resolutions such that it will never need to transcode. The G4400 may or may not be adequate, depending on the details of your Plex needs - how many clients, and how many of them will require transcoding?

 

[Mr_Zero]

Any particular reason you want mini-itx? They are so limited in space and not much expansion. I'm personally not a fan of the Pentium chips. The G4400 is only dual core. I much prefer a Xeon processor. Hell...for nearly the cost of the mobo you chose, you could pick up a Dell T20 Xeon series that has an E3-1225v3 in it! I just bought one as my backup NAS a few weeks ago during cyber week. $275 out the door! Spent $100 to upgrade the ram to 20GB and it's rockin! As for SSD, no...its not needed for the boot device. USB thumb drives work fantastic for this purpose.

Thanks for the reply! There's a couple reasons I'm going with mini ITX - want it to have a small footprint for where it's going to be installed, I've been wanting to do a mini ITX build in general, and both my fiancee and I really like the look of the Node 304 (the 804 is just a touch too big).

As for the processor, what would I gain in going with a Xeon vs a Pentium G4400 or something like an i3 6100? Anything big I would be held back from, or any significant performance impacts?

Also, generally looking to build it because I really enjoy working with hardware and having the build completely customized. I've been building systems for a long time but this will be my first server build.

 

[Mr_Zero]

I'm currently running a system with a G3258 CPU, which has a slightly lower Passmark score than the G4400. The G3258 rarely hits more than 20% load sustained, even when running Plex. But, my Plex server is only seeing one client at a time, and I've chosen file formats and resolutions such that it will never need to transcode. The G4400 may or may not be adequate, depending on the details of your Plex needs - how many clients, and how many of them will require transcoding?

Good input. I'm not planning on any super intensive stuff, but do want some headroom to be able to play with plugins I haven't begun to research yet. Looking for it to be within this range budget wise but something like the i3 6100 would be in range. Think it's worth stepping up to that or if I considered upgrading would it be more for a Xeon?

 

[Stux]

i3 adds hyperthreading.

Xeon 1220 is like two of the pentiums.
Xeon 1230 is like two of the i3s.

 

[Mr_Zero]

i3 adds hyperthreading.

Xeon 1220 is like two of the pentiums.
Xeon 1230 is like two of the i3s.

That is a helpful summary on the difference in performance between the two. What kind of usage scenarios would cause me to need one of the Xeons vs the Pentium or an i3?

 

[Stux]

Additional jails/VMs/processing or plex to multiple clients

Vanilla NAS duties just need a Pentium

 

[Mr_Zero]

Additional jails/VMs/processing or plex to multiple clients

Vanilla NAS duties just need a Pentium

Thanks again. Could I get away with NAS and Plex to 2 clients on the Pentium?

 

[Stux]

Thanks again. Could I get away with NAS and Plex to 2 clients on the Pentium?

Doubt it

 

[Mr_Zero]

Doubt it

Got ya - I think I will go with the Xeon 1220 to be safe. Here's my updated parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Mj9Rnn

 

[Mr_Zero]

And decided to go with the 1230 instead - ~$50 more seemed worth it if I was already in the $200 ballpark.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C7JNsJ

 

[Stux]

1230 is good value once you get into Xeon land

 

[RodyMcAmp]

I agree the xeon 1230 is awesome bang for you buck, I run my whole aio on a xeon 1245 v2, esxi<pfsense, freenas+plex pluggin, windows 10+plex server, windows server, linux mint>
I have been running this way for years. I followed a guide to get this running at b3n.

 

[Mr_Zero]

How solid is the 1GB of RAM per raw TB of storage requirement? Thinking about doing 6x 3TB drives on 16GB of ECC RAM instead of 2TB. Is that close enough to be OK?

 

[Kevin Horton]

The 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage is a very approximate recommendation. There are many variables that come into play, such as how many jails you will use, what those jails will doing, etc. If you have insufficient RAM (as long as you have at least 8GB), the most likely outcome is the performance will be somewhat less than optimum.

My system has 16 GB of RAM, and I'm currently running a pool with 6 x 4TB drives in RAIDZ2, plus jails with Plex and ownCloud. I'm happy with the performance. YMMV

 

[Mr_Zero]

Next thing I'm thinking about is backup - what method would be the most cost efficient while still being adequate? I imagine an 8TB external drive is the cheapest, followed by something like a 1-2 disc pre-build NAS, and then the most expensive option being building another box for FreeNAS. Just don't know what is considered 'enough' for adequate backup.

 

[Mr_Zero]

Bump - would something like this make for a passable backup solution? Maybe adding a 2nd to rotate offsite down the line?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179033&ignorebbr=1

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

You probably didn't get a response because only you can make the decision, based on your risk tolerance. USB isn't recommended for a 'production' pool, but maybe you can get away with it for backups. An eSATA solution would be preferred.

 

[Mr_Zero]

You probably didn't get a response because only you can make the decision, based on your risk tolerance. USB isn't recommended for a 'production' pool, but maybe you can get away with it for backups. An eSATA solution would be preferred.

Thanks for the reply. So would it work to get an eSATA card (no ports on my mobo), a 3.5in eSATA enclosure, and an 8TB drive?