Request for advice on the configuration I have selected for a new NAS

[WinXaito]

Hello,

I am interested in building a nas (DIY).
I have read the document on hardware requirements. Now that I have made a selection of components, I would like to have your opinion to be sure that the elements are compatible with each other, to know if this configuration is still relevant in 2022 and if it meets my needs.

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My needs:

- Various backups
- Gitlab instance (+ runners)
- SMB / FTP / Cloud share (maybe nextcloud)
- Some hosted websites

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Current selection:

- Case: Fractal Node 804
- Motherboard: Supermicro X10SDV-4C-TLN2F
- Power supply: Seasonic Focus PX 550W
- CPU: (fixed on motherboard): Intel Xeon D-1521
- RAM: Micron 32GB DDR-2933 RDIMM (2x)
- SSD M.2: WD Red SA500 M.2 2280 (For OS)
- HDD: WD Red Plus (6 or 8 TB) (6x)

I also looked at the same configuration, but with a different motherboard and CPU:

- Motherboard: Supermicro X11SCH-F
- CPU: Intel Core i3-9100 (LGA1151 + ECC)
- Ventirad: IDK, this is needed or the default is sufficient ?

the advantage of the latter is to have 8x sata port for an equivalent price.

Are the chosen components consistent? Is the 550W power supply sufficient?
Do you recommend the first or the second configuration?

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Since the server will be running continuously, I want a server that does not consume too much electricity and that is safe (I would like to avoid burning the house)...

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The 6x HDDs will be 1x6 RAIDz-2 or 2x3 RAIDz-1, I will open another post to get more information on this.

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Thank you in advance.

I'm really sorry if I didn't post in the right forum, or if I didn't respect the guidelines correctly.

 

[WinXaito]

After check, the RAM is not compatible with Motherboard.
As I prefer the solution with X11SCH-F and i3-9100, I select the following ram:

Crucial 32GB DDR4-2666 UDIMM
CT32G4DFD8266

 

[WinXaito]

Change cpu from i3-9100 to i3-9300. No a big change, but maybe more like the i3-8300 like the hardware recommandations.

I see the i3-9300T too, the version with a lesser TDP and a lower frequency. But in fact, there is a power consumption gain in long term (so with many IDLE) ? Or just a TDP difference.

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A totaly unrelated question, how can I create polls (I see that on other topics) or edit my first message ? I think this is a limitation for newbie ?

 

[Etorix]

i3-8100/8300/9100/9300 will not make much difference… See what you can actually find at retail or second-hand!
'T' CPUs are advised against because there's no gain to be made on power: They take longer to complete tasks when ramping up.

550W should be just enough. Consider bumping to 650W to be able to make full use of the case capacity.

Proper Power Supply Sizing Guidance

I've seen about 1,000 threads like this one where people decide that they can power a dozen hard drives off a 360 watt supply. DO NOT DO THIS. I've seen another 1,000 threads where people decide to buy the cheapest power supply that they can...

www.truenas.com

A X11SCH takes UDIMM, so this choice may have consequences on RAM size and/or budget…
I also wonder whether 4 cores are enough for your jail/VM workload. Other than that both of your configurations are solid choices.

Raidz1 with large drives (> 1 TB) is not really secure against the loss of one drive: Definitively go for raidz2.

500 GB is way too much for boot. Just get any cheap small SSD. If you don't need the NVMe slot for other purposes, a small NVMe M.2 drive for boot can free up the sixth SATA port of a X10SDV (or the eight on a X11SCH).

 

[WinXaito]

i3-8100/8300/9100/9300 will not make much difference… See what you can actually find at retail or second-hand!
'T' CPUs are advised against because there's no gain to be made on power: They take longer to complete tasks when ramping up.

550W should be just enough. Consider bumping to 650W to be able to make full use of the case capacity.

Proper Power Supply Sizing Guidance

I've seen about 1,000 threads like this one where people decide that they can power a dozen hard drives off a 360 watt supply. DO NOT DO THIS. I've seen another 1,000 threads where people decide to buy the cheapest power supply that they can...

www.truenas.com

A X11SCH takes UDIMM, so this choice may have consequences on RAM size and/or budget…
I also wonder whether 4 cores are enough for your jail/VM workload. Other than that both of your configurations are solid choices.

Raidz1 with large drives (> 1 TB) is not really secure against the loss of one drive: Definitively go for raidz2.

500 GB is way too much for boot. Just get any cheap small SSD. If you don't need the NVMe slot for other purposes, a small NVMe M.2 drive for boot can free up the sixth SATA port of a X10SDV (or the eight on a X11SCH).

Ok for CPU, I will keep i3-9300.

For power supply, I check the guidance and I get this:

Show

---- Full charge

HDD: 8 x 35 = 280W
CPU: 62W
MOBO: 25W
RAM: 12W (2x 6W)
FAN: 100W

---- IDLE

HDD: 50W
CPU: 10W
MOBO: 25W
RAM: 12W
FAN: ???

~100-120W I think

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Full charge: 480W x 1.25 = ~600W
IDLE: 600W * 0.2 = 120W

So, Power supply : 550 vs 650 ? I think 650 is more sure, but maybe under 20% of load when IDLE.. So I don't know.


About Raidz, definitely Raidz6 on my 6 disks.

About the disk for boot, I thought the VMs is installed on the OS disk, I'm wrong ? If it's case, effectively, I will take a smaller disk and maybe add 2 SSD in mirror for VMs.
About that, this is better to have 2x OS disk in mirroring and one SSD for VM or OS one disk and 2x SSD for VMs in mirroring ?

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Updated config:

- Case: Fractal Node 804
- Motherboard: Supermicro X11SCH-F
- CPU: Intel Core i3-9100 (LGA1151 + ECC)
- RAM: Crucial 32GB DDR4-2666 UDIMM
- Power Supply: Seasonic Focus GX 550W (or 650, question above)

- HDD: WD Red Plus (6 TB) (6x)

- SSD: Wait on question above, maybe 1, 2 or 3

HDD and SSD plugged on Mobo SATA Controller (because she has 8 ports).
Ventirad: uses the one supplied with the CPU

 

[Etorix]

The boot drive is solely used for boot. VMs go in another pool. (There is a way to partition a drive to hold boot and VMs, preferably having mirrored boot and mirrored VMs on two SSDs but it is not a supported configuration. Here be dragons, and all that sort of things.)

For a home NAS, there's little point in mirroring the boot drive. Always keep a recent copy of the configuration; if the boot fails, replace it, reinstall and load the configuration file.

 

[WinXaito]

Okay, so,

1x SSD m.2 : WD Red SN700 250 GB (NVME)
For the OS, with an external backup of the TrueNAS configuration

2x SSD 2.5": WD Red SA600 1 TB
In mirroring for storing VMs

 

[WinXaito]

And about the Ventirad, anyone know if it's better to add a dedicated ventirad (if yes, which ?) or if the ventirad gived with the i3 is OK ?

 

[Etorix]

The stock cooler should be fine for a Core i3—and drives will make more noise anyway.

 

[WinXaito]

I have ordered the majority of the components

Just one more question about Cable.

What cable I need ? I think: sata cable for HDD/SSD (and for power ? What cable is it ? Is that the cable named "molex" ?)

What do you recommend for these cable ?
And how many HDD/per cable ?

 

[Etorix]

It's a consumer case, and consumer-style plugging: Power directly from the PSU, with the cables that came with the PSU. Ideally, you'd have two cables with four connectors each, one for each HDD cage, and not more drives per cable to avoid overloading rails when starting up.