Seriously this time, really going to build a FreeNAS server

[riccochet]

So. I've posted a couple of these before. But now that i'm getting multiple drive failures in my current setup, i feel like its time to move one. Starting from scratch as there isn't really anything i can or want to keep from my old setup. Also, i need to copy everything off my old server so i need to run them concurrently for a while anyways.
Alright, my usage is mainly as a plex server/file server. At the moment its only really 1080p content but that will be changing to 4k content in the next year or so. So i'm going for piles of storage space, and the horespower to do transcoding, although im thinking it probably makes more sense to just use clients that i can direct stream to with enough horsepower for 4k, like the nvidia shield or something.
Since this is something i want to stay relevant for the forseeable future (hoping this will last for the next 5 years), i want to use relatively new hardware, since i feel like it will help with the lifecycle of the system. Please feel free to correct me on anything you have experienced that might help.

Proccessor : Xeon E3-1275 v6
Motherboard : Supermicro X11SSL-CF
HBA Card : LSI 9211-8i 8-Port 6Gb/s SAS/SATA PCI-Express x8 Internal RAID Host Bus Adapter
RAM : 64GB Crucial ECC RAM
OS Drive : Kingston SSDNow A400 SSD 120GB (Perhaps 2 of these in mirrored RAID?)
Other Hard Drives : Western Digital 8TB RED x 10 (In RAID Z2)
Power Supply : SeaSonic - 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Although i'm having quite a bit of problems finding this if someone has a suggestion of alternatives)

Some notes on my choices, yes i know i don't need a separate OS drive. This is how my brain likes to do things.
Also, is there any issues with mixing the ports on the HBA card with SATA ports to create your volume? I couldn't find any Kaby Lake super micro boards that had more than 8 SATA ports, so using a HBA card with it was the only way i could get it to support the amount of drives i'm looking at.
Please feel free to give me any advice you like. If you think my needs can be satisfied with a different generation of processor/chipset please let me know. Like i said, my goal is to keep this thing running for at least 5 years so thats really my mindset when making these choices.

 

[BigDave]

Xeon E3-1275 v6

Cpu has graphics, totally useless for FreeNAS, choose CPU ending in zero (example 1270).
Save cash money with purchase of E3-1240 V6 CPU recommended...

X11SSL-CF motherboard already has SAS3 controller onboard;
(8 SAS3 (12Gbps) via Broadcom 3008 SW controller)
This makes the purchase of HBA card unnecessary.

At the same time the board lacks IPMI, most find this feature invaluable.

OS Drive : Kingston SSDNow A400 SSD 120GB (Perhaps 2 of these in mirrored RAID?)

IMHO using mirror for "quality" SSD boot drive is uber overkill.

EDIT: CPU MODEL NUMBER

 

[riccochet]

Uh... right... it has the built in SAS... i forgot thats why i chose it... not really sure why i included the HBA card... seriously... i have no idea why i thought i needed that.
Edit : Also, the SSD costs next to nothing to buy new. It may be overkill, but it really adds nothing to the overall cost of the machine. Hence the addition.
Edit 2 : the reason i went with the on board graphics version of the processor is cause of plex. I know its not CURRENTLY in a great state, but they were working on GPU transcoding for plex. Although how that will end up looking is anyones guess. When i look around, it seems to be in a pretty sorry state, and i really don't know if it will be any better than that at any time. I guess you're right in that i shouldn't really purchase something for a feature that may or may not be of benefit at some point in the future.

 

[danb35]

Also, is there any issues with mixing the ports on the HBA card with SATA ports to create your volume?

No issues at all.

 

[Chris Moore]

I know the shipping might cost a bit, but this would be a fantastic chassis. Just pull out the system board that is in it and put yours in.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERMICRO...DRI-F-BPN-SAS2-846EL1-24x-TRAYS-/382231880992
It comes with absolutely fantastic power supplies so you don't need to change them out, just use them as they are.

Best plan for drives is groups (called a vdev) of six or eight drives.

 

[riccochet]

I know the shipping might cost a bit, but this would be a fantastic chassis. Just pull out the system board that is in it and put yours in.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERMICRO...DRI-F-BPN-SAS2-846EL1-24x-TRAYS-/382231880992
It comes with absolutely fantastic power supplies so you don't need to change them out, just use them as they are.

Best plan for drives is groups (called a vdev) of six or eight drives.

Thats a pretty great case. I am considering something like that. At the moment i have a Norco 4224 (i know, i know, but i got it like 5 years ago before i knew better) which is currently not very useful (fans on the backplane all died, and replacements were preposterously hard to find, and expensive). These large server chassis are great, but i do have some problems with them. First, the size is just... wow. Large. Secondly, they are pretty specially designed with data centers in mind, and therefore use pretty specialized parts. the fans, fan connectors (often proprietary), back planes, all very difficult and potentially expensive to replace. If a fan(s) die, i can't wait 2 weeks for a replacement. And in 5 years who knows what the availability will be. Thirdly, LOUD. I have my chassis sitting in my basement equipment room, but its a developed basement with a guest room. So that server chassis can be heard EVERYWHERE down stairs. Not a problem for us, but for any guests, it can be annoying. Its never turned off. Fourth, power efficiency is never really a consideration for these since they are servers, and intended to be running in a datacenter. These things are never NOT running at full speed.
I'm actually working on designing and manufacturing my own case for this. It really just depends on what the final costs will come out to be and whether i feel like it has the value. If it works out i'll definitely post it here.

 

[Chris Moore]

I have a similar chassis and the stock fans are high speed fans but I replaced all of mine with Noctua quiet fans. I had to bypass the hot plug connectors for the fans but I don't need that feature. If I am going to replace a fan, I can shut my server down and I was able to use the standard connectors on the system board and drive backplane to power the fans. Mine ended up quiet enough that I have it sitting less than 6 feet from my desk in my office. Supermicro parts are plentiful and easy to source on eBay. The efficiency of the server is all about the system board and processor you put in it, not about the chassis.

 

[riccochet]

Of course the chassis is part of the efficiency of the system. Thats like saying, your car's ability to go fast has nothing to do with the frame and body, its just about the engine. Its all part of the system.
I don't want to be sitting 6 feet away from a server chassis that is roughly the size of a small moon. I want a small footprint, i want to decide what goes into it and not bypass system features to install fans that should be standard anyways. There's also more that can just go wrong with a server chassis. I've seen one too many backplanes die for me to think its a good "setup and walk away forever" type of solution. if you're getting what you want out of yours, thats fine, but you're not privy to some chassis kung fu that i haven't considered before. I appreciate you taking the time to show me what you're using, but i've been down that road before and want to try something different if i can.

 

[Stux]

Okay, you’re moving away from the RPC-4224

But for oodles of silent storage it’s probably the right approach

Here’s my quiet RPC-4224 build
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...24-supermicro-x10-sri-f-xeon-e5-1650v4.46262/

 

[Chris Moore]

I appreciate you taking the time to show me what you're using, but i've been down that road before and want to try something different if i can.

Do what you like. I was just making a suggestion. Just don't make things up and try to feed it to me like it is true.

Thats like saying, your car's ability to go fast has nothing to do with the frame and body, its just about the engine. Its all part of the system.

Not a relevant comparison. The chassis of a server (the metal frame) has no relation to power consumption.
The chassis of a car is moved by the engine, but the chassis of a server does not move and uses no power.

 

[Inxsible]

Some notes on my choices, yes i know i don't need a separate OS drive. This is how my brain likes to do things.

You definitely need a separate OS drive for FreeNAS at least. Because the OS drive cannot be used for anything else. Either a SSD or a USB, but it must be separate from your data pool.