BUILD Small build by total newbie

[tkn]

Been reading and reading, but obviously need to take it a step at a time.

OBJECTIVES

• Small footprint build with some room to grow
• Plex transcoding x 2 at least
• Time Machine backups x 3 machines
• Some torrenting
• RAIDZ1 initially but eventually RAIDZ2
• Crashplan capable for offsite backup

CURRENT BUILD LIST

Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F ($205)
CPU
Intel Xeon E3-1220V3 Haswell 3.1GHz ($205)
RAM
2 x Samsung M391B1G73BH0-CK0 ($250)
PS
SeaSonic SSR-360GP 360W 80+ ($55) FSP Group AURUM S 400W ($65)
HD
3 x WD 3TB Green ($350)
Case
FD Node 304 ($75)

Total cost = ~$1140

OPEN QUESTIONS

• Are there opportunities to pare cost? The CPU and MB seem to be very favored on the forum, but are quite expensive.
• Are WD Reds worth the premium over Greens?
• Is the PS sufficient?
• I read some older threads saying Crashplan can be quite difficult to get working - is this still the case?

 

[joeschmuck]

The PS is fine for what you have spec'd. If you plan to run up to 6 hard drives then I'd personally go for a 400 watt Seasonic PS but the 450 may be overkill, not that it will really be a waste of money but...

The MB and CPU are fair price for what you are purchasing. If you want to go cheaper then you will be going AMD CPU. Nothing wrong with that but the Supermicro MB was designed with a server in mind.

The hard drives are debatable. Some people love the Reds like I do and some people would prefer the Greens and some people prefer Enterprise class drives. The little extra you pay for the Reds buys you 1 extra year of warranty so don't forget to factor that into your choice.

If you do plan to move up to RAIDZ2, I recommend you do it up front. Once you have too much data on your hard drives you will be reluctant to pull it off and recreate a new pool for RAIDZ2 and then reload your data. If you have been doing a lot of reading then you should know that you can't just add another hard drive and BAM it's a RAIDZ2. We all wish it were that simple.

Can't speak to crashplan, never used it.

 

[tkn]

Thanks for the input. Part of me just wants to say screw it and get a Synology to have the plug and play advantages and not deal with the setup issues - but they are just so expensive on the hardware side for what you get.

 

[tkn]

So maybe the FSP Group AURUM S 400W for a PS?

 

[jgreco]

Don't suggest the E3-1220 v3. If you go that route, E3-1230 v3. Adds hyperthreading for modest extra cost. Going that route results in a platform you won't be likely to ever run out of steam.

There are some other non-Xeon Haswell chips you can cram on that board, but I don't have a list handy. The non-Xeon options should be much cheaper but have corresponding tradeoffs.

Stay with the Supermicro board or at least some server board for all the reasons outlined in the hardware suggestions sticky at the top of this forum. You will save yourself a bunch of trouble.

 

[leenux_tux]

tkn,

Don't make the mistake I made. This is even more pertinent if you have no experience with FreeNAS.
There are two sides to FreeNAS, Installation and Configuration.
Before installing FreeNAS and running head first into configuration I would definitely recommend running FreeNAS in a Virtual environment for a week or two prior to installing on your physical hardware so as to get an idea of how it works, how to create pools, ZVOLS (if you are going to use them), creating user accounts, adding shares (and the associated security), networking etc etc. This also gives you the opportunity to try out different RAIDZ schemes (if your unsure of how best to configure), even trying out ZFS snapshots (which are awesome!)
FreeNAS really is a fantastic product and being able to get confidence with it prior to installing could save you a rebuild at a later date, which is what I ended up doing because I was too impatient and wanted to get going ASAP.

 

[joeschmuck]

The pros of a Synology is there isn't much for a person to do with one. You basically toss in a few hard drives, format the drives and let it run. I'm understating it a little but not by much. And of course the small form factor. The cons are the cost and the slow throughput speed.

FreeNAS is more complex that is for certain but for the folks on this forum the complexity is quickly overlooked once you have a functional system that you can max out your network connection.

There are a lot of other pros and cons but it's up to you to decide on what you want. I had a friend who just bought a Synology for home use and popped his hard drives in yesterday. He said it was taking over 24 hours to format his drives. I think the term was more like verify his drives though, they were both 3TB Reds. But his NAS was ready for use right away and for his use, he's happy. He doesn't need to fuss with it at all.

 

[tkn]

@leenux - I planned to build the box and play with it a couple of different ways before making it a "production" machine.

I have also just considered building an HTPC server, attaching a DAS RAID system and having it serve as a backup system. I think, in some ways, there are just too many options, and no one option is perfect.

 

[jgreco]

From my point of view, direct attached storage is slowly going away in this highly networked world. A good fileserver offers lots of storage options, but has to be done right and done well in order to better justify itself.

 

[joelmusicman]

Your motherboard will not fit in the case you selected. Node 304 is a mITX case. The Asrock E3C224D2I (or 226) is what I use in my Node 304. I also highly recommend a power supply with 120mm fan because it gives extra intake air.

 

[joelmusicman]

Also, if you want to lower cost, the i3-4130 can also be used and supports ECC ram. The only major thing you're giving up is 2 cores and VT-d. The Pentium G3220 also works but it doesnt have quite enough oomph for Plex transcoding.