BUILD Summer X10 NAS

[Anthony_95]

Hi FreeNAS Community !

I started using FreeNAS a long time now. I did it the worst possible way (I didn't know how at that time). In a consumer motherboard, Windows as operating system, VMware Workstation as hypervisor, 4 GB of RAM, disks without any information of SMART, RAID-Z (3 x 3TB WD RED), never mind ECC, and worse things.

The system was very unstable, with constant errors of checksum (zpool clean haha), poor (really bad) performance, lost some data with I / O errors and I messed up with permissions. But the pool never failed, I consider myself pretty lucky about that.

After a year I have not touched (even think) of FreeNAS in those conditions again. I've been using dirty external hard drives for my needs since then. BUT now is the time to set up a dedicated machine to protect my data.

I carefully read various pinned threads and other people builds, suggestions and I come up with this system:

• Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3 (8M Cache, 3.40 GHz) State of the art Xeon, ECC, performance to spare...
• Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLH-F 6 SATA ports, header USB, IPMI, dual Intel nic, ECC...
• Memory: Crucial ECC UDIMM RAM DDR3 1.5V 16GB 2 x 8GB some model (I will try to get 1,35V version)
• Chasis: Fractal Design Define Mini Silent Case
• Power Supply: Seasonic G 450W 80+ Gold Masive forum recommendation
• Boot USB: 2 x SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB (Mirrored boot)
• And of course HDD: 6 x 3TB WD Red (4 from previous builds and 2 to be purchased)

Note: Nothing purchased for now except the 4 HDDs.

Right now I'm not planning to run any rails, just some Windows Shares and maybe LDAP. I will use Raid-Z of cour... -->RAID-Z2 and lz4 compression turned on.

Let my know how your guys see this system and if I miss something.


Big Thanks to jgreco, cyberjock for the amazing threads and help!!

 

[Ericloewe]

Looks good.

You can save some cash on the motherboard by going with a different model, or go with an X10SL7-F to ease future expansion. Check the X10 FAQ for details (link is in my sig).
16GB should be plenty to start with. If needed, it's trivial to add more later.
The Xeon might also be overkill, but it can't hurt.
Boot drive is fine, but consider using two of them, for extra peace of mind.

RAID-Z2 and I planning to turn on lz4 compression (recommendations on that?)

Fine. Leave compression at default, the performance penalty is negligible compared to no compression.

Just make sure the motherboard will fit inside the chassis.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I agree for the RAM, 16 GB would be plenty enough. Plus you can always add more RAM after if you really need it ;)

Take 1.35 V RAM instead of 1.5 V RAM if you can (the RAM chips are binned and only the best ones are used on the 1.35 V sticks, the others goes on the 1.5 V sticks), usually the same price and lower power consumption :)

The USB sticks usually recommended are the Sandisk cruzer fit 16 GB and the other one Sandisk "something" fit (I always forget the name...). The Toshiba one should be fine however.

The PSU is a bit overkill, you might want to look at the 450 W version if it's significantly cheaper.

LZ4 compression is enabled by default, no problem here ;)

 

[Anthony_95]

16GB should be plenty to start with. If needed, it's trivial to add more later.

I agree for the RAM, 16 GB would be plenty enough. Plus you can always add more RAM after if you really need it ;)

Ok, switching to 16 GB !

Boot drive is fine, but consider using two of them, for extra peace of mind.

The USB sticks usually recommended are the Sandisk cruzer fit 16 GB and the other one Sandisk "something" fit (I always forget the name...).

Perfect, I changed the Toshiba for two SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB. They are smaller and need that to put them back since I have only one internal USB port.

The PSU is a bit overkill, you might want to look at the 450 W version if it's significantly cheaper.

Take 1.35 V RAM instead of 1.5 V RAM

Looking into that thank you!

Leave compression at default, the performance penalty is negligible compared to no compression.

LZ4 compression is enabled by default, no problem here ;)

Good news then :)

Just make sure the motherboard will fit inside the chassis.

I search for alternatives and I will stuck with the C226 chipset and for expandability I would buy an IBM M1015 (the common one) if I need to, thank for the suggestion thought.
The motherboard is micro-ATX so It should fit in that case. ;)

Thanks so much for the fast replies ! EDIT: I just realize that Cruzer and Ultra are different versions...Solved