Using FreeNas Scale on consumer hardware - suggestions?

[aljovin]

I'm new to FreeNas, but I've had an old Linux machine work as a NAS server for a long time. (it's an Athlon II with 6Gb RAM and mis-matched hard drives). YET, I do not feel that I'm even close to being an expert, or even just comfortable; I'm a Windows application developer and trying to learn Linux. ZFS is still very obscure to me yet, trying to learn more about it.

The Setup:
I am building a new NAS and wanted to use FreeNAS for this version. I do not have access to server components (mainly, not wanting a loud server running next to my office desk). This will be used for a home network, using it for file repositories, movies, potentially using some datasets as iScsi drives for VMs and backups of VMs.

I am planning on using 5 Seagate Ironwolf 4tb drives (5400rpm) + 1 Seagate Ironwolf 4tb drive (7200RPM) in my main pool as a RaidZ1 for a total of about 20Tb If I calculate correctly.
FreeNas Boot up drive would be a 64Gb SSD that I have laying around.

I'm planning on getting a PCIe 10-16 ports SATA card to plug those with SATA 3, 6Gb/s.
The CPU would be an old i7 (4th Gen) with 16 gb RAM.

The Backup:
Also, my old NAS has some very old drives (from 5 to 12 years old drives : WD Green 1.8Tb (x2) 1.5 (x3) and a few other mismatched HDD (500Gb-1Tb HDD), I was planning on using an old i5 that I have laying around to build it as a backup NAS, adding all the drives as a Stripe pool. Knowing that some drives are going to start failing, is it possible to remove from the pool the failed drives and restart the backups? Or for this perticular use-case, I should be looking at another option for backup purpose?

I also have a TerraMaster F4 with 4x 3Tb HDD in Raid5, for critical data, so I wouldn't back the data that I do not want to loose on the old drive-NAS.

A few questions on this set-up:
- Is 64Gb SSD a good choice for the main drive? my understanding is that I cannot set up this drive for anything else than FreeNAS. the Apps and the VMs are to be hosted on the other Pool/ZVol, correct?
- One of the 4Tb drive will not be available when I install my NAS, I need to move files out of that drive to the NAS before I can remove it from my PC to be used as the parity drive, is that possible?
- Is FreeNAS Scale stable enough for using it in a home environment (since it's been released now)?
- Any issues that you can see that I haven't identified yet?
- Since I have no trust on the backup on the old drives, this is really a last resort option, when I'm ready to get server-grade hardware, can I just move the drives into a new server and rebuild the pool on that new installation?

 

[jgreco]

it's an Athlon II with 6Gb RAM

6GB is less than the 8GB minimum/16GB suggested memory requirement.

server components (mainly, not wanting a loud server running next to my office desk).

You seem to be under some bizarre misconception that server components have air raid sirens on them. They do not. A server mainboard is identical to a desktop mainboard, except that it has components rated for 24/7 duty, probably higher heat tolerance, probably Intel ethernet chipsets rather than Realtek, ECC memory support, a tendency to have x8 PCIe slots rather than random assortments of x1/x4/x16 slots, no audio, and features like IPMI which can be wicked useful. You know, a mainboard, that, just like gaming mainboards, is specifically optimized for a use case that a general desktop board isn't good at. I promise you that they are no noisier than what you use now.

some datasets as iScsi drives

main pool as a RaidZ1

RAIDZ1 is not recommended; RAIDZ2 is a better choice. iSCSI is not a good idea with RAIDZ in most cases.

Some differences between RAIDZ and mirrors, and why we use mirrors for block storage

ZFS is a complicated, powerful system. Unfortunately, it isn't actually magic, and there's a lot of opportunity for disappointment if you don't understand what's going on. RAIDZ (including Z2, Z3) is good for storing large sequential files...

www.truenas.com

getting a PCIe 10-16 ports SATA card to plug those with SATA 3, 6Gb/s.

Suggest you do not do this. Use an LSI HBA instead.

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

jgreco submitted a new resource: Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers - Bad technology, multiplied by more evil In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use...

www.truenas.com

when I'm ready to get server-grade hardware, can I just move the drives into a new server and rebuild the pool on that new installation?

You should just be able to move your drives and pool onto new hardware. No rebuild necessary.

 

[aljovin]

6GB is less than the 8GB minimum/16GB suggested memory requirement.

Yes, that's my current NAS, running Ubuntu, I'm planning on having 8Gb, ideally 16Gb

You seem to be under some bizarre misconception that server components have air raid sirens on them. They do not. A server mainboard is identical to a desktop mainboard, except that it has components rated for 24/7 duty, probably higher heat tolerance, probably Intel ethernet chipsets rather than Realtek, ECC memory support, a tendency to have x8 PCIe slots rather than random assortments of x1/x4/x16 slots, no audio, and features like IPMI which can be wicked useful. You know, a mainboard, that, just like gaming mainboards, is specifically optimized for a use case that a general desktop board isn't good at. I promise you that they are no noisier than what you use now.

I understand, but all the "server-grade" level I've seen available (that would fit in my price range) have very loud fans in Rackmount cases; I'd need a workstation build with Server components; those are hard to find right now, or I don't know where to look. I'm on a tight budget, thus I am not planning on buying much more than the hard drives, hopefully, even using an old PC with a sub 200$ cost with RAM. Eventually, when money allows it, I will upgrade, but for now, I need to do as much recycling as possible.

RAIDZ1 is not recommended; RAIDZ2 is a better choice. iSCSI is not a good idea with RAIDZ in most cases.

Some differences between RAIDZ and mirrors, and why we use mirrors for block storage

ZFS is a complicated, powerful system. Unfortunately, it isn't actually magic, and there's a lot of opportunity for disappointment if you don't understand what's going on. RAIDZ (including Z2, Z3) is good for storing large sequential files...

www.truenas.com

Good to know, thanks for the information, so I should be looking at RAIDZ2 instead and have 16 Tb storage. That should be good enough.

Suggest you do not do this. Use an LSI HBA instead.

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

jgreco submitted a new resource: Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers - Bad technology, multiplied by more evil In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use...

www.truenas.com

Good to know, I'll be looking for these, if I can find some motherboard/CPU/RAM for cheap enough for my budget. I was considering one, but it was a bit over the budget I wanted to spend on this, so I will have to either wait a bit, or change my plans.

 

[jgreco]

very loud fans in Rackmount cases;

Well that IS a thing, but has nothing to do with servers. It has to do with the physics of forcing air around the teeny tiny little gaps between the drives and the chassis to keep them cool, because 12 HDD's can be made to just barely fit into 2U if you stack them, and this became a very popular thing with the datacenter crowd, where a single rack can easily cost thousands per month. There are plenty of servers that are as quiet as your PC, or even entirely fanless -- they're just usually not "storage-optimized" which is the industry term for something that handles gobs of HDD>

 

[Jailer]

There are a bunch of server boards available that fit in a standard ATX case. If you're on a budget look at some used hardware on ebay. You can put a nice system together for little money that would serve your needs nicely.

 

[aljovin]

There are a bunch of server boards available that fit in a standard ATX case. If you're on a budget look at some used hardware on ebay. You can put a nice system together for little money that would serve your needs nicely.

I was hoping to avoid building the server from scratch, but with Jgreco's advice, I actually did what you suggested, and bought a Lenovo Dual Xeon board with 2 Xeon X5650; I'll be looking for a case and ram soon, it will take longer to build than I was hoping (and cost a bit more, I had the option for a cheap i7 with case and powersupply for 165$CND); However, I will probably be able to run quite a few more VM on it (since I can get up to 96Gb RAM from what I understand with that board).

Since it's been YEARS that I've custom build a PC, I was unsure if it would requires proprietary power supply or would even fit in an ATX case; I had looked into doing that, but the boards I was stumbling unto looked weird in shape, and it felt that they wouldn't fit in a regular ATX case; until I stumbled yesterday on a Dual Xeon from a Lenovo Thinkstation D20 motherboard.