Which case (8 drives) and Spec Check

[Shrdlu]

Hi all,

I have just about firmed out my specs for a 8 drive build for a home server to run plex for streaming and store/back up files from various devices. Now is the question of what case. I am overwhelmed with options from combos of cases and caddys so suggestions would be greatly appreciated

I am looking for a case to put in 8 x 8Tb drives with hot-swapping. Space for expansion up to 12 drives would be a nice bonus. I would also like to keep it cool and quiet, so the ability to use bigger CPU coolers would be good as i read some rackmount cases are tight?

A rack mount would be nice as I am planning on putting this in a cupboard next to my switch and router to keep it all out of sight. But would be ok with a tower case.

Specs
CPU - Xeon E3 1245 V6
MoBo - Supermicro MBD-X11SSM-F
RAM - 2 x 16Gb Crucial DDR4 2666Mhz CT16G4RFD4266
HBA - 1 x LSI 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9201-8i (Flashed to P20 IT Mode)
Drives - 8 x 8Tb Ironwolf


Quick spec questions
1) RAM. The motherboard specs say it can only do DDR4 2133Mhz, but i am finding DDR4 2666Mhz is working out cheaper. I am assuing i can still use the 2666 but it will down clock to 2133 without issues?

2) HBA. The HBA has 2 ports so will do up to 8 drives. If i add another 4 drives through the MoBo and add them to the same RAID as the 8 from the HBA will there be any issues with this? Would a second HBA be better?

 

[Yorick]

2) From a hardware perspective no issue. "Add to the same RAID" - read into pools and vdevs. https://www.ixsystems.com/community...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/ and https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/zfs-primer.38927/ . In a nutshell, right this very moment, you can't expand a raidz2 to 12 drives. And 4 drives is a bit of an awkward size for a raidz2. It'll work, of course.

If you know you'll go to 12 drives "soon", then planning for 2 vdevs of raidz2x6 each may make sense.

raidz expansion is in the works, and don't hold your breath for it. I wouldn't expect this in FreeNAS before 2020/2021.

1) Yup

Case - no idea about hot-swap cases. Someone will be along with some SuperMicro options no doubt :). For home use, backup and Plex, hot swap isn't a common choice.

Edit: Something like this. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-12xSATA...482161?hash=item52197600f1:g:BycAAOSw1vlUvnoh

For home use, common choices (if not hot-swap) are the Fractal Define R5 and R6. I believe 12 drives will fit into an R6, with some minor modifications.

Edit2: "cool and quiet " -- define "quiet". These rackmount cases use a lot of fans to keep the drives cool. Necessary because they are so tightly packed. There are options that are "less loud", but "quiet" will be relative with rackmount cases. Which is why the Define cases are so popular. Also, for home use, consider 5400rpm drives. 100MB/s maxes out your GBit Ethernet, vs 120MB/s for 7200rpm drives. 5400rpm is a lot quieter and cooler.

 

[Shrdlu]

Yorick, thanks for the link to the vdev/zpool guide. That is some good food for thought!

As for the case, I know the hot-swapping is a luxury but I work away from home for prolonged periods so I want the drives to be easily accessable. Then, if drives fail I can order a replacement and have a friend install them with ease while I remote in. Plus, it saves me having to mess about opening up a case if i have to do it :D

I had been mainly looking at 4U sized cases to give better air flow and more CPU cooler options. They are roughly the size of a desktop tower and that is what I know. Would a 2U be too small, or is it a common size?

 

[anmnz]

I had been mainly looking at 4U sized cases to give better air flow and more CPU cooler options. They are roughly the size of a desktop tower and that is what I know. Would a 2U be too small, or is it a common size?

2U is common but it's also common for people to be disappointed by how much noise they generate in order to get adequate airflow.

IMO unless you have significant space constraints, working in 4U will be cheaper and quieter and cooler and easier to deal with and will generally make you happier. (3U can be OK too.)

 

[Evertb1]

My rackmounted case (second hand Supermicro 4U sized) did not survive the confrontation with my wife. It was loud, way to big and ugly according to her. And that was when she was nice about it :). I did not disagree, so I am still married (the flowers helped as well). I bought a PC mid towercase (Sharkoon) with nine 5.25 external bays and I bought three hotswap bays (Icy Dock) good for 4 drives each. With nine 5.25 slots in the Sharkoon I can house all three of them. I have 2 of them in use and one of them is on the shelf. So I can expand to 12 drives if I want to. The case is compact, does not look that ugly (you can not argue about taste), is not loud and keeps everything reasonable cool. I was able to put it in a modest, existing cabinet due to its compact format. Way better them my DIY rack with its big footprint.

With an ambient temperature of 18 degrees (celcius) the temps of my HDU's are always somewhere around 25 degrees. And the temperatures of the CPU and other vital system components are holding up good as well. The CPU temp is 29 degrees as we speak while a replication task is running. The disks higher up in the stack are running a bit warmer then the lower ones but the difference is always within three degrees. The summer of 2018 was exceptional hot and long for the Netherlands and still everything was keeping up fine. With ever rising ambient temperatures the temperaturs were hetting higher but never caused an alert. I configured email to sent me a message if there are any temperature warnings but it is a long time ago that I received one.

 

[Shrdlu]

Which is why i feel a normal case would be better. But where are the ones with so many external 5.25" bays? The cases I am finding now only have 2 bays, not 9. I found an old thread where they used a Zalman MS800 which would have been perfect, but it is not on sale anymore

 

[Evertb1]

Which is why i feel a normal case would be better. But where are the ones with so many external 5.25" bays? The cases I am finding now only have 2 bays, not 9. I found an old thread where they used a Zalman MS800 which would have been perfect, but it is not on sale any more

Yes that is a bit of a problem these days. Those cases are getting sparse. I own a Sharkoon T9 value and Sharkoon is not making that anymore. I saw one on the UK ebay. It is still open for bids (starting with 10 pounds). Do away with the cheap Sharkoon fans, replace them with some good ones and it would be usable for you.

By the way I found one supplier in the Netherlands that still has that MS800 in stock. Maybe you could make a deal with them, now you are still in the EU?

Of course you could spend some time hunting a good second hand case if you don't like the Sharkoon or are not able to wint it. I did not find much offerings for new cases either. This format clearly is not interesting anymore for the manufacterers.

 

[Shrdlu]

A somewhat heretical idea, but can you stand a rackmount case on its side?

A 4U case is pretty much the size of a tower case in. And by the time i add in the cost of icydock cages the one of these works in cheaper.
Logic Case SC-4316

 

[Yorick]

Yes you can. See https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/freenas-system-considerations.74745/#post-520404

 

[Evertb1]

A somewhat heretical idea, but can you stand a rackmount case on its side?

There are several manufacterers -Supermicro and Intel being amongst them- that have towers that also can be rackmounted and vice versa. The only thing is that most server cases are very deep compared to a PC case (600 mm plus. Heigth and width are comparable I think.

By the way: You can always make a cardboard mockup of a case to get an idea if and how you can handle its size in your house. I did that once with a complete kitchen:). You realize how big those 4U cases are when you handle one.

 

[rvassar]

Just a thought... I have two cheap hot swap trays in my NAS. I keep them empty, ready to use for things like backups, and drive swaps. To cover your suggested use, have a friend stop by and drop a new drive in an empty hot-swap tray, and you can remote in and re-silver it in to the pool, and let the failing drive sit until you get home. The neat thing about ZFS, you can move the SAS/SATA cables around. ZFS just adapts to changing drive enumeration. So, once you're home, pop the failed drive out, and move the replacement from the hot swap tray to the interior location. I try not to casually handle and move drives with live data on them, but in this scenario, you'd be moving the new drive post re-silver. The greater risk would be one of the other older drives in the pool not spinning back up after the maintenance power cycle.

Also... Don't overlook cheap gaming cases. The Cooler Master HAF 912 I used has 6 interior 3.5" slots, 2x 2.5 slots, and enough 5-1/4 external bays that I could configure at least 11 drives if I went with one of the the 5 in 3 docks, possibly more... And it has great airflow.

 

[CraigD]

I'm the guy using the MS800 (15 hot swap bays added and a drive hanging above the PCI-e slots) and an Antec 1200 case (20 hot swap bays)

The Antec 900 is still obtainable, bend up some of the tabs in the 5.25" bays and you can get 3 5 in 3 hot swap bays in it

Have Fun