Will it FreeNas/TrueNas core?

[swsw]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking into building a Freenas or Truenas core system, and am not quite sure if the components I've chosen will work well together, or if I could do better.

I've read a bit through the other posts, but found none with a very similar choice of components, therefore I'm opening this new thread.

So far, I've chosen the following:

• Asrock Rack C236 WSI
• Intel I3-6320 / I3-7100T
• 2x Samsung 16GB DDR4 ECC PC4-2133P-E M391A2K43BB1-CPB
• 2x Crucial BX500 2.5 120GB for mirrored system partition
• Fractal Node 304 (I have this already, currently housing a different PC that will be discarded)
• Existing ATX Powersupply
• 6x 4TB / 5x 6TB Hdds Seagate Ironwolf/ WD red for raidz2 pool

Regarding the disks, I have not yet settled whether I want to go for 6x 4TB or 5x 6TB, and also did not yet decide on a manufacturer.
I realize there was some issue with mislabeled WD red disks a while back, should one rather go for Ironwolfs?
Price is of course also a consideration, I'm based in germany, our prices are generally a bit higher than stateside...


I appreciate any help!

 

[Etorix]

I see nothing obviously wrong or problematic in your list. Since a raidz2 cannot be modified afterwards, I would use all possible slots and create the pool with six drives. WD Red are not "mislabelled", the line includes both CMR drives, which are fine, and SMR drives, which should not be used with ZFS, so you still have to check carefully what you get under "WD Red"—do not trust that all old drives have been relabelled. Otherwise, buy Seagate Ironwolf/Exos, Toshiba N300 or WD Red Plus/Pro.

 

[GBillR]

Hello and welcome to the forum! The resources area is your friend. If you have not read the HW recommendations guide yet, you should.

Intel I3-6320 / I3-7100T

Those "T" processors, or low TDP are discussed in the HW guide I linked above, and generally not recommended.

2x Samsung 16GB DDR4 ECC PC4-2133P-E M391A2K43BB1-CPB

Is that ram on the QVL? I do not see it listed. It might be perfectly fine, but I recommend using something off the QVL to make things easier for you down the road if things don't work quite right...

• Existing ATX Powersupply
• 6x 4TB / 5x 6TB Hdds Seagate Ironwolf/ WD red for raidz2 pool

Be sure that you do not overlook the power supply. Using an old supply, depending on the age, could be a problem lying in wait. Be sure to use one of the many calculators available to make sure it is sized appropriately. Pretty sure there is a resource for that too...

Regarding the disks, I have not yet settled whether I want to go for 6x 4TB or 5x 6TB, and also did not yet decide on a manufacturer.
I realize there was some issue with mislabeled WD red disks a while back, should one rather go for Ironwolfs?

As @Etorix noted, the issue is not "mislabeled" disks as much as it was that WD decided to use SMR recording technology for a NAS drive without telling anyone. There is a resource for that too (is there a theme here?) Any drive listed as Red Plus is CMR, as are the Red Pros.

 

[swsw]

thanks for the quick replies!

So I should probably go for the I3-6320 then.

Regarding the RAM: there is only one 16GB module on the mainboards QVL, the Hynix HMA82GU7AFR8N-UHT0, and I did not find a shop selling these and also shipping to germany (aside from one charging ~400€ per stick....). Therefore I chose the Samsung as an alternative. I guess I just have to hope it works ;)

Will also recheck the powersupply I do have, it's rather new, had to replace an old one that broke a year or so back.

Thanks for clearing up the WD drive issue, I know what to check for when choosing drives now!

 

[GBillR]

Regarding the RAM: there is only one 16GB module on the mainboards QVL, the Hynix HMA82GU7AFR8N-UHT0

Whenever this happens to me, I try to find a reputable vendor with a website that allows you to search for your specific MB. My go-to is Crucial (a.k.a. Micron). In your case, there are several modules listed and even directly sold by them. Check out this link. If nothing else, you will now have Crucial part numbers that you can use to source ram from a different supplier if they are not able to ship to you.

I do not know if you already went through a similar process in slecting the Samsung stick or not... but if not, I would recommend the Crucial website.

 

[Etorix]

RAM from top brands (Hynix/Micron/Samsung) is likely to just work, irrespective of the always-too-limited QVL.
As for the power supply, the target build only holds six drives. I don't know if it's even possible to find an ATX power supply which would not have enough power for that…

 

[steelrides]

I'm looking at the C236 WSI, too, but it appears only compatible with Xeon E3-1200 CPU's. If you're using i3 CPUs, which specific board are you looking at?
Also, is there a problem if ASRock says it's only compatible with Windows OS or is that misleading? I'm not sure it will work as a replacement for my C2750D4I in a FreeNAS Mini since I'm using SATA DOM for the boot disk and this board doesn't mention SATA DOM in the manual. However, the C2750 doesn't mention DOM either and instead uses a separate power connector to the DOM, so maybe it's not a requirement.

 

[Etorix]

The CPU Support List for the C236 WS does list a comprehensive list of Core i3/i5/i7 of the 6th and 7th generations; no issue here.
Not listing FreeBSD only means it has not been tested by AsRockRack; no real issue here either.

SATADOM may be an issue if you expect a drop-in replacement. The safest option for SATADOM support without a power cable would be to look at Supermicro motherboards, for instance the A2SDi series (Atom C3000).

 

[rvassar]

You're going to want to consider the PSU capacity. That's enough disks to present problems, you can't just gloss it over as "existing PSU". There are several good resources here.

My advice:
1. You probably want to be in the 700+ watt range with dual 12v rails. It's not that you'll draw that much, but you need reserve capacity for spin-up, spikes, etc...
2. Evaluate the drives and cabling for susceptibility to the SATA 3.x 3.3v sleep problem.

 

[Etorix]

The Node 304 holds only six drives, so OP intends either six or five drives in Z2 but not eleven in total.