Will my build FreeNAS?

[Leith]

Hello guys,

My goal for my FreeNAS server is strictly for home use and "as a hobby". I want to use it for storage (duh), Plex, maybe a few VM's and whatever plugin I may find at a later point that tickles my interest. If I get it up and running, I will likely share it between some family and friends. This would put me at the "medium" requirements (I'm guessing) and have made my list based on the various guides I found while researching FreeNAS. Though I do want it all to 'work', I'm expecting the data that will be stored on this server to be non-critical, so its not a major priority if I lose it.

The list so far:

Fractal Design Node 804
SuperMicro X11SSM-F
Intel Core i3 6300 Boxed
Samsung D4 16GB(1x16GB) 2133MHz, CL15
3 x WD Red 3 TB
Seasonic G-Series 450W
Corsair Flash USB 3.0 16GB Slider X2 (maybe two so i can use one as a backup for FreeNAS itself)

I will gladly listen to suggestions for my build and improvements. If some of these parts are overkill, please let me know.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Spearfoot]

Hello guys,

My goal for my FreeNAS server is strictly for home use and "as a hobby". I want to use it for storage (duh), Plex, maybe a few VM's and whatever plugin I may find at a later point that tickles my interest. If I get it up and running, I will likely share it between some family and friends. This would put me at the "medium" requirements (I'm guessing) and have made my list based on the various guides I found while researching FreeNAS. Though I do want it all to 'work', I'm expecting the data that will be stored on this server to be non-critical, so its not a major priority if I lose it.

The list so far:

Fractal Design Node 804
SuperMicro X11SSM-F
Intel Core i3 6300 Boxed
Samsung D4 16GB(1x16GB) 2133MHz, CL15
3 x WD Red 3 TB
Seasonic G-Series 450W
Corsair Flash USB 3.0 16GB Slider X2 (maybe two so i can use one as a backup for FreeNAS itself)

I will gladly listen to suggestions for my build and improvements. If some of these parts are overkill, please let me know.
Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum!

You've designed a good system!

You may need more memory if you plan on running Plex and 'a few VMs'.

How do you plan to configure the 3 x WD Red 3TB drives? RAIDZ1? Our usual advice is to avoid RAIDZ1 for large drives (>1TB) because of the risk of loosing your pool if a drive fails and you suffer a URE (Uncoverable Read Error) during resilvering after replacing it. To be safer, consider using 4 drives and configuring them as a RAIDZ2 array. But you can stick with a 3-drive RAIDZ1 topology if you're comfortable with the risk.

Good luck!

 

[Leith]

Welcome to the forum!

You've designed a good system!

You may need more memory if you plan on running Plex and 'a few VMs'.

How do you plan to configure the 3 x WD Red 3TB drives? RAIDZ1? Our usual advice is to avoid RAIDZ1 for large drives (>1TB) because of the risk of loosing your pool if a drive fails and you suffer a URE (Uncoverable Read Error) during resilvering after replacing it. To be safer, consider using 4 drives and configuring them as a RAIDZ2 array. But you can stick with a 3-drive RAIDZ1 topology if you're comfortable with the risk.

Good luck!

Thank you for your suggestions.

This is my list for the "initial" build which may be expanded on at a later point. The plan for now is to put the drives in RAIDZ1 since i dont plan on putting data in there that im not prepared to lose. "A few VM's" can be widely interpreted. This is mostly for when i need a VM to help with my studies so these wont be running all the time. More like "when needed".

 

[Arwen]

@Leith
If you don't understand ZFS, please read up on it a bit.

Many people without ZFS experience make assumptions on how they can upgrade a ZFS pool. There
are limitations that other RAID strategies don't have. For example, you can't convert a RAID-Z1 pool
into a RAID-Z2, (or RAID-1, aka mirror). Nor can you add a column to your RAID-Z1 vDev, (virtual
Device). Basically, it's backup data, destroy pool, create new layout, restore data.

That said, there are 2 ways to expand a pool without backing up. Both can be done live. Replace each
drive, (one at a time), with a larger drive. Whence all drives are replaced, the pool grows. Or simply
add a new vDev, (like another 3 disk RAID-Z1).

You may know this already, but I prefer to over inform, to reduce future confusion.

 

[Jailer]

Looks like your component selection is good, just be sure to plan your storage appropriately before you create your pool.

 

[Alecmascot]

The list so far:

Fractal Design Node 804
SuperMicro X11SSM-F
Intel Core i3 6300 Boxed
Samsung D4 16GB(1x16GB) 2133MHz, CL15
3 x WD Red 3 TB
Seasonic G-Series 450W
Corsair Flash USB 3.0 16GB Slider X2 (maybe two so i can use one as a backup for FreeNAS itself)

I would say that the Fractal Design Node 804 case, which is huge, is an overkill for 3 drives......