Will this FreeNAS?

[Sia.Z]

good afternoon all,
first i would like to say i have spent about a week reading all the posts regarding FreeNAS and required specs but i am new to FreeNAS,

i am planning to purchase a second hand Server to deploy a File Server and possibly a Cloud front end to house a small business's documents (word/excel/pdf/lot of CAD files/images) eventually (in 3 Years) this will also server as the company WEB server that will host a small word-press Site
at the moment there will be 6 full time users. with the possibility of this doubling in the next 5 years. files served can be 20-30 mb in size at most. but 99% most are less than 1mb the shared web server doesnt get hit very much and its just for people to find business hours and small info about that business activities and what it does. server will be on the local network. at most i would need 1 TB of space i plan to use 4x 2TB SAS Drives and one 2TB drive for weekly backups off site.

the specs are:

HP Proliant DL360 G6 - 2 x 2.40GHz / 26GB RAM

1U rack server HP ProLiant DL360 G6

2 x 2.40GHz Xeon E5620 Quad Core Intel processor 8 cores total / 16 Logical Processors

26 GB 10600R ECC Registered RAM
Room for 4 2.5" SAS / SATA drives, 4 trays w/screws included

HP Smart Array E410i Raid Controller 256MB with battery
Dual Port Gig NIC onboard

2 x 460W Power Supply
DVD drive
Rack-Mountable 1U

everything on the server except the HDD i can get for 200$ i would need to purchase the HDD.

 

[Chris Moore]

That all might be fine if you were going to use Windows, but you do not need any sort of Hardware RAID controller if you're using FreeNAS. FreeNAS uses ZFS. ZFS controls the disks, so you don't need any hardware RAID all. The hardware you have outlined is not correct.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[danb35]

so you don't need any hardware RAID all.

...and to make the point a little stronger, you should not use a hardware RAID controller, unless it can be configured to a pure pass-through mode (in which case it would be acting as a relatively dumb HBA)--and in that case you're ignoring functionality that probably increased the price significantly.

 

[Chris Moore]

and in that case you're ignoring functionality that probably increased the price significantly.

HP Smart Array E410i Raid Controller 256MB with battery

That memory and battery for example...
You probably need to review the hardware guide.

Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/terminology-and-abbreviations-primer.28174/

FreeNAS® Quick Hardware Guide
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/freenas®-quick-hardware-guide.7/

 

[Chris Moore]

1U rack server

PS. Are you familiear with how loud a 1U server is? I never suggest 1U or 2U servers for home use because they are horrible about being loud. They rely on high velocity fans to keep them cool and those fans make a ,"jet plane on takeoff", kind of sound that very few people can tolerate.

 

[rvassar]

Another vote for "do not use RAID controller". But I'll also suggest a cheap cloud web server. You can keep a simple small business web page on AWS Lightsail, Linode, Digital Ocean, etc... for $5 - 10 a month. That keeps the web traffic & security risks off your local network.

 

[Chris Moore]

eventually (in 3 Years) this will also server as the company WEB server that will host a small word-press Site

I forgot to mention...

But I'll also suggest a cheap cloud web server. You can keep a simple small business web page on AWS Lightsail, Linode, Digital Ocean, etc... for $5 - 10 a month. That keeps the web traffic & security risks off your local network.

I agree completely, this should be outside your network. Even if you think you do, you really don't want that drain on your resources either in internet bandwidth or the amount of work it will put on your NAS, not to mention the security risk. If you insist on hosting your own server, use a separate computer from the NAS, and set it up in a DMZ. Keep the NAS on the internal / private network and let the web-server be out where people can attack it, and they will, even your "Cloud front end". I am not sure what you have in mind, or what your background is, but if you have a server exposed to the internet, it will be attacked multiple times per day, it is basically constant. You need to do all you can to make your server secure or you will be hacked. It doesn't matter what the size of the site is. The people involved in that are running bot networks that scan all IP addresses looking for potential vulnerabilities to exploit and they don't care who you are.

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

HP Proliant DL360 G6 - 2 x 2.40GHz / 26GB RAM

I'll add my voice to the chorus of "get a different disk controller". My recently retired FreeNAS was on a DL360 G6, and it ran just fine. I found it to be pretty quiet for a 1U server. It was pretty tolerable running in the home office where I work frequently. It shouldn't be hard to switch the disk controller as the internal SAS cables are standard. You might need to purchase some longer ones than the ones in the case, but that shouldn't be too expensive. There is also a modification you can get for that server to expand it to 8 SAS/SATA drive bays. You lose the optical bay, but I never found that to be a big deal.