FreeNas Questions

[Member]

Hello, 

 

I am thinking of building a NAS running FreeNas but I have some questions. 

 

Questions:

 

Will a Pentium Anniversary Edition suffice?

 

ECC memory actually needed if I use ZFS file system?

 

Best RAID config for redundancy and reliability? (2-4 drives, heard that the # of drives should be power of 2)

 

Good budget case(under $100)? (hotswap if possible)

 

Any power supply recommended for these types of builds? (2-4 drives maybe up to 6 drives down the road)

 

If I run the Plex plugin, do i need specific drives for it and the media?

 

 

Thanks for your help.    

 

@wpirobotbuilder @MrBucket101

[Vitalius]

Hello, 

 

I am thinking of building a NAS running FreeNas but I have some questions. 

 

Questions:

• Will a Pentium Anniversary Edition suffice?
• ECC memory actually needed if I use ZFS file system?
• Best RAID config for redundancy and reliability? (2-4 drives, heard that the # of drives should be power of 2)
• Good budget case(under $100)? (hotswap if possible)
• Any power supply recommended for these types of builds? (2-4 drives maybe up to 6 drives down the road)
• If I run the Plex plugin, do i need specific drives for it and the media?

Thanks for your help.    

 

@wpirobotbuilder @MrBucket101

 

I'm answering the following questions in the context of you running a Plex server through FreeNAS.

• Probably not. Plex transcodes media on-the-fly for format & resolution. HD content (video) may make the server choke. Music & pictures would be fine though. For just a file server (no Plex), it should be perfectly fine.
• Only if you have important documents on the server that you can't/don't want to lose. Family pictures, tax documents, things like that. Not having ECC means using some of the ZFS features is a bad idea (scrubs, specifically), and if you do use that feature without ECC RAM, it might corrupt all your data on the server. 
• I personally recommend RAID 10 as Parity RAID (5,6, & 7) has some potential pitfalls and puts more stress on the CPU.
• I recommend the Fractal Node 304.
• Silverstone 500w SFX is what I'd recommend. High quality & small/efficient.
• No, and no. Plex can read pretty much anything, and you only need specific drives depending on if you highly value your files. Don't use "Green" drives. Bad idea in general.

This is a server I recommend personally, as I find it's the best price-size-power I can find where I live:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($79.99 @ Best Buy) 

Case: Fractal Node 304  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.06 @ NCIX US) 

Other: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard ($280.00 @ Newegg)

Other: Crucial 2x4GB ECC Unbuffered RAM ($99.99 @ NeweggBusiness)

Total: $619.03

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-02 14:05 EST-0500

[MrBucket101]

@Member

 

1) Will it work? YEP. Will it give you the performance you're looking for? That's up to you. ZFS can be pretty CPU intensive. 

 

2) Needed? NO; Recommended? YES

 

3) RAID 10 is damn near bulletproof and has no penalty to reads or writes. BUT you lose 50% of your available capacity to redundancy. Other than that, RAID 5 if <12TB and RAID 6 if >= 12TB

 

4) I like the cooler master N400. It's got 7 3.5" drive bays and you can put an 8th drive in the 5.25" bay. Hot-swap cases cost a lot more. Hot-swap is more of a luxury than a necessity. Make your own decision about it.

 

5) As long as you're not powering a big GPU or anything like that, then a 500W bronze should technically get the job done. I would just make sure you have enough SATA leads. Using molex adapters is fine, but it doesn't look as pretty

 

6) Nah your drive choice won't matter. Or at least it won't make a big enough difference to warrant any additional cost. I prefer to use 7200rpm drives, but it REALLY doesn't matter AT ALL.  Besides you'll most likely be bottle necked by the ethernet line. Whether that be gig-e or 100mbit.

If you really want to be fancy, you can get a mobo with dual NICs and bond them together (in software at the driver level, or in the switch/router) for more throughput to the server. Would allow more than one client to access the machine at full speed. But again, not necessary and overkill for most lol

[Member]

I'm answering the following questions in the context of you running a Plex server through FreeNAS.

• Probably not. Plex transcodes media on-the-fly for format & resolution. HD content (video) may make the server choke. Music & pictures would be fine though. For just a file server (no Plex), it should be perfectly fine.
• Only if you have important documents on the server that you can't/don't want to lose. Family pictures, tax documents, things like that. Not having ECC means using some of the ZFS features is a bad idea (scrubs, specifically), and if you do use that feature without ECC RAM, it might corrupt all your data on the server. 
• I personally recommend RAID 10 as Parity RAID (5,6, & 7) has some potential pitfalls and puts more stress on the CPU.
• I recommend the Fractal Node 304.
• Silverstone 500w SFX is what I'd recommend. High quality & small/efficient.
• No, and no. Plex can read pretty much anything, and you only need specific drives depending on if you highly value your files. Don't use "Green" drives. Bad idea in general.

This is a server I recommend personally, as I find it's the best price-size-power I can find where I live:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($79.99 @ Best Buy) 

Case: Fractal Node 304  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.06 @ NCIX US) 

Other: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard ($280.00 @ Newegg)

Other: Crucial 2x4GB ECC Unbuffered RAM ($99.99 @ NeweggBusiness)

Total: $619.03

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-02 14:05 EST-0500

Thank you for replying. So the CPU and mobo combo will have enough power to transcode HD videos? I forgot to mention that I kind of wanted to use my Z97-K motherboard, but it doesnt support ECC memory. If i wanted to choose an Intel CPU and motherboard (ATX if possible) what are some good options, support for ECC memory and sufficient power. My total budget is around $600 CDN. 

 

 

I will be storing important files on the NAS. Raid10 sounds good to me, pretty sure FreeNas supports it. 

 

If you built a NAS can you give me the link so I can get some ideas? 

 

Thanks again. 

[Member]

@Member

 

1) Will it work? YEP. Will it give you the performance you're looking for? That's up to you. ZFS can be pretty CPU intensive. 

 

2) Needed? NO; Recommended? YES

 

3) RAID 10 is damn near bulletproof and has no penalty to reads or writes. BUT you lose 50% of your available capacity to redundancy. Other than that, RAID 5 if <12TB and RAID 6 if >= 12TB

 

4) I like the cooler master N400. It's got 7 3.5" drive bays and you can put an 8th drive in the 5.25" bay. Hot-swap cases cost a lot more. Hot-swap is more of a luxury than a necessity. Make your own decision about it.

 

5) As long as you're not powering a big GPU or anything like that, then a 500W bronze should technically get the job done. I would just make sure you have enough SATA leads. Using molex adapters is fine, but it doesn't look as pretty

 

6) Nah your drive choice won't matter. Or at least it won't make a big enough difference to warrant any additional cost. I prefer to use 7200rpm drives, but it REALLY doesn't matter AT ALL.  Besides you'll most likely be bottle necked by the ethernet line. Whether that be gig-e or 100mbit.

If you really want to be fancy, you can get a mobo with dual NICs and bond them together (in software at the driver level, or in the switch/router) for more throughput to the server. Would allow more than one client to access the machine at full speed. But again, not necessary and overkill for most lol

Ah, yeah, I will be storing mostly documents and photos/videos. Not every room has ethernet so I may have to use Wifi, if that's possible. 

 

Thanks again. 

[Vitalius]

Thank you for replying. So the CPU and mobo combo will have enough power to transcode HD videos? I forgot to mention that I kind of wanted to use my Z97-K motherboard, but it doesnt support ECC memory. If i wanted to choose an Intel CPU and motherboard (ATX if possible) what are some good options, support for ECC memory and sufficient power. My total budget is around $600 CDN. 

 

 

I will be storing important files on the NAS. Raid10 sounds good to me, pretty sure FreeNas supports it. 

 

If you built a NAS can you give me the link so I can get some ideas? 

 

Thanks again. 

Ah, yeah, I will be storing mostly documents and photos/videos. Not every room has ethernet so I may have to use Wifi, if that's possible. 

 

Thanks again. 

Which do you mean? The Motherboard+CPU I listed or the CPU you mentioned? 

The one I listed can handle up to 3 HD streams at once. I am not entirely sure a Pentium Anniversary Edition CPU could handle much more than a single HD stream. $600 CAD = ~$476 USD. My PC Part Picker list is in USD. I would get an i3 as it can handle an HD stream or two on top of basic file server stuff. 

I would honestly just use the Z97-K motherboard anyway and not worry about ECC RAM, since you already own it. It's ok as long as your RAM is high quality (no errors) and you don't use ZFS' Scrub feature. Scrubs are needed for datacenter-level data integrity. I seriously doubt you'll need them any time in your NAS' lifetime.

 

Yep, that sounds good. 

My NAS was built from used parts off of Ebay. I got two Xeon quad core CPUs, a Super Micro server motherboard & 32GB of ECC Full Buffered RAM for $275 USD. It all worked, but it's very old (7 years old+) and not power efficient at all. I only recommend that (buying used parts off of Ebay) if you have no other choice though. 

You're welcome. 

You can use it over WiFi, depending on the type (B, G, N, or AC).

[Member]

Which do you mean? The Motherboard+CPU I listed or the CPU you mentioned? 

The one I listed can handle up to 3 HD streams at once. I am not entirely sure a Pentium Anniversary Edition CPU could handle much more than a single HD stream. $600 CAD = ~$476 USD. My PC Part Picker list is in USD. I would get an i3 as it can handle an HD stream or two on top of basic file server stuff. 

I would honestly just use the Z97-K motherboard anyway and not worry about ECC RAM, since you already own it. It's ok as long as your RAM is high quality (no errors) and you don't use ZFS' Scrub feature. Scrubs are needed for datacenter-level data integrity. I seriously doubt you'll need them any time in your NAS' lifetime.

 

Yep, that sounds good. 

My NAS was built from used parts off of Ebay. I got two Xeon quad core CPUs, a Super Micro server motherboard & 32GB of ECC Full Buffered RAM for $275 USD. It all worked, but it's very old (7 years old+) and not power efficient at all. I only recommend that (buying used parts off of Ebay) if you have no other choice though. 

You're welcome. 

You can use it over WiFi, depending on the type (B, G, N, or AC).

Wow! That is a beast of a CPU!  

 

Yep, i think ill use my z97-k ,what CPU and RAM do you suggest? 

 

That's a pretty powerful server. Are you using FreeNas as the OS?

 

Thanks for being so helpful, when I actually get to assemble this, I may have more questions.  

[Vitalius]

Wow! That is a beast of a CPU!  

 

Yep, i think ill use my z97-k ,what CPU and RAM do you suggest? 

 

That's a pretty powerful server. Are you using FreeNas as the OS?

 

Thanks for being so helpful, when I actually get to assemble this, I may have more questions.  

Indeed. This guy reviews that Motherboard plus it's big brother, the 8 core Atom CPU. It can handle 3 HD streams and then some. If the little quad core brother can't handle 3 streams, it definitely can handle 2.

Maybe an i3 4150? I'll be honest with you. I have no experience with the consumer low end Intel CPUs. I would imagine that CPU can handle Plex transcoding 1 HD movie + normal file transfer stuff, but not much else. But that's just a guess. For the RAM, a single Kingston Fury 8GB DIMM should be good to start off.

Remember the rules of RAM for FreeNAS when using ZFS. 8GB bare minimum. For the total RAM needed, the rule of thumb is 1GB of RAM for 1TB of storage space after you pass the 8TB mark. These aren't hard-set facts (thus the "rule of thumb"), but they are to prevent your system from causing a kernel panic. It's just good practice and "safe".

Yes, I am. Although I've considered using Amahi before. It's like FreeNAS, but much simpler and with a much lower hardware requirement. However, it lacks many "data integrity" features, such as ZFS and everything good that comes with it.

That server isn't that great. Back in the DDR2 days, Intel was behind AMD because AMD had a better motherboard design, so Intel had this huge bottleneck for the whole motherboard. So my server is gimped by default (being Intel and all).

You're welcome. That's fine. It's good to always be curious.

[MrBucket101]

@Member The G3258 is not an adequate CPU for streaming/transcoding AND calculating all the parity for your ZFS.

 

If you are going to be transcoding, then you will definitely want to look into a xeon CPU. The core i3 could probably handle the load, but the performance would most likely take a dip if you were transcoding and using the array for other things at the same time.

 

I have a quad core xeon without hyper threading, at the time I bought it I couldn't afford the extra $$$ for hyperthreading. But it is perfectly capable of handling anything I can throw at it. I run Plex Media Server and I have it transcoding something almost on the daily. I paid for the plex pass lifetime membership, so I setup my gfs iPad to auto sync the shows she likes.

[wpirobotbuilder]

Hello, 

 

I am thinking of building a NAS running FreeNas but I have some questions. 

 

Questions:

 

Will a Pentium Anniversary Edition suffice?

 

ECC memory actually needed if I use ZFS file system?

 

Best RAID config for redundancy and reliability? (2-4 drives, heard that the # of drives should be power of 2)

 

Good budget case(under $100)? (hotswap if possible)

 

Any power supply recommended for these types of builds? (2-4 drives maybe up to 6 drives down the road)

 

If I run the Plex plugin, do i need specific drives for it and the media?

 

 

Thanks for your help.    

 

@wpirobotbuilder @MrBucket101

It will be fine for basics. If you want to really hit it hard (multiple iSCSI, CIFS/NFS connections, file copies, and video streams) then you might want to go with a quad-core.  @Vitalius, do you know if the IPC of the newer Atoms is close to that of desktop Haswell?

 

ECC is recommended if you are super paranoid about data integrity. If you are storing very important data on your system I would invest in it, otherwise don't bother. If you do get ECC, then I would go with Vitalius's recommended CPU/board. If you want to use the system intensively, then you can get the 8-core model for ~$150 more.

 

I have a Seasonic m12ii 520W. It's great because it has two 8-pin EPS connectors, but if you don't need that then any 500W PSU would be good. Make sure it has enough SATA/Molex power connectors.

 

No specific drives for Plex, but I would recommend either the WD Red or Seagate NAS, which are meant for 24/7 operation.

[Vitalius]

@Vitalius, do you know if the IPC of the newer Atoms is close to that of desktop Haswell?

Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with either to compare them. This page shows some comparisons, but I'm not 100% on if that's a fair comparison. I just haven't read about Haswell or Atom enough. 

[Member]

@Member The G3258 is not an adequate CPU for streaming/transcoding AND calculating all the parity for your ZFS.

 

If you are going to be transcoding, then you will definitely want to look into a xeon CPU. The core i3 could probably handle the load, but the performance would most likely take a dip if you were transcoding and using the array for other things at the same time.

 

I have a quad core xeon without hyper threading, at the time I bought it I couldn't afford the extra $$$ for hyperthreading. But it is perfectly capable of handling anything I can throw at it. I run Plex Media Server and I have it transcoding something almost on the daily. I paid for the plex pass lifetime membership, so I setup my gfs iPad to auto sync the shows she likes.

Ok, what Xeon CPU do you recommend, I don't think I'll be streaming/transcoding very often. Oh, nice. Not many glitches with Plex so far?

 

Thanks again. 

[Member]

It will be fine for basics. If you want to really hit it hard (multiple iSCSI, CIFS/NFS connections, file copies, and video streams) then you might want to go with a quad-core.  @Vitalius, do you know if the IPC of the newer Atoms is close to that of desktop Haswell?

 

ECC is recommended if you are super paranoid about data integrity. If you are storing very important data on your system I would invest in it, otherwise don't bother. If you do get ECC, then I would go with Vitalius's recommended CPU/board. If you want to use the system intensively, then you can get the 8-core model for ~$150 more.

 

I have a Seasonic m12ii 520W. It's great because it has two 8-pin EPS connectors, but if you don't need that then any 500W PSU would be good. Make sure it has enough SATA/Molex power connectors.

 

No specific drives for Plex, but I would recommend either the WD Red or Seagate NAS, which are meant for 24/7 operation.

Oh I see, when I get this built I will be creating an FTP connection and transcoding/streaming once in a while. 

 

ECC memory here in Canada is a bit pricey here so maybe I'll stick with non-ecc, don't have super important files. If I was planning to use my Z97-K motherboard, so what CPU do you suggest? 

 

Thanks for the reminder to get a PSU with sufficient amount of molex. 

Yep, I would go with WD reds maybe 1 or 2TB ones. 

 

Thanks for your help. 

[MrBucket101]

Ok, what Xeon CPU do you recommend, I don't think I'll be streaming/transcoding very often. Oh, nice. Not many glitches with Plex so far?

 

Thanks again. 

Nope, plex is awesome, I honestly would have paid for a lifetime membership just for the basic features lol

 

I run XBMC locally to watch my shows as its a bit fancier on the GUI, and I have some addons I can't get in Plex.

 

But on all my mobile devices, I use plex. Even on my JailBroken iPad which can run XBMC. The Plex app is just better.

Any Xeon will do, just as long as it has 4 cores, hyperthreading or not.

 

You seem a bit hesitant on what you will be doing with your server. I would sit down and make a list of what you "want" to be able to do, and then prioritize them. An i3 is probably adequate for MOST of the tasks, but you won't be able to hit it very hard simultaneously.

 

The WD REDs are good drives. I would suggest taking a look at the HGST 3TB NAS drives. The 3TB variant of this drive is 10$ more than the RED, but it comes with a bit more features. 7200rpm, rotational vibration sensor, and the same 3 year warranty. As we've already established though...as long as you are using "quality" drives, then it shouldn't make any difference at all.

 

 

There are LOTS of different things you can use a server/NAS for. But for your first build, I'm leaning more towards something budget friendly. No use buying something you want be able to utilize. For that reason, I think keeping your current Z97 motherboard and using a core i3 would be a good idea. the i3 is more powerful than the g3258, and you won't need to worry about overclocking for performance gains.

 

If in the future you decide you want to store precious data on your NAS/server, or do some serious transcoding, then you can look into re-evaluating your hardware. Xeon CPU/ECC memory etc..

[Member]

Nope, plex is awesome, I honestly would have paid for a lifetime membership just for the basic features lol

 

I run XBMC locally to watch my shows as its a bit fancier on the GUI, and I have some addons I can't get in Plex.

 

But on all my mobile devices, I use plex. Even on my JailBroken iPad which can run XBMC. The Plex app is just better.

@Member

 

Any Xeon will do, just as long as it has 4 cores, hyperthreading or not.

 

You seem a bit hesitant on what you will be doing with your server. I would sit down and make a list of what you "want" to be able to do, and then prioritize them. An i3 is probably adequate for MOST of the tasks, but you won't be able to hit it very hard simultaneously.

 

The WD REDs are good drives. I would suggest taking a look at the HGST 3TB NAS drives. The 3TB variant of this drive is 10$ more than the RED, but it comes with a bit more features. 7200rpm, rotational vibration sensor, and a 3 year warranty. As we've already established though...as long as you are using "quality" drives, then it shouldn't make any difference at all.

 

 

There are LOTS of different things you can use a server/NAS for. But for your first build, I'm leaning more towards something budget friendly. No use buying something you want be able to utilize. For that reason, I think keeping your current Z97 motherboard and using a core i3 would be a good idea. the i3 is more powerful than the g3258, and you won't need to worry about overclocking for performance gains.

 

If in the future you decide you want to store precious data on your NAS/server, or do some serious transcoding, then you can look into re-evaluating your hardware. Xeon CPU/ECC memory etc..

Ok, thanks for your honest opinion. If I use Plex occasionally, it will not bog down the i3 right? Is there a specific i3 that is good for this build or is an i5 even better? And should i throw in some low profile GPU?  I want to setup FTP as well.  This NAS config is primarily for backing up and occasionally for movies and other media. Thanks for the suggestions. 

[wpirobotbuilder]

Oh I see, when I get this built I will be creating an FTP connection and transcoding/streaming once in a while. 

 

ECC memory here in Canada is a bit pricey here so maybe I'll stick with non-ecc, don't have super important files. If I was planning to use my Z97-K motherboard, so what CPU do you suggest? 

 

Thanks for the reminder to get a PSU with sufficient amount of molex. 

Yep, I would go with WD reds maybe 1 or 2TB ones. 

 

Thanks for your help. 

Pentium would be fine. If you want to play around with overclocking you can, but I wouldn't push it very hard. I would also see if you notice much of a performance difference, then revert to default speeds if there isn't much of one.

[MrBucket101]

Ok, thanks for your honest opinion. If I use Plex occasionally, it will not bog down the i3 right? Is there a specific i3 that is good for this build or is an i5 even better? And should i throw in some low profile GPU?  I want to setup FTP as well.  This NAS config is primarily for backing up and occasionally for movies and other media. Thanks for the suggestions. 

The core i3 should be able to handle Plex as far as transcoding goes. Local playback more often than not doesn't require any transcoding, just depends on the playback device. So keep that in mind.  Sometimes I will transcode a file to save bandwidth and increase playback time remotely. But on the LAN, it's not really needed, or wanted if you can avoid it.

As long as its the current gen i3 compatible with your mobo you'll be fine. If you're looking at the i5, you might as well get a xeon. They're nearly the same price. Xeon Xeon w/ iGPU Xeon w/ Hyper Threading

If you don't plan on transcoding, the g3258 should be fine. I'm a bit of a purist, and don't think you should be overclocking your NAS or server. You can cause problems and corruption doing it. Will it happen? Probably not, but I don't risk anything when it comes to my data

[Member]

The core i3 should be able to handle Plex as far as transcoding goes. Local playback more often than not doesn't require any transcoding, just depends on the playback device. So keep that in mind.  Sometimes I will transcode a file to save bandwidth and increase playback time remotely. But on the LAN, it's not really needed, or wanted if you can avoid it.

As long as its the current gen i3 compatible with your mobo you'll be fine. If you're looking at the i5, you might as well get a xeon. They're nearly the same price. Xeon Xeon w/ iGPU Xeon w/ Hyper Threading

If you don't plan on transcoding, the g3258 should be fine. I'm a bit of a purist, and don't think you should be overclocking your NAS or server. You can cause problems and corruption doing it. Will it happen? Probably not, but I don't risk anything when it comes to my data

LOL i totally forgot that certain Xeon's have the lga1150 socket! More things to consider now!  

 

Yeah, either the i3 or Xeon's now, leaning more towards the i3 becasue of money constraints. Yea, i want my NAS to be very stable, no overheating and errors.