15 computer FreeNAS build

[Vestos]

Hello good people of Linus tech tips forum

 

First of all. I am not well versed in building and setting up a NAS. I have built my own computer but have not built a NAS yet.

 

I am looking into building a NAS running Free NAS. This NAS is for backing up between 10 and 15 dirrerent computers. Only 3 of them have more then 2TB of HDD space.

The specs of the machine will be very close to Tek syndicate's NAS (https://teksyndicate.com/videos/our-new-nas-build-40-tb-64-gb-ecc-ram) or LTT NAS https://youtu.be/KYBok-XGsKM

 

 

• ASRock C2750 Intel Avaton Motherboard: http://amzn.to/1CWyWTH
• 4 TB HDDs: 12x  http://amzn.to/1S3rqgs
• 64 GB Intelligent Memory Unbuffered ECC Ram: 4x http://amzn.to/1HIAq9t
• no SSD
• case, to be determined
• Cooler Master V650: http://amzn.to/1HIABSn
• 10,000 mb/s network card (maybe, depending if people think its required in the comments below)

Underlined items is what i have changed from original specs

 

I have looked into FreeNAS but I am not sure if it can do everything that i want it to do. This is why I am enquiring on the forums.

I have watched Windels video on Free NAS (https://teksyndicate.com/videos/freenas-9-software-tutorial-overview-one)

Here are some of the things it must do.

• must store data over a long time (5-10 years) without the data degrading. (bitrot prevention/correction)
• must allow both storage of data and back up of both Mac and Windows computers
• must allow individual datasets to be encrypted and password protected to only allow authorised personnel to access the data.
• video streaming would be nice (plex media server?)

I hope you can help me with this project.

 

feel free to recommend other hardware or software

[wpirobotbuilder]

I don't believe those drives have Time-Limited Error Recovery, which makes them a poor choice for RAID operation. You should purchase a drive that specifically is rated for NAS operation, like the WD Red or Seagate NAS series (I don't know if Hitachi has an equivalent). You can get those in 4TB capacities as well.

 

I would recommend that you get an SSD for your boot drive -- the main reason being that you can accidentally unplug a USB stick, but another reason being that USB stick installations need to be replaced every couple of years because writes aren't spread evenly across the NAND. The cheapest SSD will do just fine for this purpose.

 

The motherboard and memory are good choices, but IMO you could do much better on eBay. You can find 8-core Xeons for $70 nowadays, and cheap ECC DDR3.

 

10 gigabit networking is not very useful in this instance, as you won't be backing up much data on a regular basis once your first full backups are done. You'll also need a compatible switch, either with a 10G uplink or native 10G ports. If you were to go this route, I would get an X520 (cheap on eBay, good Intel server NIC) and a switch like this -- your individual machines can back up using onboard gigabit, and they'll be aggregated through the 10G link.

 

Here's the build that I would recommend.

1x 2670 -- $70. Can get two if you want a beastly machine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157352 -- $300. It's got 12 SATA ports and lots of PCIe expansion, if you need it.

8x Kingston 8GB ECC -- $400. You can get better deals on eBay. This memory is on the QVL for the above motherboard.

2x Hyper 212 Evo -- $60. You won't need powerful cooling for these chips.

You also need a power supply that has two 8-pin or 8/4 pin connectors, most server boards won't boot up without that.

 

 

[Vestos]

Thanks for replying wpirobotbuilder.

I will be looking into de new parts. 

Probably going to change the Hdd to some WD reds.

Thank you for advising a internal SSD rather then a external memory stick.

 

I will update this post with the development of the NAS in the future.