First NAS

[Khanh84]

Hey,
 I am looking to build a NAS this weekend that I will be using to store all my movies, tv shows, music etc... and I was wondering if these parts are ok for what I intend to do:
 

CASE       Fractal Design Node 304 USB3    $119
CPU         Intel i3-4130                                  $138
MOBO     Asus H87i-PLUS                            $130
RAM         8G Kit 1600 Kingston                    $89
SSD         SanDisk SSD Ultra Plus 64G          $67

HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249
HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249

HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249

PSU         Corsair 80Plus gold RM450           $135

          OS           Ubuntu Server
          Total                                                              $1425 AUD

There are a few things I am not sure about:
- Whether to use Raid 5/6 or Raid Z1/Z2 (I will get an extra HDD, if I decide to use raid 6/Z2)
- Whether to use software raid or a raid controller
- Whether to use ECC memory
 
I will also be using this NAS as my personal HTPC, while also streaming movies to my family members.
This is my first NAS build and I was hoping you guys could give me some advice with my build.

[exotioner]

I have no clue with NAS', but either way good luck with it !

[alpenwasser]

I'd say you don't need that powerful of a CPU for a NAS box, a Pentium should do fine.

I recommend having a look at this thread, also with regards to ECC and RAID etc.

If you do go with ZFS, then yes, I would highly recommend ECC memory (according to OP

from that other thread, the Pentium actually supports ECC memory). I've been using

ZFS for a while now, and it is indeed rather awesome IMO.

There is a mini-ITX intel Motherboard that actually supports ECC memory: The S1200KP.

There's also the S1200KPR, though I'm not quite sure what the difference is between

the two.

EDIT: Yes, the Pentium G3220T does support ECC memory.

[MrSuperb]

Hey,

 I am looking to build a NAS this weekend that I will be using to store all my movies, tv shows, music etc... and I was wondering if these parts are ok for what I intend to do:

 

CASE       Fractal Design Node 304 USB3    $119

CPU         Intel i3-4130                                  $138

MOBO     Asus H87i-PLUS                            $130

RAM         8G Kit 1600 Kingston                    $89

SSD         SanDisk SSD Ultra Plus 64G          $67

HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249

HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249

HDD         WD RED 4TB                                $249

PSU         Corsair 80Plus gold RM450           $135

          OS           Ubuntu Server

          Total                                                              $1425 AUD

There are a few things I am not sure about:

- Whether to use Raid 5/6 or Raid Z1/Z2 (I will get an extra HDD, if I decide to use raid 6/Z2)

- Whether to use software raid or a raid controller

- Whether to use ECC memory 

 

 

- I would also get 4 drives if you plan to use Raid 5

RAID 5:

3 drives - 8 TB (4TB or 33% parity info)

4 drives - 12 TB (4TB or 25% parity info)

5 drives - 16 TB (4TB or 20% parity info)

RAID 6:

4 drives - 8 TB (8TB or 50% parity info)

5 drives - 12 TB (8TB or 40% parity info)

6 drives - 16 TB (8TB or 33% parity info)

 

- EEC memory is useless if you don't buy a Xeon (edit: or a Pentium )

[Khanh84]

I'd say you don't need that powerful of a CPU for a NAS box, a Pentium should do fine.

I recommend having a look at this thread, also with regards to ECC and RAID etc.

If you do go with ZFS, then yes, I would highly recommend ECC memory (according to OP

from that other thread, the Pentium actually supports ECC memory). I've been using

ZFS for a while now, and it is indeed rather awesome IMO.

There is a mini-ITX intel Motherboard that actually supports ECC memory: The S1200KP.

There's also the S1200KPR, though I'm not quite sure what the difference is between

the two.

EDIT: Yes, the Pentium G3220T does support ECC memory.

 

Hey,

Thanks for the help. Would a Pentium be sufficient for the HTPC side of my NAS?

 

Since I will be running Ubuntu Server, I may most likely be using Raid 5/6. Does that mean ECC memory will not be necessary?

Are there any benefits to ZFS that I should reconsider?

 

- I would also get 4 drives if you plan to use Raid 5

RAID 5:

3 drives - 8 TB (4TB or 33% parity info)

4 drives - 12 TB (4TB or 25% parity info)

5 drives - 16 TB (4TB or 20% parity info)

RAID 6:

4 drives - 8 TB (8TB or 50% parity info)

5 drives - 12 TB (8TB or 40% parity info)

6 drives - 16 TB (8TB or 33% parity info)

 

- EEC memory is useless if you don't buy a Xeon (edit: or a Pentium )

 

Hey,

Thanks for the help. I'm having trouble understanding your examples.  :unsure:

Why do you suggest using 4 drives if I plan to use raid 5? Does this mean if I use raid 6, I should use 5 drives?

[MrSuperb]

Hey,

Thanks for the help. I'm having trouble understanding your examples.  :unsure:

Why do you suggest using 4 drives if I plan to use raid 5? Does this mean if I use raid 6, I should use 5 drives?

 

Depends on how much total storage you need of course.

 

But with three 4 TB drives in RAID 5 you have only have 8TB usable for data (66% of the total hdd capacity)

With four 4TB drives in RAID 5 you have already 12TB usable for data (75% of the total hdd capacity)

 

i.e. the more drives you have in your RAID, the more usable space relative tot the total real hdd capacity you can use.

 

If you would buy 3TB instead of the 4 TB drives:

3x 4TB = 12TB in Raid 5 -> about 8TB usable

4x 3TB = 12TB in Raid 5 -> about 9TB usable

[alpenwasser]

Hey,

Thanks for the help. Would a Pentium be sufficient for the HTPC side of my NAS?

My laptop has a Core 2 Duo running @ 1.6 GHz and can do 1080p quite

nicely. With really high-bitrate content it struggles just a tiny bit sometimes

(I'm talking about Blu-Ray rips with 7 GiB of file size for 50 minutes of content,

anything reasonable is no problem at all), so considering the Pentium is both

newer and clocked significantly higher I'd say you'll be perfectly fine.

 

Since I will be running Ubuntu Server, I may most likely be using Raid 5/6. Does that mean ECC memory will not be necessary?

If you run a RAID card I don't think you'll need ECC, but I'm not an expert on

that, so maybe google the issue before making a decision. You can however

use ZFS on Ubuntu quite easily from what I've read. I'm running it on Arch Linux

and it's really easy to set up, so I'd guess that it can't be too difficult on Ubuntu

either.

 

Are there any benefits to ZFS that I should reconsider?

 

 

It protects your data against silent corruption like nothing else I know of,

and it's very easy and comfortable to manage your storage space with it.

 

Hey,

Thanks for the help. I'm having trouble understanding your examples.  :unsure:

Why do you suggest using 4 drives if I plan to use raid 5? Does this mean if I use raid 6, I should use 5 drives?

His point is that if you have more drives, the proportion of your money you

will spend on parity will be less (assuming the amount of parity drives remains

the same), therefore getting you more GB per AUD. Of course it's a balancing

act. For example, while running 10 disks with one parity drive will get you

more storage for your money, the chances of drive failure will also increase,

so it might make more sense to have two parity drives, and so on. The trick is

to find the sweet spot between price/performance and data protection.

[MrPete1985]

I am running RAID Z with FreeNAS, it was really easy to setup, you set a static IP then log into the server from a web browser on another computer to setup your RAID and shares.  After I set the static I only need a power cable and network cable connected to the server.

[Khanh84]

My laptop has a Core 2 Duo running @ 1.6 GHz and can do 1080p quite

nicely. With really high-bitrate content it struggles just a tiny bit sometimes

(I'm talking about Blu-Ray rips with 7 GiB of file size for 50 minutes of content,

anything reasonable is no problem at all), so considering the Pentium is both

newer and clocked significantly higher I'd say you'll be perfectly fine.

 

If you run a RAID card I don't think you'll need ECC, but I'm not an expert on

that, so maybe google the issue before making a decision. You can however

use ZFS on Ubuntu quite easily from what I've read. I'm running it on Arch Linux

and it's really easy to set up, so I'd guess that it can't be too difficult on Ubuntu

either.

 

 

 

It protects your data against silent corruption like nothing else I know of,

and it's very easy and comfortable to manage your storage space with it.

 

His point is that if you have more drives, the proportion of your money you

will spend on parity will be less (assuming the amount of parity drives remains

the same), therefore getting you more GB per AUD. Of course it's a balancing

act. For example, while running 10 disks with one parity drive will get you

more storage for your money, the chances of drive failure will also increase,

so it might make more sense to have two parity drives, and so on. The trick is

to find the sweet spot between price/performance and data protection.

 

Cool. I guess I will switch the CPU with a Intel Pentium G3420. 

 

I have decided to go with Raid Z2, so I will be getting 4 x 4TB WD Red. Could you suggest a good ECC memory and a mini-ITX motherboard that supports ECC memory? The S1200KP is a LGA 1155, I need a LGA 1150 for the G3420.

 

I heard that ZFS is rather RAM intensive, so should I get 16GB of Ram instead?