Nas Server Setup

[vinid223]

Hello everybody,

 

I am a bit new at building anything for a server or NAS related. I am trying to build a NAS with at least 12 TB of storage after raid configuration like 4x4Tb drives with Raid5 Setup.

 

I also want to run my Plex Media Server on it so I also need some CPU power for that. I also want to run a Gitlab Server on it and I did try configuring one with Freenas but without any success except for Plex.

 

I don't really care if it is an enclosure made for NAS with the support of Plex and any Linux running system or a dedicated Gitlab plugin. I don't mind building a small computer too.

 

My total budget is 1500$(CAD) for the complete build including the drives.

 

If any of you have suggestion or any question please feel free to participate. 

 

 

P.S. I am familiar with Linux in general and I am a developer. I do know how to build PC I just don't know any server grade components. I'm pointing that out to skip the steps of explaining basic things.

 

Thank you

vinid223

[NTDaws]

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($136.94 @ shopRBC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AX370-Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($159.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Corsair - 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($169.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1378.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 12:40 EST-0500

[Windows7ge]

6 minutes ago, vinid223 said:

I did try configuring one with Freenas but without any success

Is getlab server an application or its own OS? Unless it needs very special services you should be able to install it in a Bhyve VM (on FreeNAS) and even port forward if necessary. If it's linux based I have had issues installing Ubuntu on Bhyve. It has something to do with the boot loader. It just doesn't install.

 

If you can get both your Getlab server and Plex Media server I'd very much recommend using FreeNAS to handle the storage RAID. If you can afford 4+ multi-terabyte disks Id recommend doing RAID6 especially if these software development projects are important and if you don't plan on having a complete second copy elsewhere (It'd just be an extra layer of protection from one form of failure).

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($136.94 @ shopRBC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AX370-Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($159.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Corsair - 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($169.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1378.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 12:40 EST-0500

They want to build a server, not a desktop. Very few of these components are appropriate for the application especially if they do go though with using FreeNAS.

[NTDaws]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

They want to build a server, not a desktop. Very few of these components are appropriate for the application especially if they do go though with using FreeNAS.

who says ryzen cant be used for a NAS

[vinid223]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Is getlab server an application or its own OS? Unless it needs very special services you should be able to install it in a Bhyve VM (on FreeNAS) and even port forward if necessary. If it's linux based I have had issues installing Ubuntu on Bhyve. It has something to do with the boot loader. It just doesn't install.

 

If you can get both your Getlab server and Plex Media server I'd very much recommend using FreeNAS to handle the storage RAID. If you can afford 4+ multi-terabyte disks Id recommend doing RAID6 especially if these software development projects are important and if you don't plan on having a complete second copy elsewhere (It'd just be an extra layer of protection from one form of failure).

Gitlab is a software that can run on multiple OS like Windows, Linux and other. It's a server running with a Postgresql database. The problem I get in FreeNAS is that the packages are not in the right version and the Freenas 11.1 is broken since there is no jail for FreeNAS 11.1 but only for 11 that causes some compilation issues. 

 

But I did found others solution that Gitlab to have a Git server but the features like milestones and board is missing.

[vinid223]

14 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3H6PxG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($136.94 @ shopRBC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AX370-Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($159.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($127.25 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Corsair - 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($169.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1378.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 12:40 EST-0500

Thanks for the information, but I do think that there are some things not suitable for a NAS server. Let me explain.

 

I don't need a graphics card since everything will run in a console using the CPU graphics. In that case the CPU might not do the job. But in your defence I didn't specify that.

I also do not need Windows since I'll use a FreeNAS OS instead or any Linux distribution. 

For the case it is a great suggestion, I would prefer something a bit smaller.

For the motherboard, I really don't need something that great. The only thing I think I'll need is a raid controller, but I am not sure about that.

Otherwise, for the rest it looks good.

 

I'll play with those parts and  see if I can do something with it.

 

Thanks

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

who says ryzen cant be used for a NAS

Nobody. I'm just stating that there's more application appropriate hardware for the desired task. Such as that RYZEN CPUs and their motherboards do not support ECC memory. This is a very desired feature among server operating systems particularly for file servers and FreeNAS as the RAID relies on the accuracy of the files in RAM to determine weather the data on disk is correct. Data corrupted in memory (not super common but it happens) that isn't corrected by ECC will overwrite data on disk corrupting files in the RAID.

[NTDaws]

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Nobody. I'm just stating that there's more application appropriate hardware for the desired task. Such as that RYZEN CPUs and their motherboards do not support ECC memory. This is a very desired feature among server operating systems particularly for file servers and FreeNAS as the RAID relies on the accuracy of the files in RAM to determine weather the data on disk is correct. Data corrupted in memory (not super common but it happens) that isn't corrected by ECC will overwrite data on disk corrupting files in the RAID.

*sigh* I think of a better plan. I think its the fact that I like to use odd hardware for all of my computers.

[Windows7ge]

10 minutes ago, vinid223 said:

Gitlab is a software that can run on multiple OS like Windows, Linux and other. It's a server running with a Postgresql database. The problem I get in FreeNAS is that the packages are not in the right version and the Freenas 11.1 is broken since there is no jail for FreeNAS 11.1 but only for 11 that causes some compilation issues. 

 

But I did found others solution that Gitlab to have a Git server but the features like milestones and board is missing.

I see. That makes things easier.

 

Instead of using a jail try using the included VM software Byhve. You will need to install the VirtIO driver in the VM for the NIC as the e1000 diver is temperamental and has caused VM crashes for me. As a random comparison unlike Oracle VM Virtualbox which by default puts the VM's on a completely different network. Bhyve passes through the local network to the VM allowing easy use of services such as port forwarding and other services.

[vinid223]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

I see. That makes things easier.

 

Instead of using a jail try using the included VM software Byhve. You will need to install the VirtIO driver in the VM for the NIC as the e1000 diver is temperamental and has caused VM crashes for me. As a random comparison unlike Oracle VM Virtualbox which by default puts the VM's on a completely different network. Bhyve passes through the local network to the VM allowing easy use of services such as port forwarding and other services.

 

I see. I will try using a VM and see if I can make it work.

 

Thanks

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

*sigh* I think of a better plan. I think its the fact that I like to use odd hardware for all of my computers.

That's fine for desktops or if you're just experimenting but for serious operations you want to use at least moderately appropriate equipment.

[NTDaws]

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Xeon E5-2630 2.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($159.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - GeminII M4 58.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($39.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: Supermicro - X9SRA ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($387.39 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) Registered DDR3-1600 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB EVO ATX Desktop Case  ($116.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1589.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 13:12 EST-0500

[Windows7ge]

17 minutes ago, vinid223 said:

 

I see. I will try using a VM and see if I can make it work.

 

Thanks

You will also need to understand though (I have no experience using Jails) that the Bhyve software requires you to dedicate resources to the VM. So if you're using a 4 core 4 thread CPU you can only offer up 2 cores and up to 50% of your RAM. Personally I'd pick up a used Intel Xeon E5 2670 it is a 8 core 16 thread LGA2011 CPU and when I bought one it was ~200USD. This would drastically increase how much of a load the VM can handle. There is a bug though that may have been corrected already in your version of FreeNAS where you cannot allocate more than 2 virtual processors to a Windows VM. If you have that issue I have the fix.

[Windows7ge]

16 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Xeon E5-2630 2.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($159.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - GeminII M4 58.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($39.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: Supermicro - X9SRA ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($387.39 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) Registered DDR3-1600 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB EVO ATX Desktop Case  ($116.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1589.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 13:12 EST-0500

Improvement but you have to make sure the motherboard supports registered memory. There's registered and unbuffered. Although supermicro is the standard for a lot of professional servers I think OP can go with something that's cheaper but still better than desktop components, like ASRock Rack for example. They offer "server" equipment although some people don't consider it to be the highest standard. It comes with less of a premium than supermicro but can still be very reliable.

 

Also OP's budget is in Canadian dollar not USD. You're over budget.

[Windows7ge]

24 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You will also need to understand though (I have no experience using Jails) that the Bhyve software requires you to dedicate resources to the VM. So if you're using a 4 core 4 thread CPU you can only offer up 2 cores and up to 50% of your RAM. Personally I'd pick up a used Intel Xeon E5 2670 it is a 8 core 16 thread LGA2011 CPU and when I bought one it was ~200USD. This would drastically increase how much of a load the VM can handle. There is a bug though that may have been corrected already in your version of FreeNAS where you cannot allocate more than 2 virtual processors to a Windows VM. If you have that issue I have the fix.

Looks like I might have to eat my words. The Canadian dollar is noticeably less flexible. I don't think you'll be able to afford a LGA2011 CPU. Let's see if we can get you a 4 core 8 thread xeon at least.

[vinid223]

51 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You will also need to understand though (I have no experience using Jails) that the Bhyve software requires you to dedicate resources to the VM. So if you're using a 4 core 4 thread CPU you can only offer up 2 cores and up to 50% of your RAM. Personally I'd pick up a used Intel Xeon E5 2670 it is a 8 core 16 thread LGA2011 CPU and when I bought one it was ~200USD. This would drastically increase how much of a load the VM can handle. There is a bug though that may have been corrected already in your version of FreeNAS where you cannot allocate more than 2 virtual processors to a Windows VM. If you have that issue I have the fix.

Yeah, there is some management too in FreeNAS to manage VM so I will check it out

 

54 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/8MfRsZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Xeon E5-2630 2.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($159.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - GeminII M4 58.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($39.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: Supermicro - X9SRA ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($387.39 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) Registered DDR3-1600 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Memory Express) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($154.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB EVO ATX Desktop Case  ($116.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1589.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-12 13:12 EST-0500

Thank you for that updated list. I will check it out thanks.

[Windows7ge]

Yep, @Being Delirious is actually doing a better job at finding things remotely close to 1500CAD than I'm able to. You might be better off following what he found including the E5 2630, Supermicro board, 8GB RDIMM and other components. If you want more power down the road you can slowly upgrade what he's listed. I'd probably start with more RAM when it becomes affordable for you. It's gonna be squeezed pretty thin between the OS and 1 or 2 VM's.

[vinid223]

On 2/12/2018 at 1:16 PM, Windows7ge said:

You will also need to understand though (I have no experience using Jails) that the Bhyve software requires you to dedicate resources to the VM. So if you're using a 4 core 4 thread CPU you can only offer up 2 cores and up to 50% of your RAM. Personally I'd pick up a used Intel Xeon E5 2670 it is a 8 core 16 thread LGA2011 CPU and when I bought one it was ~200USD. This would drastically increase how much of a load the VM can handle. There is a bug though that may have been corrected already in your version of FreeNAS where you cannot allocate more than 2 virtual processors to a Windows VM. If you have that issue I have the fix.

I've tried to create a VM and it worked. I have a ubuntu server running gitlab without any issues so I am happy that FreeNAS can do all the things I want. 

 

Now I just need to find the perfect hardware and and build this thing

 

Thanks for the tips and help

[brob]

Don't use RAID 5. While rebuilding an array an error will cause the loss of the array. The time to rebuild arrays involving large hdd (>2TB) is measured in days. If FreeNAS will be used, take a look at the ZFS file system options. Otherwise use RAID 10.

 

FreeNAS can boot off of a USB drive.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Xeon E3-1220 V6 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-X150-PLUS WS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston - ValueRAM 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Kingston - ValueRAM 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Blackout ATX Mid Tower Case  ($141.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.40 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1704.86
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-13 18:48 EST-0500

[Salacious B Crum]

Have you considered buying a retired server, they come pretty cheap well below your budget usually have ecc ram 10gbe nic's redundant psu's dual cpu sockets just invest in fresh HDD's and the OS of your choosing and your good to go

[vinid223]

2 hours ago, brob said:

Don't use RAID 5. While rebuilding an array an error will cause the loss of the array. The time to rebuild arrays involving large hdd (>2TB) is measured in days. If FreeNAS will be used, take a look at the ZFS file system options. Otherwise use RAID 10.

 

FreeNAS can boot off of a USB drive.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Xeon E3-1220 V6 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-X150-PLUS WS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston - ValueRAM 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Kingston - ValueRAM 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Storage: Hitachi - Deskstar NAS 8TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($247.88 @ Other World Computing) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Blackout ATX Mid Tower Case  ($141.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.40 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1704.86
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-13 18:48 EST-0500

Hello @brob,

 

Thanks for the information there. Does ZFS do the same thing as RAID 5 where when drive die I don't loose my data? I count to use the FreeNAS OS for my NAS. 

 

 

1 hour ago, mrbilky said:

Have you considered buying a retired server, they come pretty cheap well below your budget usually have ecc ram 10gbe nic's redundant psu's dual cpu sockets just invest in fresh HDD's and the OS of your choosing and your good to go

@mrbilky I've though of that possibility, it is just that I don't really know what is good or not since it might be really old server. I also don't really know where to buy them since I don't want to use eBay with my previous experiences

If you have any suggestion of good websites that do ships to Canada it would be nice. I will do some research on my own too.

 

Vinid223

[brob]

21 minutes ago, vinid223 said:

Hello @brob,

 

Thanks for the information there. Does ZFS do the same thing as RAID 5 where when drive die I don't loose my data? I count to use the FreeNAS OS for my NAS. 

 

 

...

ZFS has a number of fault tolerant options including analogs for RAID 1, 5, 6 and 10.

[Salacious B Crum]

 I am not affiliated but have unRAID as my OS but if you read/ask/join a network/server forum and ask around you will get a better picture of how these retired servers are working, everything I've read has been more on the positive side than not and they seem to hold up and again are on the cheap they come again in various configurations of included hardware so It's almost like A la carte 

[DragonTamer1]

3 hours ago, vinid223 said:

Hello @brob,

 

Thanks for the information there. Does ZFS do the same thing as RAID 5 where when drive die I don't loose my data? I count to use the FreeNAS OS for my NAS. 

 

 

@mrbilky I've though of that possibility, it is just that I don't really know what is good or not since it might be really old server. I also don't really know where to buy them since I don't want to use eBay with my previous experiences

If you have any suggestion of good websites that do ships to Canada it would be nice. I will do some research on my own too.

 

Vinid223

You could build your own server if you can find a motherboard for a decent price. I'm not sure how Plex runs on FreeNas, but on my server I have a six core Sandybridge Xeon clocked at 2GHz (2.6 with some tricky turbo overclocking witchcraft) and it runs Plex like a dream. You typically need more CPU power for Plex if you have on the fly trans-coding (for lowering video quality to outside internet for speed and bandwidth reasons like me) and if you have a lot, and I mean a LOT of people using Plex at the same time.

 

If you don't want to dabble with ebay you can possibly try Aliexpress, though I've never bought from them.