FreeNAS Hardware Question

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FreeM

This system is going to be used to store video files. We will not have editors edit from this NAS. We might have 4 users that just drop and grab files from it at random times.

I've been doing some research for a while now for a FreeNAS build and haven't been able to come up with anything else on my own. I'm hoping to get some feedback on this. Please feel free to let me know what you would change and why.

Here are a couple of questions.

1. FreeNAS seems to like memory and this motherboard only supports 32GB. They recommend about 1GB per 1TB. I've looked at dual CPU motherboards that allow more memory but the processors are older and people tell me to go with newer faster processors. What's your take on this? I'm willing to spend $1000 on a good combo of MB/CPU. Would this affect any rebuild time or performance?

2. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the thumb drive for booting. Should I Raid1 FreeNAS with 2 SSD's? I know FreeNAS/ZFS can operate on anything but I just want a solid system.

Supermicro - 36 Server Chassis - $1650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152540

Processor - $340
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115081

Motherboard - $199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

Memory 32GB Total - $ 268
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D38GE1600S

Raid Card x 3 - $775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118112

Breakout Cable x 3 - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116097

SSD - OS Mirror
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

Hard Drives x 24 - $5,040
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822236344

NIC - $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106015

CPU Cooler - $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Thanks again
 
The FreeNAS forums have threads on suggested hardware. The people there would also be more familiar with what works well on FreeNAS.

That said, my only complaint about that cooler is the sleeve bearing fan. Cooler Master sells a ball bearing fan separately, and a combination, but Newegg doesn't have them.
 
Thanks wblock@.

I've been looking at the FreeNAS forum as well, but they don't have as many users as this forum. I've seen a lot of smaller setups and nothing around the 72TB NAS that I want to build.
 
If you want it all in one box, get the 45 drive version of the SuperMicro 836 chassis, the A version (multilane sata backplane).

Pick up 6 LSI 9211-8i SATA controllers; these give you 8 SATA channels using only 2 cables. Or, the 16 port version (don't recall the model number off-hand).

SuperMicro has a dual-CPU Intel Xeon motherboard with 7 PCIe x8 slots on it, that support 6-core CPUs and up to 192 GB of DDR3 RAM (X8DTH-something, I think).

Using 6x 6-drive raidz2 vdevs of 2 TB drives gives you 48 TB of usable storage space. That leaves room for a cold-spare drive, and a pair of SSDs for the OS/cache.

You can also do 5x 8-drive raidz2 vdevs of 2 TB drives for 60 TB of usable storage, but that leaves 5 bays open.
 
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