Building a NAS using freeNAS for work

Hardware Hub
1

Hi All

Long story short, we have been using Synolgoy NAS's at work for years. We do not deal with a lot of data volume from my perspective. So not really more than 4TB or so. We do however have 100s of small live data files coming in at 5min intervals that get processed and sent to a website where clients can log in and view their live data. I can honestly say I hate Synology. I do not know if it is the way we use the NAS or just bad luck, but they are buggy, lock up, corrupt and fail during DSM updates, and the list goes on... I am largely responsible for the IT at work, not cause I am capable by most standards but rather that I am the most capable. Back ups have been an absolute nightmare possibly, because the files get updated so frequently with the live data. I am not sure.

Anyhow...
I have suggested a new NAS solution based on freeNAS and buying our own hardware. My boss gave me the OK so here I am asking for help.
NAS requirments:
1. Stable as a rock.
2. Easy to back up to another server or external source, even under heavy use. (Lots of small file updates frequently)
3. Possibly going forward, we will move our file sharing and terminal server in house. And will require 10TB of heavily used space for the typical company file system.

I am very new to freeNAS and its hardware requirements. I would rather go overkill rather then trying to save a few bucks early on.
I was thinking:
* Mobo - MSI C236M Workstation LGA1151 mATX Motherboard
* CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1220v5 3GHz 8MB Retail Box
* RAM - Kingston 8GB DDR4 ValueRAM ECC C15 2133MHz
* Case - Typical industrial PC case
* Storage - 6 x Samsung 850 EVO Series 2.5" 7mm 500GB SSD
* Network - Whatever is on the mobo

Also, what raid and external backup is best for our type of usage?

Please feel free to ask any question regarding more info or clarification. Any and all help will be appreciated.

2

i would suggest using more ram and going for muskin reactors. the 1T ones. also be sure to stress test the drives. the muskins are faster then the 850 evo and better price per GB. wendel did a pretty good review.

3

I think you will need more than 6 SSDs...Six @ 500GB will give you about 3 TB with NO redundancy and I believe you said you guys need about 4 TB.

Also, you probably want to use at least raidz2 - especially when dealing with customer data.

P.S. Personally, I wouldn't use SSDs for this build unless the speed/performance is a must - in which case I would go with enterprise grade SSDs.