Hey All,
Following on from some v useful info in a networking thread, I think I’m ready to jump right in and seek advice on a file server build.
Original thread discussing direct connection of 4 workstations to a nas
I’m a partner (and default tech) in a sound/music small boutique studios.
We’be been running our sessions off of a Synology NAS (5x3.5" spinners) over GbE until now, and experience both the drive limitations (speed of the raid) and network saturation (4x1GbE connections - one connection direct to each workstation.)
As mentioned on the other thread, there is no chance of expansion for the studios - we are full. We don’t have room for other studios.
The four workstations are actually 3 x beefy macs for the actual audio sessions, and a 4th which is used mainly for admin / very light weight work, but we kind of need to try turn it into a full time audio edit workstation soon enough.
What I’ve decided on - but am still happy to have my mind changed.
10GbE networking all round. Some of the computers are already good to go, two will need TB to 10GbE adaptors. All fine there. We use a separate network for internet. Why? I’m not sure why I set it up that way originally - it just was easy given the hardware we had here. No switches needed. The NAS has 4 GbE ports as does our modem/router. All computers have at least 2nics. One has 3 but thats its own story.
SSD’s all round. 6x4TB SSD’s seem to fit the bill, and that number can increase if we use too much space. A quick audit of the last 5 years work shows we are using 1-2TB per year (I know, its not a tonne) - except for this year where one project took 4TB on its own. We plan on keeping 3 - 4 years of projects “hot” on the server, and the rest can be archived away. We will use our old NAS as a nightly backup of the new file server. Straight 1:1 backup I think.
Case - as quiet as humanly possible. We’re audio studios, and unfortunately, we have no easy space to put the server outside of where our ethernet cabling goes to now. Our current NAS is DEAD quiet aside from the drives - and they are too loud. We’ve put it in a quiet rack enclosure, but the airflow is awful, and I don’t love the temps.
My plan is to put the backup NAS elsewhere - even offsite, or in a garage where I might be able to mount a rack. But I don’t want to put our main file server down there. I’d rather not re-wire (we have cat 6E already, and its damn hard to re-wire through double walls with very specific S-Bend tunnels for wiring - which are the only breaks in the sound-proof studios.
So given I’m going SSD’s for the drives, I did consider a completely silent build. Some sort of very open case, running ATOM CPU, fanless PS. No GPU needed. Supermicro Mini ITX board. After considering the 8C builds (which don’t require airflow really) I saw the 16C version and thought it might well be better suited for serving (a) lots of small files all the time (though I really have no idea the CPU requirements… I know the synology nas I have right now has a pitiful CPU, but its only 4xGbE, not 4x10GbE which I’m planning, and a much slower raid.
So this board looks good… SuperMicro A2SDi-H-TP4
And I don’t even need to add any more ethernet - there’s 2 x 10GbE ethernet and 2x10GbE SFP. If ever I needed to expand, I could add a pcie card easy enough.
Another board which looked interesting (lower TDP - 25W I think) - but CPU is prob still fine… actively cooled…
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F
I thought I might rip the stock cooler off and put it in a DB4 case (!)
https://streacom.com/products/db4-fanless-chassis/
Mounting to the heatpipes might be tricky but not impossible (but it would void the warranty, which I’m not a huge fan of!)
Finally - considering as well something like this :
OR - alternative reality…
For what I’m doing, would something like an AMD 3600X or even 5600X on a 570 board make more sense… adding extra networking either as a switch or pcie board (or both). Could still use ECC ram.
I’m leaning towards the DB2 V2 mini ITX case. Plenty of room for a fanless SFX power supply. And I’m pretty sure putting one or two 180mm fans in here running at 800rpm or less might well still have the whole thing running silent below the ambient room noise (which is low - I think its around 21dB in the room its going in. Our studios are even lower!).
Since I want to ditch the old “silent rack” the computer will actually be a little “on show” - probably sitting on top of a side-board. May as well make it a pretty statement. And something like the DB2 V2 fits the bill nicely. I’ll consider other options if needed.
On ram - what do folks think is necessary? Like CPU, its a bit of an unknown for me. I’m thinking 32GB - but its a stab in the dark. Our workstations all have 64 or even 128, but that means nothing here.
OS - FreeNas? I’m leaning towards ZFS for the raid and I’ve had friends who talk up free nas. I’m happy to be swayed. I dabble with linux for other things and know just enough to get myself into a pickle quite regularly. Fun right?
So - really interested in thoughts. As a few things solidify over the next days I’ll put a PCPartsPicker list together.
Would I be crazy to going back and thinking about going completely fanless? Is the Intel Atom 16C a strong enough CPU? Is 32GB ram plenty? Am I setting myself up for a world of awesomely nerdy pain?
thanks all.
Brendan.
