I am looking for some advice/hardware suggestions for a VM/file server.
Currently I am running 16x Seagate ST4000VN000 in raid 6 + hot spare in a Qnap TS-1679-rp, 16gb ram and running 1 Windows 7 VM and a server 2012 r2 with PRTG. I also have an old i7 980x with 24gb of ram and random old drives running Unraid with 2 windows server 2012 r2 VMs, one is my plex media server and the other is a bunch of random applications. This is all for home use.
I am looking to get some more horse power for running VMs and move a little more open storage solution as I am not overly thrilled with the cost for QNAP hardware. The primary use for the storage is computer backups, and media for plex.
The key features I am looking for in all of this are:
Easy drive expansion similar how the QNAP functions where I can start replacing drives with higher capacity drives till all have been replaced at which point I would gain access to the higher capacity.
Similar level of drive/data protection as to what I have with the QNAP.
Reasonably priced
None proprietary parts so I can get another drive enclosure a few years later without needing very specific hardware
something that doesn’t require me to be an expert in Linux
lots of processing power for a future project I am thinking about
I have been considering going with an AMD threadripper 1950x and grabbing 32gb of ram out of my desktop till I can buy some ECC ram. I have also considered going down the ZFS path hence the ECC ram. I am not sure if ZFS can be used on Unraid or if it is stuck in its own file system. For drive enclosures I have looked at the RocketStor 6424ts as it is a 16 bay and has an HBA.
Any advice and suggestion are greatly appreciated.
ZFS is not as easy to just upgrade the drives to higher capacity and be done with it. Read up on some the zfs docs and see what I am talking about. So you may not want to go that route from that standpoint.
I built my File Server using Open Media Vault. It had better options in my opinion to FreeNAS. https://www.openmediavault.org/ I originally built my disk array into the VMWare Server, using ESXi, running off a USB stick. Currently changing that about with the above build and connecting it to the File Server and hosted VM’s. So far the performance has been decent, running over a Cisco 2690G switch. The setup was more difficult to build OMV, than FreeNAS, but you don’t have to deal with ZFS, so there are positives and negatives.
Easy drive expansion. Just like you said. Replace the drives. When they’re all replaced, you’ve got a larger pool.
Superior data protection than what you’ll find in QNAP, unless QNAP is using ZFS, in which case, it’s equal.
FreeNAS. Control your own costs, to a certain extent. 16 drive bays is rough to come by, but enclosures help.
Build your own adventure!
FreeNAS. The GUI limits you to a certain extent, but it’s safe to assume that if the GUI doesn’t let you do it, you need deeper knowledge before doing it.
Put whatever CPU you like in there.
There are a lot of misconceptions about ZFS out there.
You need ECC memory
You don’t really need ECC memory. It’s nice. But if you test your memory before using it, and don’t do crazy shit like overclocking it, then good memory will remain good memory for a long time.
You need a lot of memory for ZFS. At least 1GB per TB of storage.
A couple of things to unpack here. It’s 1GB per TB of data, not storage. And the reason you “need” this is for the cache. If you don’t mind having a smaller cache (and ZFS’s cache is insanely smart), and hitting disk more often, you can get away with less memory. 8GB is a good general minimum, but I’ve run FreeNAS on 6GB.
ZFS is indeed its own file system. I’ve not used Unraid, but I’d be hard pressed to consider moving to it now that I know glory that is our lord and savior, ZFS.
Nothing beats Unraid for easy drive expansion, and while it is less redundant and reliable than ZFS he’s storing archived computer backups and Plex stuff on that NAS, not irreplaceable pics of his kids growing up. He says he isn’t a Linux expert and ZFS has a bit of a learning curve. Also he already paid for Unraid.
That said, with such a huge sunk investment in that enormous QNAP NAS and drives, all working fine, I don’t really see why you’d want to replace it. If you’re talking about building another NAS, and highly value easy expansion, Unraid is the way to go.
I haven’t completely decided if I going to keep the QNAP as my primary or if I am going to just buy several more drives for a new NAS and use the QNAP as a backup for the primary NAS. At 20tb of media I kind of don’t want to lose it all lol.
From what I have been seeing so far I should probably go down the road of ZFS at some point but could probably get away with my Unraid configuration for now.
Everything I have seen relating to going down the ZFS road says to stay away from raid controllers and that ZFS needs direct access to the drives. Does that mean that you should never use any HBA that has raid or is it don’t use the raid features? I ask this because I might start trying to gather equipment slowly to build a proper ZFS solution. Mostly focusing on the HBA and drive enclosures first as I could use those with the unraid solution till I am ready to move over.
HBAs are good. Proper hardware RAID controllers that can be put into IT mode (turns them into an HBA) are good. Ironically, the cheap ass RAID controllers are often good choices as well. Just don’t go too cheap.
That Qnap is an impressive beast. Is price the only reason you don’t just get another one and a seperate Threadripper server? Any build it yourself system may cost less, but getting that many drives into a chassis with hot swap bays, and cabling up the controllers is not something you are likely to get 100% right the first time if you DIY it - unless you duplicate a proven build.
You might be wanting the challenge/fun of researching and DIY building, but you don’t mention that.
Price for the most part is what I don’t like about it. Way back when I got it the price for qnap equipment was reasonable. The 16bay expansion unit was something like $2000 CND which was a reasonable price to me for future expansion. Now when I look at it they are $5300 CND which is the same price I paid for the server without the drives. I also did a quick look and I can buy a new 16 bay qnap server for less than the expansion unit. I have also found that all of their stuff is proprietary.
I am not afraid to go down the DIY road to build the server but if there is a good solution out there that does exactly what I am after that doesn’t cost 2x+ of a DIY i would take that. I have looked at the 45Drives Storinator and it might be the solution. Depending on the model it has 30+ bays which is enough for what I might want to do and it is about the same price a picking up 2 enclosures. While keeping the QNAP as a backup.
One of the goals I was thinking of with doing a DIY solution was to merge my VM box with My storage solution to reduce rack space and power.