HexOS / TrueNAS Build - I want speed and size

Hardware Hub Build a PC
, , ,
1

Main point of this post is to gather any feedback on my plan to move to HexOS.

I currently have my server running glorious Windows 11.
I’ve been stuck on it because its hard to change filesystem (95TB NTFS JBOD with Stablebit Drivepool) if you have no one else to backup to.

Finally saving up to buy a new set of HDDs and ‘do it right’ to last me a good long time.

So my plan is to use the existing chassis (10 HDD sleds), CPU (i7-14700), memory (64GB non-ecc).

New bits,
1x 1TB SSD (Samsung 980) for boot drive and I believe HexOS/TrueNAS will by default use this device for application data, such as Plex or Immich.
2x 1TB SSDs (Samsung 980) in a mirror for a ZFS special vdev, as far as my research goes this should greatly speed up things like Plex / Immich scans. Im also aware its fairly important not to lose this data.
10x 22TB HDDs in single vdev ZFS raidz2 for the main block storage.

Some more details.
8x HDDs via an LSI HBA Card SAS > SATA.
2x HDDs via motherboard SATA.
2x m.2 SSDs via motherboard. (One for boot, one for half of vdev mirror)
1x m.2 SSD via PCIe card. (Other half of vdev mirror).

Solid build?
Tweaks?

2

Overall your plan looks good. Though it sounds like you’re quite short on PCIe shorts - just be aware of chipset bandwidth. I’d also personally prefer to have drives on the same or similar HBAs, but no big issue mixing with motherboard ports.

Also given that you’re doing a complex config (10 x 22TB drives, special device), I’d suggest TrueNAS is a better fit than HexOS, IMO best to avoid early access builds for a long term NAS.

The only thing I’d suggest is plan your datasets to make backups with zfs sync easier, even if this is a future plan.

3

If you are short on 2280 M.2 slots or think you might use it for something else in the future, you can always go with USB->M.2 enclosure or A+E key SSD for the boot drive.

I’m not aware of TrueNAS using the boot drive for application data. Apps will typically require their own drive, unless you partition the boot drive, which isn’t officially supported.

4

I guess max 4k size to the HD so speed transfer wise is good. However media servers sip out content at such a slow rate… it networking .

Only time my server stranded. Is when a copy huge data to it. Rest of the time network is key.

5

I plan to test out a build and i think you are right re the boot drive not being a normal option for application data. so maybe ill do the boot drive as USB drive and then the freed up internal ssd as its own device (pool?vdev?) for application data.

6

You probably know this already but I’ll flag anyway, just in case.

As listed, your HDD RaidZ2 has a redundancy level of 2.
As listed, your proposed 2 drive NVME special vdev mirror has a redundancy of 1.

Cheers
Simon

7

Samsung have a history for buggy firmwares, you might want to take that into account.
Adding special vdev’s in your case will likely have very little if any impact on performance and you risk your data. As you don’t list motherboard it’s unknown but just use all SATA ports on it and pair it with a ASM1166 board unless you have a LSI HBA at hand. I’m not sure what you mean by “vdev mirror”.

8

This topic was automatically closed 273 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.