I’m planning a build for a new home server to replace an aging (and somewhat unstable, curse Zen 1 memory issues) Threadripper home server running Windows Server 2016 Datacenter for Hyper-V virtualization and moving most of my workloads to Docker with only a few VMs left.
Right now I’m thinking of using a Minisforum MS-01 with an i9-13900H and 96GB of RAM as the base server, throw in a couple of 2TB M.2 NVME SSDs in RAID 1 for the system partition and a DAS for heavier storage. Right now I think I could store the Docker images on the system drive for better performance and use the DAS for the heavier VMs and data storage.
I’d love to add a U.2 drive as a cache for the DAS but these seem quite difficult to find, especially used/priced reasonably in my region of Canada. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Might have to settle for another M.2 as cache instead, I have a few extras.
As for OS I’m leaning towards TrueNAS Scale but have no real experience in that area, other than a small OpenMediaVault unit built on a CM3588 NAS kit I keep for offsite/“cloud” storage at a friend’s place. What I mean is that I can be convinced to try something else, TrueNAS just seems to be the most powerful/complete platform, if also more complex than other options. I’ve been an IT sysadmin/engineer for 30 years but more on the Windows side so the challenge doesn’t really scare me, as long as I actually get something meaningful for it. Native encryption of storage is not essential but a very desirable feature.
There is no pressing issue with my existing server so I have some time to experiment with different OSes but I’d like feedback on what would be most appropriate for my specific use case instead of running in blind.
Here are the specific areas I would like feedback on but please feel free to call me an idiot and suggest something else for any areas not specifically mentioned here:
Would a USB DAS be good/reliable enough for this kind of build or should I look into something more involved that would use the MS-01 PCIe expansion slot instead. I have three 3.5" HDD of various size I intend to start with for the slower tier of storage. Options for DAS available locally include devices made by Mediasonic and SYBA but I’m open to suggestions if there are good units with 4+ 3.5" drive capacity available at a decent cost either from Amazon Canada or Aliexpress.
Should I be looking at something other than TrueNAS for the OS? I will be running Emby and AgentDVR servers (so needs passthrough hardware-accelerated encoding/decoding in Docker/VMs, hoping QuickSync will be enough for those), mail server (with Spamassassin and ClamAV instances), Home Assistant server, LibreNMS, Web server, couple of virtual Windows desktops.
Should I spend more time looking for a U.2 drive to act as cache for the DAS or is M.2 good enough? Any suggestion where to look for those in Canada?
If you’ve read through this please know you have my most heartfelt thanks!
I hear it’s not impossible to get USB attached SATA storage reliable, but it rarely happens out of the box. A little while back Wendell had a video pointing out a USB case that he would endorse, but the market is littered with USB cases with sufficient numbers of frustrated reviews.
I personally stayed away from these for this reason (hope for other forum members to set me straight). A lot of the frustration may stem from USB not working well with default power saving settings.
Don’t know how CA access to eBay listings are, but there are plentiful used U.2 drives to be found. I consider most of these to be of superior quality to m.2, especially the consumer kind. However, they typically require higher airflow for cooling.
I’ve been looking at some form of Oculink or similar PCIe adaptor but I’m having a hard time finding one with external ports. They all seem to be designed to be used in servers that have an internal backplane.
I don’t think the options you see ship to Canada and they’re not available on amazon.ca either because I see nothing that would be useful in those search results.
Same with U.2 drives on Ebay. The only stuff that ships to Canada is either from China (so very likely counterfeit) or as expensive for a used drive as a new drive.
I use a Sabrent DS-SC5B and it has been very reliable.
Another extremely reliable option would be to use an HBA in an expansion slot and connect with an external SAS cable to the DAS instead. Both work, the SAS cable method would be faster
If youre using ZFS with that amount of ram you likely wont need a u.2 ssd for cache. A bigger one of those would be a great place to store smaller stuff that you would want quick access to like family photos or nextcloud/syncthing/alternatives, assuming you have a backup somewhere else. Also, seconding the hba to jbod approach. Something efficient and quiet like a ktn stl3 rather than the loud netapps. A USB DAS could work, but it will never be as trustworthy and bulletproof as a regular old jbod and hba. Just be sure to add a tiny fan to keep the hba happy
I ended up being able to find an LSI 9206-16E on eBay that would ship here and not break the bank. Got a couple of 4-port breaker cables for it and a couple Mediasonic HT31-304 SATA enclosures which, all in, is costing me less than one 5-bay Sabrent USB enclosure would.
I’ll probably throw in a spare 1TB SSD as cache to start and look more seriously into U.2 if I’m not happy with the performance. I expect my Docker containers and VMs will use at least half the RAM so if I can offload the ZFS buffer from RAM I hope it’ll help.
