Hi all,
Picked up this parts list CHEAP ($1200AUD) which was around the same price as a 8 bay NAS
ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS | 2x E5-2667 E5 CPUs | 32GB ECC DDR3 | CM V1200w Plat PSU | 2x AIO’s
still need a case, thinking Fractal Arc XL or Define XL R2
and HDDs will either grab a bunch of WD Reds or HGST’s (maybe 6x 4tb)
have 0 knowledge with this kind of stuff but it’s something I have always been interested in so here goes nothing 
Prob looking to do some Virtualization, Web Hosting and Email Hosting among other things like file sharing under a VPN for our business stuff…
couple of questions:
Is it worth raiding SSD’s for cache ?
Should I get a dedicated Raid controller with this board ?
Yea was thinking Raid SSD wasn't worth it but thought I'd ask,,, Whats a good size for Cache ?? is there a calculation ie: x per 1tb of storage ?
also is it only freenas that is RAM hungry or is it the ZFS file system that is... would it be worth getting another 32gb or will 32 be enough for now ?
What raid controllers would you recommend ? they seem to range from $200aud to $2000aud lol
The general rule with FreeNAS is 1GB of RAM per 1TB of addressable (NON parity) storage space. So with 6x4 TB with dual disk redundancy that gives 16TB of total storage or 16GB of RAM.
I think that machine's a little overkill for freenas, really. If you got another cheapy mobo you would have 1 kick ass freenas server and another kickass Linux hosting or VM server.
For freenas, do not buy a RAID controller. It likes direct accesss to the disks so it can do full filesystem level error correction. If you need more sata ports, get a HBA card as long as it's fairly reliable.
If this was me, I would linux that machine up and run a blender rendering server and some janky VMs for fun. WHOOOO!! But the great thing is, you can do anything you want with it.
Cheers,,, 100% it's overkill I was looking at system spe's for a freenas 1/10th this lol or even just an 6-8bay pre built nas
but it too cheap to refuse in Aus the Qnap TS-853 with 2gb of ram and no drives cost's $1189 so it was a no brainer
really keen on doing some VM stuff want to move to Linux as my daily very soon but still need Windows (for the moment)
until I can port all my business systems across and I'm comfortable.
so cool so many possibilities of which I know very little about but a day spent not learning is a day not worth waking up for :)
I might still build a cheap freenas pc purely for hosting files I have some bit's and bobs lying around I might look at that
another question about network cards if I'm looking to have multiple clients login to the system at anyone time would it be worth getting extra network cards and linking ? I understand the limitations will be on the internet speeds which atm are ok not great (60/20mbps) but I will be getting 100/100mbps within 3-6mnths (i know Australia has terrible internet) will it help making what we do have available smoother linking at the server end ?
Also do I need to use a utm vpn firewall box ? like a NETGEAR FVS336GV3 or similar ?
and I assume if I do I still prob want a decedent managed switch as well ?
Found some bit's lying around to build a frees nas box as suggested LGA1156 core i5 750, Asus P7P55D-E LX, 8gb Ram and a decent 650w PSU
Just need some HDDs now and a new case
as per previous post on doing some research I think I might like to run a Hardware VPN firewall box from the router to a gigabyte switch and out to a secured wireless access point for phones and tablets + kids wii u
any suggestions on what brands are good been looking mostly at the Netgear stuff
as suggested prob set the other hardware up as a linux server or as a workstation pc not sure yet
So ended up finding on a couple of dims were fecked so I grabbed 2 8gb Kingston chips,,, got freenas installed and a backup regime in place so happy days :)
rest of the server gear arrives tomorrow so I can start building that
1 Like