Advice on multimedia server hardware / Software

X

xAlex79

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
179
Hello,

I was looking at buying a 12+ slot NAS recently but I realized that for a similar amount of money I can build a MUCH more powerful server. I am not an expert in this field so any feedback/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my HW list so far

Case NORCO RPC-4220 4U
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219033
HUB card LSI 9201 - 16i
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118142
Network Card Startech ST1000SPEX4 (Planning to team the 4 links to my switch)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833114037
CPU Xenon E3-1230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117286
MotherBoard Supermicro X9SCA-iiF
http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-DDR...ords=X9SCM-IIF
Ram 32GB Kingston RSR 1600 1.5v
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239235
PSU Seasonic 660W 80 Plat
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151121
HHDs 16 x 3TB WD Reds
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236344

I was planning to run FreeNAS to share on the local network along with a home security camera software and a few game servers for now.

I am actually quite a noob when it comes to the software side of this, so if you guys have recommendations for what OS and software would be best to use please let me know.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Ditch that NIC and buy a good two port Intel one. You can pick up Dell branded ones off eBay for about $30. Should be able to team them with the on-board NICs. Just keep in mind that you won't be able to get the throughput of more than a single NIC between any two devices using CIFS, so teaming might be a useless.
 
FreeNAS is great unless you need things like fibre links. It is stable, user friendly, and feature rich. I use it and am very happy with it. The Xeon 1230 may be a bit overkill, but if you have the cash then its a good choice. I use a G2020 with the Supermicro MBD-X9SCL-O board and 16GB of ECC ram and it works great. 32GB of RAM is a good choice for the capacity you are running - the guide line for ZFS is 6GB base and 1GB per TB of storage; for more info on this check out the FreeNAS forum. For a HBA pick up a pair of M1015 cards and flash them to IT firmware (make sure you do this!) - the M1015 cards are well supported with FreeNAS and are a community favorite (I use one in my build). As Blue Fox said, stick with Intel NICs - don't use anything else. You can pick up used server grade quad port nics on eBay for cheap.

Make sure you read up on sharing protocols. LACP doesn't work the way most people think, but if you are planning on using MPIO iSCSI for an ESXi datastore or the like than the quad port NIC is a good idea. Otherwise you can probably get away with the motherboards built in NICs, but you haven't really provided enough information for us to say one way or another.
 
Well the CPU Xenon E3-1230 is the best bang for your buck here if you want to use ECC RAM IMO. I am actually looking at using that same basic build for a NAS box along side my ESXi server. I am in a debate on whether or not to embed my NAS on ESXi though.

I like Nas4Free and FreeNAS. They are an all in one user friendly solution right out of the box.
 
The G2020 supports ECC ram. I am using it in my setup with ECC ram currently and it works well. You can virtualize FreeNAS on ESXi, people have done it with success in a home setup but it comes with its own set of considerations. I would not run it as a VM and put important data on it, but it would be fine for testing / lab purposes.
 
intel dual port gig nic for around 40$
amazon nc360t with half or full height bracket.

and there is a seller on ebay selling perc H310 cards for 90$ each free shipping. and multiples available. i just bought 2. they are pasthrough capable, have an IT firmware available, and based on the lsi 2008 chip.

check out proxmox for your OS. like esxi but with webgui built in. it is a KVM build and uses standards.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Blue Fox said:
Ditch that NIC and buy a good two port Intel one. You can pick up Dell branded ones off eBay for about $30. Should be able to team them with the on-board NICs. Just keep in mind that you won't be able to get the throughput of more than a single NIC between any two devices using CIFS, so teaming might be a useless.
Click to expand...

Can I team an external nic to an onboard one? I did not think I could. If i can that will save me a bundle.

Anyone have experience using link aggregation and could shed some light on this?
 
Yes, you can team on board nics with add on nics as long as they all support it. You need to provide a little more information before we can give you a decent response. What protocol are you going to be using? CIFS, iSCSI, NFS?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top