Home Test Lab / FreeNAS Build

[Anime_Fan]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Storage for the stuff listed below. Haven't decided on what is best yet for a hypervisor.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500-600ish...
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Miami, FL USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
New system - cpu, mobo, ram, drives, ps, case. Don't need a GPU as I want to use onboard video since this is just a server.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Not reusing any parts except an LCD monitor
6) Will you be overclocking?
nope
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" LCD - 1920 x 1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
The next few weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
RAID and and eSATA would be nice to have.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
FreeNAS is open source.


Hello All,

I'm looking at building out a mostly virtualized full home test lab, to help train myself and to stay up to date on some newer technologies as well as test out ideas for the real world.

My first step into this venture is a centralized storage solution. This will have two functions, one to centralize all of my digital media, and two to centralize storage for my virtual servers. I have been looking into FreeNAS and I believe this will be able to handle my needs.

I came up with this budget FreeNAS build earlier today and was looking for some feedback. I also would like some feedback to see if I am just better off finding a decent used workstation on upgrading things like RAM and Hard Drives. Maybe I am better off building a beefier machine to be my hypervisor and going even cheaper on the FreeNAS build. Anyway here is what I have so far:

CPU - AMD A4-5300 Trinity 3.4GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113283
MOBO - MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 FM2 AMD A75 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130664
RAM - Corsair XMS 8GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324
Disk - WD 1TB Blue SATA x4 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
PS - Corsair CX500M 500W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139050
Case - BitFenix Prodigy - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345016

 

[Dangman]

So you want to run a virtualized FreeNAS in a hypervisor like ESXi or Hyper-V or Zen?

 

[Anime_Fan]

No I want to run the FreeNAS on this dedicated box but I am also looking to build a hypervisor to build out a virtualized test lab.

 

[Dangman]

So that hypervisor setup is going to be an entirely different and separate system?

 

[Anime_Fan]

Yes, that is correct. I just can't decide if building that out or trying to find a used tower server might be the way to go? I see plenty of decent used options out there...

 

[Dangman]

Yes, that is correct. I just can't decide if building that out or trying to find a used tower server might be the way to go? I see plenty of decent used options out there...

First, let's start off with your proposed file server:
1) If you're planning on doing any sort of parity or RAID with those drives, make sure that you have a seperate dedicated drive just for the OS so that in the event of OS corruption, you won't lose total access to the RAID array and vice versa. FreeNAS is relatively small so I think a flash drive 8GB in size works well as an OS drive.

2) Ditch the RAM as it limits you to only 8GB of RAM. FreeNAS's ZFS RAID option sometimes requires a lot more RAM. So I recommend getting this one stick of RAM instead to allow for a full 16GB of RAM upgrade later on without having to replace any RAM (Don't worry about the timings or clock speed, it doesn't matter):
$59 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

3) At $73 shipped, that Corsair PSU is pretyy overpriced since only a handful of its cables are actually modular and that this significantly higher quality and more modular Seasonic PSU is only $7 more:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00918MEZG/?tag=extension-kb-20

Second, as for your Hypervisor rig, if you want a warranty, go new, If you want relatively decent savings but with little to no warranty, then go for a used tower server. Do note that some of those used servers are also relatively loud as well. For the file server, I highly recommend new parts considering how important data can be.

 

[Anime_Fan]

First, let's start off with your proposed file server:
1) If you're planning on doing any sort of parity or RAID with those drives, make sure that you have a seperate dedicated drive just for the OS so that in the event of OS corruption, you won't lose total access to the RAID array and vice versa. FreeNAS is relatively small so I think a flash drive 8GB in size works well as an OS drive.

2) Ditch the RAM as it limits you to only 8GB of RAM. FreeNAS's ZFS RAID option sometimes requires a lot more RAM. So I recommend getting this one stick of RAM instead to allow for a full 16GB of RAM upgrade later on without having to replace any RAM (Don't worry about the timings or clock speed, it doesn't matter):
$59 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

3) At $73 shipped, that Corsair PSU is pretyy overpriced since only a handful of its cables are actually modular and that this significantly higher quality and more modular Seasonic PSU is only $7 more:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00918MEZG/?tag=extension-kb-20

Second, as for your Hypervisor rig, if you want a warranty, go new, If you want relatively decent savings but with little to no warranty, then go for a used tower server. Do note that some of those used servers are also relatively loud as well. For the file server, I highly recommend new parts considering how important data can be.

1. I was planning on RAID 10 or perhaps 2 separate RAID 1 arrays. 1 for media and the other to present to virtual servers. In regards to the separate drive for the OS, I read that FreeNAS consumes an entire drive no matter the size so I was reading that many people just boot from a dedicated flash drive. I was planning this option as it was cheap and inexpensive.

2. I didn't think I would need more than 8GB for what I had planned for ZFS, I thought the general rule of thumb was 2GB of RAM for every TB of ZFS storage? I will look into a 16GB module, I do like the idea of the upgradeability down the road.

3. Thanks for the Power Supply tip.

I definitely agree on the new parts for the file server, the data storage is important for sure. I work with Dell and HP servers on a regular basis, I know they can be extremely loud especially under load as well as being massive power hogs. That is one of the hang ups in actually buying one, I am not sure how loud they will be in my home environment. Do you have any models in mind that might be fairly "quiet"?

 

[Dangman]

1. I was planning on RAID 10 or perhaps 2 separate RAID 1 arrays. 1 for media and the other to present to virtual servers. In regards to the separate drive for the OS, I read that FreeNAS consumes an entire drive no matter the size so I was reading that many people just boot from a dedicated flash drive. I was planning this option as it was cheap and inexpensive.

Cool. I'd aim for RAID 10 for performance or RAID 5 for max storage. Not sure about two seperate RAID 1 arrays.

2. I didn't think I would need more than 8GB for what I had planned for ZFS, I thought the general rule of thumb was 2GB of RAM for every TB of ZFS storage? I will look into a 16GB module, I do like the idea of the upgradeability down the road.

Yes but you never know when you're going to have to expand your storage. The max RAM supported by those mITX mobos is 16GB nor are there such a thing as a single 16GB RAM stick that's widely available. So aim for a single 8GB or 2 x 8GB RAM set.

I definitely agree on the new parts for the file server, the data storage is important for sure. I work with Dell and HP servers on a regular basis, I know they can be extremely loud especially under load as well as being massive power hogs. That is one of the hang ups in actually buying one, I am not sure how loud they will be in my home environment. Do you have any models in mind that might be fairly "quiet"?

Hmmm....nothing is coming to mind. Might want to hit up the Networking and Security subforum to see if anyone there knows of a "quiet" Dell or HP server. A quiet DIY server is definitely doable though.