ZFS Server OS and Hardware Overhaul - Reccomendations Needed

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NobleX13

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 15, 2010
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I built a 10TB (unformatted) FreeNAS server exactly one year ago, using FreeNAS 7 and the following hardware:

Intel Pentium Dual-core E3300
EVGA 780i SLI
4GB DDR2-533
LSI AOC-USAS-L8i SAS Card
Intel Gigabit pci-e card
5x 2TB Samsung HDD (not sure on model)
4GB Dane-elec USB Flash drive (boot volume)
Crappy Antec Shell-shocker case

For the first six months, performance was dandy; I got average transfer speeds of around 55 MB/s and everything was stable. After hearing about a significant security issue regarding version 7.0, I then upgraded to 7.2 (I believe it was), only to be constantly hit with crashes, reboots, and performance issues. As such, I am currently running version 8.0 Release, which has been buggy, unstable, and feature-poor.

I would like to migrate my ZFS pool to another storage solution, such as Napp-it, while also upgrading my CPU and motherboard to something that supports DDR3, but isn't too inexpensive. Also, I plan on adding another 5-drive array in the near-future. I do have a new case lined up with plenty of storage space.

One of the most significant hurdles I expect to encounter is the fact that my current ZFS pool may not migrate smoothly to Solaris.

Summary:

I need a motherboard and CPU recommendation, as well as an OS recommendation.

Budget: $250-$300 for CPU/Mobo/RAM (cheaper the better), $400 for 5x2TB HDD at current newegg prices.
 
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Out of curiosity, do you know if the security hole and feature issue is tied to FreeNAS, or FreeBSD?
 
Ah, okay, I see it now. Unfortunately, you're going for a lower-end system than I was (I built an all in one), which came in around $650, but I already had all the parts except for cpu, mobo and ram.
 
Here's an update: I have a Xeon x3440 LGA 1156 CPU that I can reuse for this project. I saw a very tempting open box ASUS motherboard on Newegg with dual Intel NICs.

ASUS P7F-M

Combined with two of these, I should be set: Kingston ValueRAM 4G ECC DDR3

EDIT: Please don't ninja my board. :(
 
For about 300 bucks more you could use server grade hardware and have room for expansion past the 10 drive mark.

1x SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard $189.99
1x Intel Xeon E3-1220 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 80W Quad-Core Server Processor $209.99
1x Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered $117.99
5x HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB $89.99 ($449.95)

Prices are in Canadian currency.
 
Sorry I missed your post, spankit. I think the ASUS board will meet my needs, and Newegg considers it to be a server board anyway. The only way I can pull this off is by reusing my existing CPU.

Another update:

I swooped up some really, really great ASUS open-box deals on Newegg, and bought the following parts to make this build a reality:

ASUS P8P67 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard - $71

This will get swapped in to my gaming rig, along with my GTX 480 and Core i3 2100.

ASUS P7F-M LGA 1156 ATX Motherboard - $102

This will be used in my upgraded server... I may even go the ESXi all-in-one route. This will be paired with the below memory and my Xeon X3440.

2x Kingston ValueRAM 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 - $56 ea
 
Beware, if you go the all in one route, and the SAN/NAS is ZFS, 8GB is marginal.
 
Duly noted. I planned on upgraded the memory once I get paid again.
 
Cool. Another caveat about the all in one approach: performance will suck unless the drives are attached to an HBA (or mobo sata ports) that can be passed in via VT-D. I haven't checked your cpu or mobo. Lopoetve on the virtualization board did a lot of testing and found that it had something to do with the disk scheduling code in freebsd and/or opensolaris (LOL your two choices for the SAN ZFS OS). If you put an esxi datastore on each disk, create one big vhd on each such datastore and pass that to the VM, we have seen 50% or so performance hit compared to bare metal. With VT-D passthru, it is near native.
 
According to the Newegg reviews, ESXi and VT-d work well with this system, and my HBA is supported by OpenSolaris. I only have one HBA at the moment, and I would need a second if I wanted to add five more drives.
 
A caveat: you need at least one hard drive that is NOT on the controller passed in to OS, since the OS VM needs to be on some sort of local datastore (and that cannot be a USB flash drive...)
 
Thanks for the update. Since I'm using ESXi anyway, I will use a spare 500GB SATA II HDD for the SAN OS datastore, and another small SSD to sneak my Minecraft server on to this system... :) After my memory upgrade, of course.
 
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