NAS build

[jhu]

You're right. It's very hard to find a setup with ECC support for a good price. There are so many discussion about it on the internet. I'm just a bit worried that I will have a data corruption every month because of non-ECC memory.
But when I drop the idea, the possibilities really open up like you said.

If you're worried about data integrity, straight RAID 1 won't work. You'll really have to use ZFS, so that means running Solaris, FreeBSD, or some Linux distro that supports ZFS..

 

[crashtech]

Apparently there is a Sickbeard plugin for FreeNAS, but I don't know anything about it. I just use my NAS for storage and do everything else on the HTPC.

 

[Cerb]

If you're worried about data integrity, straight RAID 1 won't work. You'll really have to use ZFS, so that means running Solaris, FreeBSD, or some Linux distro that supports ZFS..

Or, btrfs, for mirror/stripe RAIDs.

 

[mfenn]

If you're worried about data integrity, straight RAID 1 won't work. You'll really have to use ZFS, so that means running Solaris, FreeBSD, or some Linux distro that supports ZFS..

Which luckily happens to be quite a few of them.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks. There is also G-Skill Ripjaw or Corsair Vengeance which have CL9 timings at 1.5 V (instead of CL11 for the Kingston one). They look very hardcore with the heatsink. But maybe it will bother me in terms of space in my case.

RAM timings barely matter in a gaming PC, they are just noise in a NAS. The limiting factors of the NAS are the speed of the NIC and the speed of the drives. Main memory is several orders of magnitude faster than either.

I also read a review of the Samsung 840 EVO SSD. Seems it's quite a frontrunner in the world of SSD's. You think it's worth the upgrade (+30 euros)?

It's faster, but it's not that much faster. Certainly it doesn't matter for the boot drive of a Linux-based NAS.

 

[laspo]

First of all, thanks for all the responses guys!

If you're worried about data integrity, straight RAID 1 won't work. You'll really have to use ZFS, so that means running Solaris, FreeBSD, or some Linux distro that supports ZFS..

I read somewhere that to run ZFS comfortably you need enough ram. Is 4 gb enough for my setup? Maybe I'll give ZFS a try. But still leaning to mdadm as it seems more for "beginners".

 

[mfenn]

Yes, 4GB is enough. ZFS will by default want to use up to 1/2 of system memory for its cache. On a desktop, this can sometimes be undesirable, but its perfect for a storage box.

 

[crashtech]

Unless hardware recommendations have changed recently, ZFS will perform optimally with 1GB RAM per 1TB storage when deduplication is not used, with 1GB reserved for the OS.

Also, there is some concern that ZFS scrubs done with non-ECC memory could actually induce the data corruption ZFS is designed to prevent, but I don't know enough about it yet to say if the concern is real.

 

[mfenn]

The generic "1 GB per 1 TB" is so hopelessly general as to be useless. What you really want is enough RAM to cache the normal working set of your application load. For a general department server in an enterprise, the 1000:1 ratio may be ideal (but then again it might be way too low for heavy workloads). For a home server with only a few users, serving mostly media files with low re-read probability, 1 GB per 1 TB overkill.

 

[laspo]

Ok thanks!

So I ordered:

1 ASUS H87I-Plus
Sockel 1150 M-ITX
(Article number: 90513560)

78 Bonus points
in stock
ready for shipping
€ 94,46 € 94,46
1 Fractal Design Node 304
Mini-ITX/DTX
(Article number: 90491397)

58 Bonus points
in stock
ready for shipping
€ 71,08 € 71,08
1 Kingston SSDNow V300
60GB MLC
(Article number: 90494852)

38 Bonus points
Ordered on demand
dispatched in about 1-2 weeks
€ 46,67 € 46,67
1 be quiet! Pure Power L8
300 Watt
(Article number: 90514558)

32 Bonus points
Product ready for shipping
ready for shipping in 1-2 days
€ 39,55 € 39,55
1 Intel Core i3-4130
Boxed inkl. Lüfter
(Article number: 90523455)

82 Bonus points
in stock
ready for shipping
€ 99,55 € 99,55
1 Corsair VS-Serie CMV4GX3M1A1600C11
4GB DDR3
(Article number: 90529878)

28 Bonus points
Product ready for shipping
ready for shipping in 1-2 days
€ 34,47 € 34,47
3 Seagate ST3000VN000 NAS HDD
3TB
(Article number: 90511942)

273 Bonus points
in stock
ready for shipping
€ 110,84 € 332,51

And I'm impatiently waiting

I will keep you updated.

 

[mfenn]

Cool, I look forward to hearing how it goes. Post here if you run into any hardware or storage configuration issues.

 

[laspo]

Hi guys, another question. If I decide to install FreeNas, do I still need the SSD? Because I read that it's designed to boot from a USB stick. And the SSD could be used as ZIL device but that seems like overkill in my case...

 

[smitbret]

Hi guys, another question. If I decide to install FreeNas, do I still need the SSD? Because I read that it's designed to boot from a USB stick. And the SSD could be used as ZIL device but that seems like overkill in my case...

The SSD would be overkill.

Just use a Flash Drive (USB Stick) to boot into FreeNAS. Once it's loaded into memory, there's really not much left for the OS drive to do.

 

[laspo]

Thanks for the reply! Ok, I just modified my order.

I'm still a noob in FreeNas ofcourse so what happens when you install SickBeard or other plugins. Is it installed on your usb stick or in your pool? It's something about "jails" but I haven't had the time to read up on it yet.

 

[crashtech]

You only want data on the disks. All apps and plugins go on the OS drive, in your case a USB stick.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You only want data on the disks. All apps and plugins go on the OS drive, in your case a USB stick.

Nope.

FreeNAS plugins are installed in Jails. FreeBSD jails are configured on the OS drive, but the actual data - programs, applications, virtualized OSes, etc. - lives on your disks.

I know, I know, they're not virtualized, exactly. It's weird. But for the purposes of today's class, you can think of jails as wonky VMs with shared storage.

So my FreeNAS box is using the Plex and Crashplan plugins, as well as a generic jail I created myself as a MineCraft server. Each of those has a seperate install of FreeBSD, Java, and a few other utilities like Screen. So there's a few extra gigs of stuff in the "jails" directory on my ZFS pool. It would never fit on the 4GB thumb driving I'm using to boot.

 

[crashtech]

I thought only extra storage for the apps/plugins went on the disks if it was configured to be so. My bad, though, I was mistaking symbolic links for real ones?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I thought only extra storage for the apps/plugins went on the disks if it was configured to be so. My bad, though, I was mistaking symbolic links for real ones?

You probably could direct storage to the OS volume, but I'm pretty sure that's how the defaults work. (pool0/zfsvolume/jails/stuff)

You can also map additional storage from wherever to wherever - that's how my Plex Server and Crashplan systems "see" the rest of the NAS for their own nefarious ends.

 

[mfenn]

Nope.

FreeNAS plugins are installed in Jails. FreeBSD jails are configured on the OS drive, but the actual data - programs, applications, virtualized OSes, etc. - lives on your disks.

I know, I know, they're not virtualized, exactly. It's weird. But for the purposes of today's class, you can think of jails as wonky VMs with shared storage.

So my FreeNAS box is using the Plex and Crashplan plugins, as well as a generic jail I created myself as a MineCraft server. Each of those has a seperate install of FreeBSD, Java, and a few other utilities like Screen. So there's a few extra gigs of stuff in the "jails" directory on my ZFS pool. It would never fit on the 4GB thumb driving I'm using to boot.

:thumbsup: And this is really how you want it. The idea is that you should be able to throw away the USB key, format another one with FreeNAS, plug it in, and everything will still work the same.

 

[laspo]

Hi guys, here's an update. I changed some hardware after I decided to go for Freenas. (I checked the hardware recommendations on their website). So it's now as follows:

Supermicro X9SCM-F Sockel 1155 M-ATX

Intel Pentium G2020 Boxed

be quiet! Pure Power L8 300 Watt

Kingston 8GB 1600MHz REG ECC

Seagate ST4000VN000 NAS HDD 4TB

BitFenix Phenom M micro-ATX weiß


I received the parts last week but haven't had a lot of time. But I finally assembled everything and booted up. Immediately an error (buzzer alert and no video). After some searching it seems my motherboard doesn't support 1600 MHz ram out of the box. So I need to update my bios. But for that I need video. And for that I need ram at 1333 MHz (which I don't have.. :s). I'm gonna ask a friend if he has some and otherwise I'll have to go switch the ram modules and work with 1333 MHz (the G2020 will only go until 1333 anyways so...)

I'll keep you updated.

 

[crashtech]

Server boards tend to be pickier about RAM than consumer boards. Do yourself a favor and pick RAM from the QVL.

 

[laspo]

Server boards tend to be pickier about RAM than consumer boards. Do yourself a favor and pick RAM from the QVL.

Maybe so. But the list is very limited.

I'm thinking about this one. Because according to this thread, it works.

 

[laspo]

Hi guys!

Here's another update. So I went for the RAM I mentioned above so my final setup looks like this:

Supermicro X9SCM-F Sockel 1155 M-ATX
Intel Pentium G2020 Boxed
be quiet! Pure Power L8 300 Watt
Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G
Seagate ST4000VN000 NAS HDD 4TB
BitFenix Phenom M micro-ATX weiß

I put in the new RAM and everything booted up nicely. I installed Freenas 9.2 and everything works great. Now I only need to understand how everything works. Because it's not really easy to configure. But I guess it will take some time.

Anyhow I was thinking about setting up a VPN with my NAS. But there are still some things unclear to me. I understand the concept, I know you can use a VPN to hide your ip and garanty your privacy on the internet. So that things like downloading with torrents is more secure. But I can't seem to understand the difference between setting up your own OpenVPN on your FreeNAS and using a VPN Service like for example PrivateInternetAccess. Or do you need both to be secure?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

But I can't seem to understand the difference between setting up your own OpenVPN on your FreeNAS and using a VPN Service like for example PrivateInternetAccess. Or do you need both to be secure?

Yes and no and yes.

An OpenVPN server on a FreeNAS box would let other people dial into your LAN. They could then be accessing the outside world from your internet connection instead of, say, their heavily filtered Chinese one.

Likewise, if you want to hide your tracks, you'd use a VPN client to access a VPN based elsewhere.

You might want to VPN into your home network if you're at an open WiFi spot like a McDonald's. That will ensure that your traffic is encrypted and no eavesdroppers are stealing your data. That's the target market that an OpenVPN server in a router or home server is for, really.

If you're trying to hide your activity, you'll want a router with a VPN client. Connect that to the subscription service of your choice.

Or just use not-torrent services like UseNet.

Or don't steal stuff.

 

[laspo]

If you're trying to hide your activity, you'll want a router with a VPN client. Connect that to the subscription service of your choice.

I see. Thanks for the reply. That seems interesting! Then my NAS can become a sort of personal cloud...

I was also thinking, I understand that by using a VPN you're ip is hidden (or you use another ip, whatever). But let's say, you log in to your gmail account while on the VPN. Then it's possible to link your identity with the ip used at that time. So then the whole concept of being anonymous is gone, no?

Does this mean that to stay anonymous on a VPN, you can not log in or give personal information of any kind?