I’ve been sporting a Dell PowerEdge R730xd 2U server for the past 12 months. Great machine, but it is incredibly loud and unfortunately too long of depth. Due to space limitations, I had to buy a 42U rack that is 27" deep and I can barely get the R730xd to fit and the airflow will be terrible for anything above this device. Therefore…I’m in the market for a different TrueNAS server.
Below are some high level items of my thoughts so I would love some of your thoughts and hardware suggestions:
This is a home use application. Usage is non-critical. I run NextCloud to backup phones locally and backup software to backup household computers. I run SMB share to access family photos and files from any machine in the house. All items are encrypted locally and cloud sync’d.
I will probably end up running Plex and backup our DVD and Blueray discs although I’ve been running TrueNAS since back in the FreeNAS days and have yet to install Plex and backup movies. I do want the hardware to be able to stream video incase I do get the bug to finally backup and stream from the device.
Must be rack mount-able. I have plenty of space in the rack so I can go very large if it means bigger less noisy fans, etc. 4U is fine.
The rack is 27" deep. I would prefer if the chassis is 24" or less.
I currently have 8 of 3.5" SATA HDD and 2 of 2.5" SATA SSD. I have something of the tune of 90% free disk space after a decade of phone pictures/video and file backups and so I’m fine if I need to only use 4 of the SATA HDD for data storage but all else being nearly equal I would rather use all 8 since I have them. This may be a big factor since more than 6 SATA in total between 3.5 and 2.5 may require difference case but also dedicated SATA/SAS controller.
NIC should allow for 1 Gbps minimum and would love if on-board was 2.5 Gbps. I do have 10 Gbps fiber port available on the switch and so I’ll likely add an Intel 82599ES (X520-DA2) pci-express x8 card to run 10 Gbps speeds.
Budget around $1,000 but flexible. Would love to spend less but not a big deal if I have to spend more.
I’m sort of stuck in analysis paralysis. Do I need to go with ECC memory? If so I’ll need a server grade motherboard. Do I need a SATA/SAS controller? Likely if I’m going to run 8 data drives and 2 OS/slog drives. Do I buy an off-lease machine that is shorter depth or build my own machine with mostly brand new parts?
Double your budget and iX Systems Mini R is a choice.
You can try the Resources section for other user builds and guides. LSI hba controller or a model that can be flashed to IT mode is the recommendation there.
For various experience based reasons I am more inclined to go the “build your own” route to avoid any proprietary parts or parts that I cannot source myself if someone fails.
I think the iX Systems or TrueNAS badges are the only proprietary parts on those. Supermicro is the case and motherboard? I don’t think they are much different from build your own.
Doh! I am so sorry, you and @SmallBarky are right about iX Systems aren’t using proprietary parts. I just looked at one of the failed machines I have from them and the motherboard is AsRock (C2750DL) which when it failed over a year ago I was unable to source the same board. I guess I could very easily run into the same issue if I do a “build your own” machine where I can’t source a failed motherboard.
No worries. As I say we’re not here to judge or push iX hardware but @SmallBarky is giving you the ‘easy button’ option if you wish to hit it. If you build your own then fantastic we’re here to help and answer any questions you have.
I do like the idea of the “easy button”. After looking into it a bit further, considering I don’t have any 10 Gbps RJ45 ports on my switch but do have 10 Gbps SFP+ port I would then need to upgrade the Mini R to the highest end one which adds an additional $300. I guess it isn’t the end of the world if the dual 10G SFP card is brand new and simply works out of the box. I just bought a used Intel 82599ES X520-DA2 for less than $50, used, so I guess there is a premium to everything brand new and easy button turnkey solution.
I would still like to entertain a build it yourself route. I just don’t even know where to begin for a motherboard that supports ECC (if I even need it??). It seems like these server motherboards have crazy ranges in prices and there may be a particular board used in masses in data centers that are super cheap now where I can pickup 2 for super cheap so that I have a backup. The FreeNAS Minis I had that failed were the motherboards and I cannot source them any longer so I have a case and memory just hanging around because I took the drives themselves to use in the Dell 2U.
Sure this makes sense. Mobo’s go end-of-life just like any other hardware and the only way to protect against this is via hardware warranty and for as long as you can. This normally means that the reseller has to hold some parts just incase.
iX offer hardware they have personally verified and integrated against their appliances. One of the best things about TrueNAS is that it can run it on just about anything however as I’m sure you will understand this can create all sorts or weird and wonderful behaviours and this community aims to advise on hardware based on our personal experiences.
Where you go from here is your call but if you haven’t already it may well be worth a chat with iX and at least get a quote so that you can compare.
Are you aware of any non-server motherboards, or better put, any sub $500 motherboards that support ECC?
@Johnny_Fartpants The $2400 (with the SFP+ ports) Mini R has an Intel Atom C3758 which is low power, doesn’t bench very well and is coming up on 5 year old technology. This is the issue and concern I have. The newer Intel N100 benchmarks much better, is newer technology and uses less power. I would hate to drop $2400 on a machine that is using 5 year old technology, even if it is powerful-enough for my application, simply because technology changes and 5 year old technology in a few years ago may be out of the market place with no sourcing of parts (my experience with my iX Systems Mini purchases back in FreeNAS days).
As mentioned, I would like to entertain a build it yourself route using newer technology. I just don’t know what options there are for motherboards. Generally appliances such as TrueNAS has a very popular board or server that people use because of the value along with compatibility it offers. This is what I’m looking for but unaware if such a common board exists.
I bought my X11SCH-F new for €270 3 years ago and I got the X11SSL-CF for around €100 used on Ebay. These do not come with CPUs, so add that cost to the total. Still very compentitive.
The embedded C2XXX or C3XXX series boards are nice in many ways, but cheap they are not.
If I was sourcing a motherboard today I would do what you are doing now and look at systems posted by people in forums like this, and also check resellers of server grade equipment for ideas.
Getting a board for less than $500 is fairly easy. Just don’t get the top of the line and don’t be afraid of buying used.
I would suggest picking a case first, then picking an asrockrack or Supermicro server board. Less bleeding edge means cheaper CPUs available on eBay etc
Re the case, the bigger you go the more silent it can be.
I have a Rosewill 3U “RSV-Z3200U” that supports 6 internal 3.5 HDD bays, is 17.7" deep and can run up to E-ATX boards on it’s way to my home that I’m going to use to build a firewall. This is what really ignited building my own TrueNAS server using “off the shelf” components since I’m going to do that for the firewall build.
@neofusion Thank you for mentioning a few Supermicro part numbers. It seems as though they have millions of part numbers which is why my head is spinning. Is there any table, matrix, etc that shows the differnces of X11SCH-F and X11SSL-CF? These are older boards, which is totally fine, but their part numbers are nearly identical but the technical details are not!
I agree with each of your comments and assessments. My personal assessment is that spending $1000, give or take a few hundred, should be sufficient for such a non-critical, essentially backup family phones, computers and photos especially when not considering the costs of the HDDs I already have. I don’t need the latest and greatest, but I also don’t want to invest in old technology that I may not be able to source parts for in 3 to 5 years from now.
I have gone down the black hole for the past two hours reviewing Supermicro’s website. I may have found a decent combo that looks to tick a lot of boxes.
Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSH-CTF. This has an Intel X550 (dual 10Gbase-T Ethernet) as well as LSI 3008 controller.
Chassis: Supermicro 813MFTQC-505CB. This is a 1U, short depth, compatible with above motherboard. Downside it only has 4 of 3.5".
I don’t need all 8 of my drives. Will an Intel C236 SATA controller be sufficient? Seems like a lot of the recent Supermicro motherboards have an Intel C236 SATA and I can use that instead of LSI3008 SAS controller.
Look for the part numbering cheat sheet on Supermicro’s site. X11 = 11th Intel generation… in SM own count S ingle socket S kylake / C ascade Lake H igh / L ow -end (meaning C2x6 / C2x2 chipset) F = IPMI C = on-board SAS controller
Once you’re familiar with it, you can actually summon the part number for your ideal motherboard and look up whether it actually exists
The corresponding AsRock Rack motherboards would be E3C2xxD4U (= Xeon E3-class, chipset, 4 DIMM slots, micro-ATX (µ)).
E3C246D4U2-2T is readily available from eBay, well under $500, and you may use a RJ45 transceiver with your SFP+ switch to accomodate a lone 10GBase-T device.
Low-power is rather desirable for a NAS, especially a home NAS.
5 years is quite young for an embedded part which is to be serviceable for at least 10 years. X10SDV boards (Broadwell-D) boards are still sold new.
@etorix thank you, that cheat sheet page on Supermicro’s website is exactly what I was looking for!
I heard that the RJ45 transceiver’s for 10GBase-T device can get extremely hot. Maybe that isn’t a concern but in general I equate heat to deteriorated life-span.
Seems like a nice little board. Did you go with a Supermicro chassis or something else? This is mini-ITX so I assume that I can toss it into any mini-ITX compatible chassis such as my previously mentioned Rosewill 3U “RSV-Z3200U”
your call but if you haven’t already it may well be worth a chat with iX and at least get a quote so that you can compare.