As a follow up to my previous post, I am in the process of getting parts for my first DIY NAS build. After being convinced to go with RaidZ2 in the previous discussion, I have purchased 8x 10TB HDDs. The rest of my parts list is as follows:
Casing = Jonsbo N5 ATX case
Motherboard = Asus Pro WS W680-ACE
CPU = Intel Core i5-12500
RAM = OWC 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 4800 ECC UDIMM
SSD = Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
I’ll be using it just like I am using the Drobo right now, as a NAS via SMB shares and as a Plex media server. I don’t have any plans of running VMs or Docker containers for now–maybe a home assistant vm in the future, but not any time soon. I am hoping I can have a simple setup by running TrueNAS baremetal and installing Plex Media Server as an app inside it. I’d rather not go the homelab route of installing Proxmox and running VMs for TrueNAS and Plex separately. That would require a lot more reading and would delay my migration from Drobo even more.
The SMB shares are used for backups, storing archival data and lots of media (Photos, GoPro recordings, cd rips + digital downloads, and bluray backups). We don’t work on documents and adobe project files directly off of the SMB shares. So I believe my data is all sequential (I should give a disclaimer here that I don’t have any experience with ZFS or computer science concepts in general. I have only recently started reading the TrueNAS documentation and community posts. So I might not be using these terms correctly). This leads me to my first question:
Do I need syncwrites? Do NAS appliances like Drobo and Synology perform syncwrites? Since my vdev usage will mostly be with sequential data, will I be fine with syncwrites disabled? I am unsure about two things. Firstly, my wife wants me to setup Time Machine backups on NAS for her MacBook, something we haven’t setup on the Drobo so far. I have read on the forums that Macs do syncwrites. Secondly, Plex media server has a database and I have read that databases benefit from syncwrites. This segues into my next question.
Where are TrueNAS Scale apps installed? Can they be installed on the boot drive or do I need to create a vdev for them? If it’s the former then I’ll just use the 2TB Samsung SSD as the bootdrive. Plex Media Server’s database and metadata files can get really large (~450 GB) especially if you have thumbnail previews enabled for the video seekbar. In that case the Samsung SSD will be perfect. But I have seen people talking about creating a mirrored vdev for apps which makes me doubt whether one can use the bootdrive. If apps are installed on a vdev then I won’t be creating a separate one, I’d be using the same 8x 10TB RaidZ2 vdev.
My last question is about L2ARC. The more I read up on this the more complicated this gets with things like metadata-only persistent L2ARC and what not. I would like to set my HDDs to spindown after 20 mins of inactivity and would like the L2ARC to handle majority of the read requests. The most common type of read operation performed on the NAS is the streaming of music around the house by multiple family members. So I would want a sizeable L2ARC that would be able to cache the music library and TrueNAS wouldn’t have to spinup the HDDs every time someone plays music. With 64gb of RAM would I be fine with a 2TB L2ARC device or should I go for 1TB only? I would be adding another Samsung NVMe SSD for the L2ARC.
I am sorry if a lot of this has been discussed to death. I am trying to speed up the learning as much as possible so that I wouldn’t have to keep my years worth of data on the Drobo any longer than it needs to be. But without having the relevant background I have so many questions and many more pop-up when I try tackling them; I am just not able to slay the hydra. I’ve tried asking ChatGPT but after receiving several inconsistent (and some downright incorrect) responses, I think I’ll put my faith in humans for this one
They’re “enabled” by default, but ordinarily not used for standard file-sharing applications. You don’t need to change this.
They’re installed on whichever data pool you tell TrueNAS to install them on. They cannot live on the boot pool, nor can anything else. It’s recommended for performance reasons to have a SSD pool for this, but it isn’t required.
L2ARC doesn’t work that way.
I’d say 64 GB of RAM is marginal to have a L2ARC device at all, but the chances that you’d benefit from one anyway are very slim.
This W680 build is way too new for my taste, and certainly way too powerful for your stated use—so arguably way too expensive.
What’s the 2 TB SSD for? This is a total waste for a boot device: A 120 GB SSD would do, and the rest will NOT be used.
You would be surprised just how good performance you can get from a very low powered and low memory server. Unless you are going to be running VMs, then this system is likely going to be way more powerful and way more expensive than you need, and the extra power and memory will do little if anything to boost your performance over and above a cheaper system.
Regarding an SSD pool for use by e.g. Plex, ideally this would be mirrored, but if not you can always replicate it to your HDD pool as a backup.
Definately overpowered for your use case - not that thats a major problem.
Ditch the L2ARC - its pointless for your use case - and doesn’t work the way you think it does
Use the 2TB as a App Pool - snapshot and replicate to the HDD Pool if you cannot mirror it
Boot from a 32GB Optane. Its a very good boot device. The board seems to have 3 ports available so you can always add a mirror later
Storage Specs from Website:
"** Total supports 3 x M.2 slots and 8 x SATA 6Gb/s ports*
Intel® Core™ Processors (14th & 13th
& 12th Gen)
M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode) Intel® W680 Chipset**
M.2_2 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode)
M.2_3 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode)
4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
1 x SlimSAS Slot Support SlimSAS NVMe device (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode and up to 4 SATA devices)***
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology supports PCIe RAID 0/1/5/10, SATA RAID 0/1/5/10.
** Intel® Rapid Storage Technology supports Intel® Optane Memory H Series on PCH attached M.2 slots.
*** SlimSAS slot can support up to 4 SATA devices via a transfer cable. the cable is purchased separately.**
I know it’s a bit overpowered but I wanted a processor with a recent version of QuickSync that has improved transcoding quality and support for hardware HDR tonemapping. The other important thing was support for ECC RAM. That’s how I ended up with this combo. The damage (to my wallet) has already been done though. Just waiting for the casing to arrive from AliExpress and I’ll start assembling it.
As advised by everyone, I’ll ditch the L2ARC. Regarding the Samsung NVMe I’ll use it solely as an app pool instead of partitioning it for Boot. It feels good to have a use for the Optane module that my friend gave me years ago but has been lying around in the drawer.
The only remaining question is, considering my use case and the type of data, should I disable syncwrites on the HDD vdev? If everyone suggests keeping it on, should I add a SLOG device in that case? I currently have a 110gb Optane module paired with a HDD in my old family desktop that I can easily remove and use for this purpose.
