SATA PCI card extension

TrueNAS General
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Hi,

I’m a novice, and french, sorry for my english

I want to install truenas scale in my DIY Nas.

My setup :
My MoBo has only 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports, but there is a 1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16,
Intel(R) Core™ i3-10100 CPU @ 3.60GHz
32 GO ram
3 WD Red Plus 6TO, 1 nvme 500 GO and 2 ssd 500GO.

I want to add 3 more WD Red Plus 6TO.

I want to do data backup and VMs for my applications

What is the optimal config for my nas ?
nvme for boot ?
2 ssd for cache ? One for data writing and the other for data reading ?
2 pools one for data and other for vms ?
Which Raidz should I choose?

Crucial question, which pci sata card is compatible with truenas scale ?

Thanks everyone for any help and advices

Vince

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Don’t use a PCI SATA card if you can avoid it. Use a LSI 9200 or 9300 or 9400 etc… They are very cheap on ebay if that’s an option for you. For example, an -8i card will give two SAS connections. You can connect a SAS to SATA fanout cable to give you 8 additional SATA connections.

I would do:

  • nvme boot
  • ssd mirror for apps/vms
  • 6 x 6tb in raidz2 if the data is irreplaceable, 6 x 6tb in raidz1 if it is not that important
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Thanks Jorsher, I’m going to look for a LSI

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And don’t bother with cache drives.

  1. Read cache (L2ARC) doesn’t work that way
  2. Write cache (SLOG) is unlikley to do anything for you as it only works with sync writes, and most use cases use async writes
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In other words - MAX out RAM first before thinking about cache.

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I just noticed I didn’t explain why you should avoid PCI SATA cards. Some might be OK, but in general you are risking a headache or data loss. For the same amount of money (or not much more) you can get a LSI-based SAS controller that are proven solid.

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Detail explanation why to avoid SATA cards

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Thx for your help.
My mobo accept 64go RAM max, is it correct ?

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Maybe I’m blind but did you say what your motherboard is?

Regadless, download the use manual from the manufacurer web site and read it. You should also grab a copy of th QVL

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Hi, my motherboard is Asus PRIME H410I-PLUS/CSM

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`Expansion Slots

16-Lane CPU-,1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 mode)

Storage

Total supports 1 x M.2 slot(s) and 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports,1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode),Intel® H410 Chipset : ,4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)

LAN

Realtek® RTL8111H, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s), support LANGuard`

I would describe this as not an ideal motherboard given the low number of SATA ports, single PCIe slot and Realtek LAN

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Hi,
Yes is not ideal but for the moment I can’t change all my config.
So the biggest problem is the sata number of ports. This is why I made this post to find solution to increase the sata’s ports

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If by “ssd 50GO” you mean “SATA SSD 500 GB”, you don’t even have enough ports to begin with.

Good news: You need neither SLOG L2ARC—but certainly not SLOG.

If you have apps and/or VMs, then a dedicated SSD pool for that is recommended; either a mirror or a single drive with frequent back up to the HDD pool.

That depends on your use case. For storing (large) data and SMB/NFS sharing, the general safe recommendation would be raidz2—so ideally 6 drives from the beginning.

Noted. LGA1200 is quite old already; can you try looking for a second-hand motherboard with more SATA ports, more PCIe slots, and/or an Intel i210? Each of these improvements would help make a better configuration. Even a x1 slot for a better gigabit NIC would help.

If the motherboard supports x8x4x4 bifurcation on the PCIe slot, you can use a riser to hold a half-height LSI HBA and a pair of NVMe for the app pool.
Ideally, you’d use an adapter to turn the M.2 slot into a PCIe slot for an Intel NIC.

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