Hi!
I’m building a file server based on SuperMicro A2SDi-4C-HLN4F with Intel Atom C3558 CPU. I have 16 GB ECC RAM for it, but I haven’t purchased any new storage drives yet. There a 6 x 3.5" drive bays in the server case, plus I can hook up a couple of NVMEs into a PCI-e card.
The motherboard has 4 x 1Gb LAN ports, so I could do link aggregation for better bandwidth if needed.
Workload
I’m going to install TrueNAS as just a file server, and I don’t plan to run any additional container there, apart from a VM with Proxmox Backup Server. The purpose for this build is to consolidate two workloads:
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Backup server
Currently I use an old Synology NAS for deduplicated file-based backups from PCs, MacOS Time Machine storage and PBS. It’s on 2 x 8 TB HDD mirror array I have there.
Current data size: 2 TB
Growth expectations: I might replace some file-based backups with ZFS snapshot send feature which will likely take more space, but in general I don’t expect the backup setup or storage requirements to change radically. -
Bulk media files storage
Now the bulk media files (Linux ISOs, of course) are being downloaded by downloader apps and consumed by various services all locally on a single Proxmox box. I host the files in a virtualized OpenMediaVault with a single HDD passed through. And services connect to it via NFS share. Services will remain on the main Proxmox server, but media files are moving into this new file server.
Current data size: 5 TB
Growth expectations: Once I have dedicated file server, I’d likely start to hoard more Linux ISOs. I would set aside at least 10 TB for the next couple of years, potentially more for the lifetime of this server.
In terms of bandwidth usage - I’m expecting 1-2 concurrent users reading media, and there could be 2-3 clients occasionally running backups at the same time.
Questions
I’m building a dedicated NAS with ZFS for the first time, so I’d appreciate advice on a few topics:
- What zpool topology should I build based on my motherboard and case capacity and workloads? I’m inclined to build a pool of mirror vdevs. I was reading it is superior in terms of performance, resilvering reliability, convenience, and extensibility. And compared to 6 wide RAIDZ2 I don’t loose much of the usable storage space without having to fill up entire case with HDDs right from the start.
- What storage drives should I get? I’m not opposed to buying all new drives, but of course I’d love to save money by buying less and reusing what I already have. The catch is that the drives listed below all are currently hosting the very same data I want to move to the new server.
- Pair of 8 TB WD Reds. They are 6 years old, running 24/7, but with low load (backups, mostly) and no issues in SMART.
- One 14 TB WD Ultrastar which I got refurbished a year ago, also running 24/7 with no SMART issues.
- Part of the previous question, but is there any benefit in adding a pair of NVMEs for my use case?
- Do I need more RAM? I can easily upgrade it to 32 GB, and potentially I could do up to 256 GB if that would make any sense. ECC RDIMMs are cheap.