From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Feb 14 06:17:05 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1CCDA1065670 for ; Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dan@langille.org) Received: from nyi.unixathome.org (nyi.unixathome.org [64.147.113.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E76608FC08 for ; Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by nyi.unixathome.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D40D508B0 for ; Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:04 +0000 (GMT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at unixathome.org Received: from nyi.unixathome.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (nyi.unixathome.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id q0FZvoRiA-+e for ; Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:03 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp-auth.unixathome.org (smtp-auth.unixathome.org [10.4.7.7]) (Authenticated sender: hidden) by nyi.unixathome.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 3B48E508A8 for ; Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:03 +0000 (GMT) Message-ID: <4B779561.7000205@langille.org> Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:17:05 -0500 From: Dan Langille User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (Windows/20090812) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: FreeBSD Stable References: <4B6F9A8D.4050907@langille.org> In-Reply-To: <4B6F9A8D.4050907@langille.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: hardware for home use large storage X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:17:05 -0000 Dan Langille wrote: > Hi, > > I'm looking at creating a large home use storage machine. Budget is a > concern, but size and reliability are also a priority. Noise is also a > concern, since this will be at home, in the basement. That, and cost, > pretty much rules out a commercial case, such as a 3U case. It would be > nice, but it greatly inflates the budget. This pretty much restricts me > to a tower case. > > The primary use of this machine will be a backup server[1]. It will do > other secondary use will include minor tasks such as samba, CIFS, cvsup, > etc. > > I'm thinking of 8x1TB (or larger) SATA drives. I've found a case[2] > with hot-swap bays[3], that seems interesting. I haven't looked at > power supplies, but given that number of drives, I expect something > beefy with a decent reputation is called for. > > Whether I use hardware or software RAID is undecided. I > > I think I am leaning towards software RAID, probably ZFS under FreeBSD > 8.x but I'm open to hardware RAID but I think the cost won't justify it > given ZFS. > > Given that, what motherboard and RAM configuration would you recommend > to work with FreeBSD [and probably ZFS]. The lists seems to indicate > that more RAM is better with ZFS. > > Thanks. > > > [1] - FYI running Bacula, but that's out of scope for this question > > [2] - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192058 > > [3] - nice to have, especially for a failure. After creating three different system configurations (Athena, Supermicro, and HP), my configuration of choice is this Supermicro setup: 1. Samsung SATA CD/DVD Burner $20 (+ $8 shipping) 2. SuperMicro 5046A $750 (+$43 shipping) 3. LSI SAS 3081E-R $235 4. SATA cables $60 5. Crucial 3×2G ECC DDR3-1333 $191 (+ $6 shipping) 6. Xeon W3520 $310 Total price with shipping $1560 Details and links at http://dan.langille.org/2010/02/14/supermicro/ I'll probably start with 5 HDD in the ZFS array, 2x gmirror'd drives for the boot, and 1 optical drive (so 8 SATA ports).