Advice building out replacement TrueNAS server

[donEddie7]

Hello,

I have an aging server at home running FreeNAS/TrueNAS since 2015 that I have grown out of. My current server only serves as storage for my media, hosts my Plex Media Server, and also is a backup for my Windows PC. It's an old Lenovo TS440 w/ 8x 5TB WD Reds and I'm just tapped out on space (have ~27TB of usable space after redundancyy). Not to mention, I've been very fortunate (knock on wood) that the drives have lasted this long.

My main goal in the new server is more space - I don't intend to add any new functionality, except that I'd love the server to be able to handle 4K w/ Plex. I currently have 18x 8TB WD Red Drives sitting in boxes, but that's all I've acquired so far. A number of times, I've looked at pre-build (Dell T630/T640) and also looked at various chassis out there that can house many 3.5" drives, but I pretty quickly get overwhelmed.

I guess my first question on this new build is, should it consolidate both functions (storage / media server) into one machine? Plex is what will need the strong CPU or possibly discrete GPU functionality for transcoding, whereas the storage side of things is where I need space for drives and whatever TrueNAS would need to service that many drives. It seems many chassis out there are built for 16x drives, or 24x, so I'm expecting to probably continue acquiring drives. I'm open to setting 2x servers up if that makes more sense than trying to get the function out of one machine.

Based on the consensus to that first question, any recommendations at brands/servers/chassis to look at in this quest? I've looked at the Dell T640/T630, and some SuperMicro chassis as well. Initially, the Dell option seemed attractive because I don't have a rack at home, but I am open to purchasing a small rack since that opens up the possibilities.

I realize this is both a simple question, and also a little all over the place. Just hoping to get some opinions / direction.

Appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[Tech Junky]

discrete GPU functionality for transcoding

I use a cheap A380 for $100 to convert to mkv using QSV which retains the high end bitrate and plays without transcoding. It's much more efficient than going high end on the CPU using handbrake. It cut the processing time to 1/8th of the time it took the CPU which also reduces the load and electricity costs.

As to the storage it comes down to just picking a case that hold that many drives. The FD meshify 2 holds 13 in an internal rack. Then just pick your other guts and you're done.

 

[ddaenen1]

I like Supermicro. I have been running X8 series and now X9 series (SCM-F) with TrueNAS and never any issues. SM is just rock solid. It is not clear to me if you are going to do a fresh install with Scale or just remain with Core and swap out the hardware because for FreeBSD, SM is said to be the most compatible hardware.

 

[Thomas H]

@donEddie7 I have the same TS440/TrueNAS/4TB WD Reds/~27TB available and going through a similar upgrade as you. LOL I have a rack and prefer rack setup so moving away from desktop form factors as a first thing. I am learning getting a chassis with expanders is the way to go for supporting large number of drives like 12/24/36/48 bays pairing it to a HBA controller.

If you are doing ZFS I suggest you take a look at this post on using mirror vdevs, not RAIDZ. I will be migrating my TS440 10 HDD RAIDZ2 to this setup. That is, instead of tying myself to purchase mass quantity of the same size HDD, I can upgrade to larger size HDD pairs plus other benefits mentioned. For storage and VMs, my upgrade plans will be going to a hybrid/tiered storage. So slow HDD for storage, fast SSD for VMs, and low latency queue depth 1 Intel Optane for ZFS special meta drives, etc.

I recently scored one of these Supermicro 6029U-E1CR4T 2U servers from the deals forum. It includes a backplane expander for 12 hot swap bays, 8 SATA3/SAS3 plus 4 hybrid SAS3/NVMe, 9361-8i controller for expander for ZFS, four 10GbE, lots of expansion PCIe 3.0 two x16 and five x8 for more M.2/U.2/NVMe drives. Of the three brands, the best baseboard management controller (BMC) is Dell's iDRAC then Supermicro IPMI. Overall, I like Supermicro over Dell for things like BIOS, expansion cards, compatibilities.

Definitely separate storage from media server if you have choice. I haven't figured out what server to use for Plex transcoding/encoding/4K but trying to use Xeon servers is an uphill battle. I've tried looking for QuickSync in Xeon servers and attempted using Intel Arc in the R440 with limited success. For example, Intel Arc needs resizeable bar for best performance but not available on Xeon server BIOS. I also want vGPU with virtual functions (assign GPU to multiple VMs), not GPU passthrough, and seems only available for Intel QuickSync gen 11? or later chipsets which rules out Xeon servers.