cheapest motherboard + CPU with ECC for running freenas for doing backups?

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NeverDie

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I hope to build an all-in-one (https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...one-nas-is-easiest-to-install-learn-use.4681/) for the main file server, and I'd like a separate system to back it up. Hopefully the backup system won't be as expensive. I'm open to used equipment, but I'd also like to price out what the least expensive new hardware would cost so that I can consciously decide whether to make that trade-off.

Actually, I'm not completely convinced I need ECC for such a backup box. Perhaps verifying the files after backup would be adequate error detection? Non-ECC platforms are extremely cheap.

Ideas? Suggestions? Recommendations?
 

mackle

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Nov 13, 2013
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Cheapest initial outlay or cheapest over the life of the server?

I.e. Do initial costs matter more than operating costs?
 

NeverDie

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Cheapest initial outlay or cheapest over the life of the server?

I.e. Do initial costs matter more than operating costs?
Over the life of the server. However, I'll likely turn it off when it's not backing up, so I'm guessing the two numbers would be about the same?
 

NeverDie

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I'd still want it to scrub the files periodically though. Not sure how long that process will take, assuming 18TB over 6 drives in raidz3.
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Non-ECC platforms are extremely cheap.
I don't mean to disagree with you, if you are willing to shop on Ebay, ECC platforms is half of the cost of consumer platforms.
Example: puchased Lot of 12 Samsung PC3-10600R Registered ECC memory for $149, $12.42 for 4GB ram
Lot of 12 Samsung HP 4GB PC3 10600R Registered ECC 500203 061 M393B5170EH1 | eBay

Intel S2600CP2 server board, dual lga2011, 16 ram slot. 12 sata ports, for $112 with shipping.
Intel DBS2600CP2 S2600CP2 Server Board SSI EEB Socket R DDR3 | eBay

Intel Xeon E5-1603 Quad-core CPU for $75
Intel Xeon E5 1603 Quad Core 2 8GHz 10MB 5GT s DMI SROL9 LGA2011 9220 | eBay

The whole package with 16GB memory ($50) , Intel Server board ($112), and E5-1603 cpu ($75) = $237.

Compare to the $250 I7 cpu that I paid last month.
 
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Entz

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Do have anything you can put into the build (case/PSU/etc) or looking from scratch. Form factor?

My suggestion for new, if you need everything is to get a Dell T20. Cheap, holds 6 drives, remote management (I think) and has 4GB of ECC ram.

My own backup server is running a Supermicro A1SAM-2550F (~250$) in a Supermicro 1U chassis (more specifically I have a SYS-5018A-MLHN4 ). But that may be more expensive then you are thinking.

Edit: Marsh set looks good as well..
 
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NeverDie

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Do have anything you can put into the build (case/PSU/etc) or looking from scratch. Form factor?

My suggestion for new, if you need everything is to get a Dell T20. Cheap, holds 6 drives, remote management (I think) and has 4GB of ECC ram.

My own backup server is running a Supermicro A1SAM-2550F (~250$) in a Supermicro 1U chassis (more specifically I have a SYS-5018A-MLHN4 ). But that may be more expensive then you are thinking.

Edit: Marsh set looks good as well..
I do have both power supplies and cases that I could use if it's advantageous. I don't have any unused ECC memory though.
 

NeverDie

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I'm also willing to consider something non-ZFS, provided that it can scrub the files and provided the equivalent of raidz3 or better data integrity reliability. That may reduce ECC memory costs, which from what I gather can be as much as 1 GB per Terabyte.

If I do go the ZFS route on this backup server (used to backup the main ZFS file server), then I guess I'll stick with ECC memory to better avoid an unrecoverable catastrophe. I probably should have been more clear about that in my earlier posts. Therefore, something that's non-ZFS might be cheaper for this reason, and so I'm open to alternatives of that type, provided that they still scrub the files periodically to provide at least a raidz3 level of data integrity reliability.
 

rubylaser

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Another option could be SnapRAID. It has very low system requirements. It supports up to 6 parity disks, and provides data scrubbing as well. A potential downside for your use case could be that it is not realtime RAID. So you would need to trigger the sync via cronjob or script.
 

NeverDie

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Another option could be SnapRAID. It has very low system requirements. It supports up to 6 parity disks, and provides data scrubbing as well. A potential downside for your use case could be that it is not realtime RAID. So you would need to trigger the sync via cronjob or script.
For this application, and with triple parity, would it need ECC memory?
 

NeverDie

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It wouldn't "need" ECC memory, but ECC memory is a good thing to have in general for a file/backup server if your data is truly important to you.
OK, I'll concede the point. Otherwise I fear we'll diverge from the main topic of this thread. ;)
 

markarr

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Oct 31, 2013
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You can use a backup system, Unitrends has a free version where you can backup up to 8 vms. or you can use the zfs in freenas and do snapshot replication.
 

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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For a cheap backupsystem a HP microserver N36-N54 may be an option.
They are quite cheap (new and used), offer max 16 GB ECC RAM and support disks > 2TB.

You also do not need 1 GB RAM per TB data.
This is a thumb rule for a fast system. I had systems with OpenIndiana with 4GB RAM and 16 TB data for quite a long time (regular multiuser filer).

Be careful with ZFS snaps of ESXi VMs as a ZFS snap has a state like after a sudden power failure.
A VM may be corrupt under such a condition. Usually you should do ZFS snaps in a power-down state
or you should include hot memory ESXi snaps within ZFS snaps.
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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For this application, and with triple parity, would it need ECC memory?
Please let me make my point more clear, few Intel I3 and Pentium chip support ECC memory as well.
if you have shop at Ebay, 4gb ECC memory is cheaper than consumer type memory, there is NO cost penalty for ECC memory.
Gea brought up the HP Microserver as backup server. I have 3 HP Microserver function as backup server, why three HP microservers, it is my way doing versioning . Odd week backup and even week backup, I always have a copy of 2 weeks old file incase virus software didn't detected the virus in time.

Added: Lot of AMD motherboard support ECC memory as well.
 
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NeverDie

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For a cheap backupsystem a HP microserver N36-N54 may be an option.
They are quite cheap (new and used), offer max 16 GB ECC RAM and support disks > 2TB.

You also do not need 1 GB RAM per TB data.
This is a thumb rule for a fast system. I had systems with OpenIndiana with 4GB RAM and 16 TB data for quite a long time (regular multiuser filer).

Be careful with ZFS snaps of ESXi VMs as a ZFS snap has a state like after a sudden power failure.
A VM may be corrupt under such a condition. Usually you should do ZFS snaps in a power-down state
or you should include hot memory ESXi snaps within ZFS snaps.
So, is 4GB minimum generally a safe number for freenas?
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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So, is 4GB minimum generally a safe number for freenas?
Yes - as long a you leave dedup turned off. Depending on your application you may get more performance with more memory because with ZFS "More Memory = More Cache". But 4GB is "safe" (as long as you turn off dedup - with dedup turned on ZFS really requires a LOT of memory or it will suffer horrible performance issues)
 
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