NAS/Router build list

[Michael Dimech]

Hey everyone!
This will be my first time posting so I hope I'm welcome, and thanks in advance for any advice you offer.

Recently I was looking into the computer/networking field and I was quite curious and amazed to see what can be achieved.

As I was researching into NAS builds and router builds, I decided to make a list of parts that I would've deemed suitable enough to run my own setup.

Now this might seem a bit overkill for home use but I think it does well in allowing for expansion in the future.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Other: Intel Atom C2550 (Embedded 4 x 2.4GHz)
Other: ASUS P9A-I 4L E5-2600 C2550 LGA2011-3 SAS (ASMB7-iKVM Embedded)
Other: RPC 3116 (3U Rackmount)
Other: Supermicro 19.7in iPass to 4 SAS/SATA Cable for HDD (4)
Other: Antec Power Supply 1000W ATX12V and EPS12V,
Other: Kingston 4GB DDR3 (ECC + Registered)
Other: WD Red 1TB
Other: WD Purple 1TB
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-22 17:36 EDT-0400

Is this a setup that would do well in acting as both a router and NAS, or can I only do one of the two?

 

[vl1969]

What OS are you planning to run?
If you plan for virtualization you need more ram and probably a better cpu. A psu might be a litle over the top. For even 16 drives a 700 or 800 would be more than enough.

 

[pricklypunter]

I would suggest you go the virtulization route and then you can have a router/ firewall, a domain controller, a maid for making breakfast...
Ok, the last one requires more expensive hardware, the point is, you can have loads of what you want/ need by condensing and sharing your available resources

A faster CPU would be good, way more RAM would be good, depending on what your plans are going forward, start thinking min 16-32GB. I'm rocking 8 enterprise disks all day long, plus Fans, Mainboard, SSD, USB, 4 port NIC and it's quite happy sitting on a 400W supply

 

[Michael Dimech]

What OS are you planning to run?
If you plan for virtualization you need more ram and probably a better cpu. A psu might be a litle over the top. For even 16 drives a 700 or 800 would be more than enough.

I was planning to use Windows Server 2012 because I'm familiar with it. I would've gone with Linux, but I have no experience with that.

Guess it would be best to choose a board with a non-embedded CPU then for virtualization?

 

[Michael Dimech]

I would suggest you go the virtulization route and then you can have a router/ firewall, a domain controller, a maid for making breakfast...
Ok, the last one requires more expensive hardware, the point is, you can have loads of what you want/ need by condensing and sharing your available resources

A faster CPU would be good, way more RAM would be good, depending on what your plans are going forward, start thinking min 16-32GB. I'm rocking 8 enterprise disks all day long, plus Fans, Mainboard, SSD, USB, 4 port NIC and it's quite happy sitting on a 400W supply

I chose the 1000W power supply because it has dual 12V rails, because I vaguely remember reading from an article that having all of your disks on one rail would overload the circuitry.

With regards to virtualization, that would require a Xeon CPU since the Atom on the Asus board I chose doesn't support it right?

 

[vl1969]

Actually a single rail psu is better for most applications.
Aslo most modern psu are really a single rail internally, splitting up output on the external circuit.
You will need way more power to run windows 2012 for your needs. And it is not too for routing. Hence you will need to go virtual route. For a decent hyper-v setup you will need a better cpu and at least 8gb ram.
For what you plan I would go with a Linux distro like rock-store or open media vault.
This are NAS distros, so it takes care of your first requirement and since they are based on Linux you can configure them to also do routing duty as well.
Both will run on your current config happily. Rock-store is kind of sbs setup so you can even have a domain on it.

 

[Michael Dimech]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Other: RPC 3116 (3U Rackmount) (€339.88)
Other: Supermicro 19.7in iPass to 4 SAS/SATA Cable for HDD (4) (€58.24)
Other: Antec Power Supply 1000W ATX12V and EPS12V, (€139.18)
Other: WD Red 1TB (€58.15)
Other: WD Purple 1TB (€55.19)
Other: Intel 3.00GHz Xeon E5-1607 4-Core Socket-2011 (€227.21)
Other: Supermicro Motherboard S-2011 for E5-2600/1600 v3 (€355.45)
Other: Kingston 16GB DDR4 PC4-17000 (2133MHz) 288p DIMM ( x 4) (€338.63)
Total: €1571.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 12:36 CET+0100

Did a slight update on the build. I tried to stick to having as much stuff on-board as possible (SAS ports, 4 x GB LAN), similar to what I did with the Asus board.

I still haven't changed the power supply, and I'd like a recommendation on a good one as I don't know much about power supplies that can support numerous harddrives. The price has gone up significantly outside my budget, but considering I need virtualisation for a router/NAS combo I had to go with something with a bit more punch.

 

[Michael Dimech]

Actually a single rail psu is better for most applications.
Aslo most modern psu are really a single rail internally, splitting up output on the external circuit.
You will need way more power to run windows 2012 for your needs. And it is not too for routing. Hence you will need to go virtual route. For a decent hyper-v setup you will need a better cpu and at least 8gb ram.
For what you plan I would go with a Linux distro like rock-store or open media vault.
This are NAS distros, so it takes care of your first requirement and since they are based on Linux you can configure them to also do routing duty as well.
Both will run on your current config happily. Rock-store is kind of sbs setup so you can even have a domain on it.

So this setup, with a bit more RAM, would actually be good for a NAS?
I'd be willing to give up making my own router because I don't think it would make much of a difference - I was looking to make my own to have a grouped network setup, but considering that internet provision in my country is kind of terrible, trying to make a chicken salad out of it would be wasted money, so I wouldn't mind.

 

[Quasduco]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Other: RPC 3116 (3U Rackmount) (€339.88)
Other: Supermicro 19.7in iPass to 4 SAS/SATA Cable for HDD (4) (€58.24)
Other: Antec Power Supply 1000W ATX12V and EPS12V, (€139.18)
Other: WD Red 1TB (€58.15)
Other: WD Purple 1TB (€55.19)
Other: Intel 3.00GHz Xeon E5-1607 4-Core Socket-2011 (€227.21)
Other: Supermicro Motherboard S-2011 for E5-2600/1600 v3 (€355.45)
Other: Kingston 16GB DDR4 PC4-17000 (2133MHz) 288p DIMM ( x 4) (€338.63)
Total: €1571.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 12:36 CET+0100

Did a slight update on the build. I tried to stick to having as much stuff on-board as possible (SAS ports, 4 x GB LAN), similar to what I did with the Asus board.

I still haven't changed the power supply, and I'd like a recommendation on a good one as I don't know much about power supplies that can support numerous harddrives. The price has gone up significantly outside my budget, but considering I need virtualisation for a router/NAS combo I had to go with something with a bit more punch.

Well, unfortunately, you chose a v1 cpu, and a v3 motherboard, which aren't compatible.

Your selected motherboard has 8 Sata ports via sas, but you have 4 sas to 4 sata cables listed, you can only use 2. If you are just using Sata drives, then use the onboard Sata ports for the remaining 8 bays in your case.

You only show 2 different 1TB drives on your list, which gives you no redundancy, which is a big point for doing a nas.

So, let's start at the beginning - what is your budget, without bankrupting yourself? How much storage space do you need? Is your storage need just bulk storage, like media?

From what I see here, your storage needs are 1TB, which I would say just go get a 2 bay soho nas and be done with it, a lot cheaper.

As for your routing needs, I am guessing you have something like a linksys or netgear router right now...? If so, maybe give ddwrt or tomato a look... They are a good place to start, are free (so long as you follow instructions and don't brick your router), have a lot more features than the OS that comes stock, and are a good learning place.

I know the "I wanna buy a new toy" mindset, and it can spend your money all too fast... Make sure of your needs, and your budget.

 

[Michael Dimech]

Well, unfortunately, you chose a v1 cpu, and a v3 motherboard, which aren't compatible.

Your selected motherboard has 8 Sata ports via sas, but you have 4 sas to 4 sata cables listed, you can only use 2. If you are just using Sata drives, then use the onboard Sata ports for the remaining 8 bays in your case.

You only show 2 different 1TB drives on your list, which gives you no redundancy, which is a big point for doing a nas.

So, let's start at the beginning - what is your budget, without bankrupting yourself? How much storage space do you need? Is your storage need just bulk storage, like media?

From what I see here, your storage needs are 1TB, which I would say just go get a 2 bay soho nas and be done with it, a lot cheaper.

As for your routing needs, I am guessing you have something like a linksys or netgear router right now...? If so, maybe give ddwrt or tomato a look... They are a good place to start, are free (so long as you follow instructions and don't brick your router), have a lot more features than the OS that comes stock, and are a good learning place.

I know the "I wanna buy a new toy" mindset, and it can spend your money all too fast... Make sure of your needs, and your budget.

I put the 1TB drives there because I was at loggerheads as to choose between WD Purple and WD Red - kind of like having placeholders.

I was looking for around a €1000 without the drives (I'd start with 4 minimum and then expand as needed).

I'll amend the CPU and the amount of SAS to SATA cables.

 

[whitey]

Pssst, the FS thread has a SWEET setup for roughly $500 w/ a LGA 2011 board, 64 GB memory and two 8 core procs. I'd take that route and start layering features/functionality on top of that beast.

Motherboard/CPU/Memory Bundles for sale

 

[Michael Dimech]

Pssst, the FS thread has a SWEET setup for roughly $500 w/ a LGA 2011 board, 64 GB memory and two 8 core procs. I'd take that route and start layering features/functionality on top of that beast.

Motherboard/CPU/Memory Bundles for sale

Damn, that looks like a really good deal, but they don't ship worldwide/to Malta.
But thanks for that anyway - should I need it, I'll find a third party to ship the parts.

 

[rubylaser]

Damn, that looks like a really good deal, but they don't ship worldwide/to Malta.
But thanks for that anyway - should I need it, I'll find a third party to ship the parts.

I'd contact Pam (@NATEX ) on these forums to provide a price to ship to you. I know they have shipped to others outside the US.

 

[Michael Dimech]

Cooked up something different with this list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Other: RPC 3116 (3U Rackmount) (€342.33)
Other: ASUS P9D-C Sockel 1150 ATX (€175.91)
Other: Reference Intel CPU Heatsink (€0.00)
Other: Kingston 16GB DDR3L PC3-12800 (1600MHz) 240p DIMM (ECC + Registered) (x2) (€173.25)
Other: Thermaltake Paris 650 Watt (€90.90)
Other: Intel Xeon E3-1231V3 (€253.90)
Total: €1036.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 21:21 CET+0100


More grunt for slightly less money. I'll start by populating the sata ports with the 4 storage drives and once I get to populating all the drives in the future, I'll get an LSI SAS Controller. This also seems like the only option for me because no matter which way I cut it, a socket 2011 build just costs too much for me.

 

[vl1969]

If all you building now is nas your original setup will do just fine. Still think the psu is abit overkill but to each is his own. A smidge more ram would be better too. Slap the open mefua vault on it or freeNAS and you will be done. Omv have tons of plug-ins thay will do wonders for file sharing and other things. Even owncloud setup.
As for router, there is nothing wrong with building your own, my preference though is separate device rather then vm.

 

[Michael Dimech]

If all you building now is nas your original setup will do just fine. Still think the psu is abit overkill but to each is his own. A smidge more ram would be better too. Slap the open mefua vault on it or freeNAS and you will be done. Omv have tons of plug-ins thay will do wonders for file sharing and other things. Even owncloud setup.
As for router, there is nothing wrong with building your own, my preference though is separate device rather then vm.

I've amended the PSU choice since my assumption with regards to dual rail PSUs doesn't seem to make a difference.

I was going with Windows Server 2012 for an OS - is freeNAS relatively a better choice?

 

[vl1969]

Well it depends.
Freenas is free and very robust. Comparetevly it offers more bung for your buck kind of thing.
I loke open media vault personally. If you do notind paying a little, you can look into unraid. V6 should include vm support. Just add more ram and it should fly. Also unraid is run from usb stick entirely so os does not takes up a harddrive spot.

Don't get me wrong, I am running a windows 2012 file server vm at work. But for the price I am not willing to run it at home.