Neo's FreeNAS Build

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neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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Just a simple FreeNAS build for my home. I'll keep this build thread more photo centric rather than a wall of text. It's a build in progress, thread will be updated as parts arrive and are installed.

-Main:

- Misc:



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Progress build photos

Brand new SC836 cover w/ lock


Brand new SC836 air shroud


Chelsio T520 and Sun Flash Accelerator F40


Intel Xeon E5 1620 V3


(2x) Samsung 32 GB DDR4 2133 ECC LRDIMM
 
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neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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That's a lot of horsepower for a "simple" FreeNAS build.

That's true, reason being I use FreeNAS Jails and have multiples instances of them for things such as backup utilities, newsgroup server, torrent server, irc server, and etc... It's basically my hybrid hypervisor.
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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NYC
Ever think about bhyve?

Is it just me or does the Sun flash accelerator look like a LSI Nytro?
 

neo

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Ever think about bhyve?

Is it just me or does the Sun flash accelerator look like a LSI Nytro?
Haven't read too much on bhyve, but you just reminded me.

Yep, I believe they are rebadged LSI Nytro WarpDrives
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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Is that one of the SUN FLASH ACEELERATORS from the ebay deal thread? Have you done any tsting with it yet?
 

neo

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dswartz

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The flash accelerator cards are interesting. I looked at the IOPS and was amazed. Digging deeper, it looks like it's actually 4 flash units in 1, so the IOPS is most likely an aggregate. If this is the case, one of these would likely not help appreciably over my current s3700?
 

dswartz

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So if it doesn't present to the host as a single SSD, it likely won't be useful as a high-speed SLOG device...
 

neo

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So if it doesn't present to the host as a single SSD, it likely won't be useful as a high-speed SLOG device...
Hardware RAID does not appear as multiple drives.

By design, it appears as a single drive. Sun uses these particular drives as OEM SLOG components in their servers.
 

dswartz

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we're not communicating here :( that was what i was hoping was the case, so i could get an ultra-high IOPS SLOG device. but i've seen at least one post (don't remember where) that says it presents 4 separate devices, and you have to raid them yourself. i'd love that to be wrong, but i'm not going to shell out $$$ and find out it's no better (or even worse) than my s3700 :(
 

neo

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My SC836 case variant originally came with (2x) 80 Plus Gold PSUs. These are the same proprietary form factor PSUs that Supermicro uses in their SC846, SC836, and many other cases. In fact, Supermicro currently only produces 2 PSU form factors, this being one of them.

The 80 Plus Gold PSU was a little too loud to be used in a home setting. I ordered their newer 80 Plus Platinum PSUs as a replacement. I took them apart and compared them, including the fans. The fans are the same form factor, so if you wish you may simply replace the fans to quiet down your 80 Plus Gold PSU.

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80 Plus Platinum (bottom) vs 80 Plus Gold (top)


80 Plus Platinum (left) vs 80 Plus Gold (right)


Both power supplies were quality built with Japanese capacitors. Silicon sealant used in the crucial places.

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Nidec Fan (Platinum PSU - left) vs San Ace Fan (Gold PSU - right)


Nidec Fan (Platinum PSU - left) vs San Ace Fan (Gold PSU - right)


Nidec Fan (Platinum PSU)
 
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voodooFX

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Jan 26, 2014
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Hey neo, I have a 2U Supermicro case with 2x PWS-702A-1R power supplies which are noisy like hell even with the server powered off, because the fan spins all the time.

Can you quantify how much the new platinum model you mentioned is quieter? Is it more or less of 30dB at ~2m ?

I also realized that most of the unsupportable noise is caused by the mesh grills which causing some sort of whistle...
 

neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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Hey neo, I have a 2U Supermicro case with 2x PWS-702A-1R power supplies which are noisy like hell even with the server powered off, because the fan spins all the time.

Can you quantify how much the new platinum model you mentioned is quieter? Is it more or less of 30dB at ~2m ?

I also realized that most of the unsupportable noise is caused by the mesh grills which causing some sort of whistle...

It's hard to quantify noise in a db metric without having a noise meter. But it is satisfactory quieter for my environment.

May I suggest looking up the technical specifications of the fans from the model numbers, I posted a macro shot for this purpose. :)
 

ehorn

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Jun 21, 2012
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Ever check out the noise meter apps for smart phones? They're pretty accurate. :)
 

neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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Ever check out the noise meter apps for smart phones? They're pretty accurate. :)
Good suggestion, but the 80 Plus Gold PSUs are no longer in my possession none the less - for comparison.
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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I have gold, platinum, various wattage and some of the quiet ones... I'm not home or I'd check model.


The platinum are quieter than Gold+ but not as quiet as the "quiet" model.
I forgot and left a 4U on (with 2 nodes/1 side on too) it was that quiet 6' away.

Sound #s will come soon. I have meter, and phone apps to compare too :D
 
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neo

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I finally received the heatsink I ordered. I choose a passively cooled (via air shroud) Supermicro heatsink with narrow ILM 2011-v3 mounting. This was the only compatible one: SUPERMICRO SNK-P0048PS 2U Passive CPU Heatsink for LGA2011 - Newegg.com

In my first post, parts list - I linked to Supermicro's heatsink parts list if anyone needs it.

It is much larger in person. Waiting for my new lens to come in and I'll take more in case motherboard/heastink photos.
 
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