Current setup:
Hardware:
ASUS M4N82 Deluxe
AMD Phenom II X3 720
8GB ECC RAM
2x Supermicro SAS controllers - LSI1068 based
2x 6-disk raidz2 arrays (striped together) split evenly between the controllers using SAS->SATA breakout cables
1 2-disk mirror pool for the root/boot drives
Intel 1gbit NIC
750W 80-plus PSU
AZZA Solano 1000 case with hot-swap bays for the drives
Software: FreeNAS 9.3.1 with a few jails for HTPC services
I'm considering upgrading mostly for more RAM and to enable a few more uses for the server with VMs and/or containers for some other services.
I'm thinking of getting this hardware..
Motherboard: Intel S5520HC
CPUs: 2 x Intel Xeon E5506
RAM: 96GB ECC
Longer term, 10Gbe is looking really nice. I'll likely upgrade at least one of the 1068 HBAs so I can use >2TB drives. Or perhaps upgrade one and use motherboard ports for the other 4 drives.
I'm pretty sure I can stuff that board into the case, with some minor mods to the motherboard tray. The CPU is likely overkill for my needs, but I can likely find a use for it. Any reasons to avoid the platform? I know it's an older design, but it has ECC and lots of RAM. Enabling VT-d also gives me some future options on VM configurations. The price is also good. And it's a big step up from what I have.
For software, I'm a bit unsure. FreeNAS is okay, but likely to become limiting. I've used just about everything at this point, so a different OS is no big deal.
Requirements:
ZFS support (native, I don't want to virtualize the storage)
Backup receiver, currently CrashPlan, but I'm open to options. Must have OSX/Win/Linux clients.
VM and Container support (backup can run in a VM if needed)
I'm not expecting hardware compatibility issues with any of the platforms I might choose, but if there is something to be aware of, please let me know.
FreeBSD could work, I'm less familiar with it, but I have been happy with it overall on the FreeNAS setup. The jails work well, and there's the new behyve system.
Solaris... Was my favorite platform a while back for this sort of box. I really liked it with Xen, though that's not supported anymore. The new version is said to greatly improve scrub/resliver times, that could be useful. Zones are well supported, and KVM is available now. SMB/NFS/iSCSI always performed well.
Linux... LXC, Docker, etc... KVM/Xen available. ZFS doesn't have as good a track record here, but was stable on a backup machine I was using for a while. The big win here I would think would be hardware support for cheaper gear like the ConnectX2 10Gbe cards, for example. But I suspect by the time I am ready to try 10Gbe, other options will come down in price. And hopefully switches do. Proxmox seems like it might be a good fit here with ZFS, LXC, and KVM in one package.
The web-managed setups are kind of nice, but I've been using CLI for a long time and don't mind it.
Hardware:
ASUS M4N82 Deluxe
AMD Phenom II X3 720
8GB ECC RAM
2x Supermicro SAS controllers - LSI1068 based
2x 6-disk raidz2 arrays (striped together) split evenly between the controllers using SAS->SATA breakout cables
1 2-disk mirror pool for the root/boot drives
Intel 1gbit NIC
750W 80-plus PSU
AZZA Solano 1000 case with hot-swap bays for the drives
Software: FreeNAS 9.3.1 with a few jails for HTPC services
I'm considering upgrading mostly for more RAM and to enable a few more uses for the server with VMs and/or containers for some other services.
I'm thinking of getting this hardware..
Motherboard: Intel S5520HC
CPUs: 2 x Intel Xeon E5506
RAM: 96GB ECC
Longer term, 10Gbe is looking really nice. I'll likely upgrade at least one of the 1068 HBAs so I can use >2TB drives. Or perhaps upgrade one and use motherboard ports for the other 4 drives.
I'm pretty sure I can stuff that board into the case, with some minor mods to the motherboard tray. The CPU is likely overkill for my needs, but I can likely find a use for it. Any reasons to avoid the platform? I know it's an older design, but it has ECC and lots of RAM. Enabling VT-d also gives me some future options on VM configurations. The price is also good. And it's a big step up from what I have.
For software, I'm a bit unsure. FreeNAS is okay, but likely to become limiting. I've used just about everything at this point, so a different OS is no big deal.
Requirements:
ZFS support (native, I don't want to virtualize the storage)
Backup receiver, currently CrashPlan, but I'm open to options. Must have OSX/Win/Linux clients.
VM and Container support (backup can run in a VM if needed)
I'm not expecting hardware compatibility issues with any of the platforms I might choose, but if there is something to be aware of, please let me know.
FreeBSD could work, I'm less familiar with it, but I have been happy with it overall on the FreeNAS setup. The jails work well, and there's the new behyve system.
Solaris... Was my favorite platform a while back for this sort of box. I really liked it with Xen, though that's not supported anymore. The new version is said to greatly improve scrub/resliver times, that could be useful. Zones are well supported, and KVM is available now. SMB/NFS/iSCSI always performed well.
Linux... LXC, Docker, etc... KVM/Xen available. ZFS doesn't have as good a track record here, but was stable on a backup machine I was using for a while. The big win here I would think would be hardware support for cheaper gear like the ConnectX2 10Gbe cards, for example. But I suspect by the time I am ready to try 10Gbe, other options will come down in price. And hopefully switches do. Proxmox seems like it might be a good fit here with ZFS, LXC, and KVM in one package.
The web-managed setups are kind of nice, but I've been using CLI for a long time and don't mind it.