Use what I have or build new - Could use some advice

[Shadowrun78]

I was recently given a TS430 from work. It currently has a Xeon E3 1230, 4GB PC10060 UDIMM(single stick).

I figured it'd be a good starting point to build a FreeNas server. The goal is to install 6 x 4TB NAS drives for storage and possibly plex and some other jails to tinker around with as I haven't really thought of anything beyond that.

Before I got started, I wanted to get some advice on whether this system would be good for something like this. I know I will probably need to add more RAM, at the very least 16GB(unless I need to max it out at 32). It only came with one drive cage, so I will need to add an additional drive cage as well. The on board sata port count is 6, so that means a SATDOM is out of the question for the FreeNAS boot up, but it does come with an onboard USB port(only a single one though) which means I may need a pci-e card to increase this. I may have a freebie coming from work, but we'll see.

So far it puts this project at:

16GB/32GB UDIMM RAM (Usually around $100/$200) HD Drive cage (cheapest I've found is $100) PCI-E Card for extra sata ports

If I really looked harder, I might find the parts for less but what do you guys think? Is this TS430 a solid base to put some money into or should I just build something current? What route would you guys take?

I don't mind building something new, but if I don't have to, I could throw the money into something else.

 

[ttabbal]

If I were in your place... That's a perfectly good CPU for a file server, even with some extra stuff added on like Plex. Transcoding in Plex might cause problems, but that depends on a lot of factors, so it's hard to say.

As you mentioned, RAM is an issue. Get more. 8GB minimum, my personal minimum is 16GB. Check out Natex, they have some good RAM pricing. Personally, I would get ECC if supported by the motherboard. The CPU does have support.

If you plan to have 6 SATA drives, I would use the onboard ports for those and USB for the FreeNAS boot drive. If your system only has one USB port, use a hub for the install and KB/Mouse if needed. That way, you don't need any cards and can focus on drives/RAM.

 

[pricklypunter]

Having 16GB of RAM is good if you are planning on having several VM's, perhaps max 5-8. Beyond that you'll likely need a bit more anyway. If rolling a NAS on it with ZFS, you'll be wanting 12-16GB just for that alone, so I would say if that's your plan, max the box out to 32GB. Given that you have very little money invested so far in the box itself, spending a couple of hundred knocking it into shape to fit your needs, is not by any stretch, out of the way. So I would say, if it's otherwise in decent condition, go for it. The E3-12xx is plenty for most things I have tried, plus it punches well above its weight when it needs to, it's a great chip imo. You'll also be wanting an HBA of some sort for your disks

 

[whitey]

I used to have E3 1230v2 nodes and they packed plenty o' punch but the 32gb ram limitation eventually drove me to the 2011 platform. For what you have in mind I think it is a good foundation to start from but 16gb minimum will be warranted.

 

[Shadowrun78]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Yeah, so far the only thing I'm finding that stinks is the UDIMM requirement. Compared to RDIMM it's pricey.

Quick question

Having 16GB of RAM is good if you are planning on having several VM's, perhaps max 5-8. Beyond that you'll likely need a bit more anyway. If rolling a NAS on it with ZFS, you'll be wanting 12-16GB just for that alone, so I would say if that's your plan, max the box out to 32GB. Given that you have very little money invested so far in the box itself, spending a couple of hundred knocking it into shape to fit your needs, is not by any stretch, out of the way. So I would say, if it's otherwise in decent condition, go for it. The E3-12xx is plenty for most things I have tried, plus it punches well above its weight when it needs to, it's a great chip imo. You'll also be wanting an HBA of some sort for your disks

What would you recommend for a HBA card? I thought I was going to have one but turned out to be a sas3082e-r, which stinks because of it's 2TB drive limitation. Is there a good card out there that can support 8 drives that I'd be able to connect to both drive cages?

 

[ttabbal]

I think most recommended LSI2008 based cards. Dell H210/H310, IBM M1015 and similar. Use SAS to SATA breakout cables and they do 8 drives each.

 

[pricklypunter]

+1 to that

Just to add, the Dell based cards (H310) have their SAS ports on the rear edge of the card (opposite end to the mounting bracket). The LSI based cards usually have their SAS ports facing towards the top of the card. So depending on how you are planning on routing cables, one card may be easier for you to use than the other. Also, quite often you'll find the Dell branded cards are a little cheaper to buy due to being less popular. Lastly, don't forget the LSI branded cards themselves, sometimes you can still find a decent deal on the LSI9211-8i's. Whatever else, make sure it comes with whichever bracket you need (full height/ half height)

 

[whitey]

+1 to just buying one from me pre-flashed so I do not have to type another 'how-to' flashing thread...my fingers hurt :-D

I have spare H310 and 9210-8i HBA's arnd w/ IT mode v20 on them, vertical and horizontal connects whatever your heart desires.

 

[ttabbal]

+1 to just buying one from me pre-flashed so I do not have to type another 'how-to' flashing thread...my fingers hurt :-D

What do you charge for them? I am considering getting one to upgrade past 2TB drives. [emoji1]

 

[whitey]

What do you charge for them? I am considering getting one to upgrade past 2TB drives. [emoji1]

$50 shipped all set to go. I honestly don't offer it up to make much $ just have a few spares arnd and thought I'd save myself the inevitable 20 post thread or re-point to all the old threads. :-D

 

[ttabbal]

$50 shipped all set to go.

Any particular cards?

 

[whitey]

Look above h310/9210-8i wink wink, both lsi 2008 6gbps variants

 

[Shadowrun78]

Look above h310/9210-8i wink wink, both lsi 2008 6gbps variants

I may have to take you up on that offer.

 

[pricklypunter]

$50 is a damned good deal on any of those cards, I would be snapping one up if it were me

I need a 24-36U netshelter, but he's all out of those at $50

 

[whitey]

I may have to take you up on that offer.

PM me, I only have 4 LSI 9210-8i's left (just sent out H310 today), all vertical facing but great in 4U systems, can also work in 2U systems w/ a tight bend or right angle 8087 connector.

 

[Shadowrun78]

Wanted to thank everyone above for the advice and Whitey for the LSI card!

I fear I'm going to have to head over to the FreeNas forums though because I've hit a brickwall. I can't get the darn thing to boot after install. I think the Lenovo Bios might be incompatible with the way the boot partitions are set in the install. I install runs fine on any device(i've tried various USB devices and an SSD) but it just doesn't want to boot. So far 9.3, 9.10 and even 10(i know it's beta, was kind of a hail mary) fails.

I want to say I've seen that someone was able to get FreeNas installed on a TS430 over on their forums so there maybe some hope, but it's not looking good.

So unless anyone has any suggestions, I believe I'm slit out huck on this one. On the bright side, it will boot Unraid though.

 

[ttabbal]

That's very strange indeed. Any particular errors or just failure? How about just a regular FreeBSD install?

You might try changing the BIOS settings for the SATA controller. There are usually a couple options like AHCI, Compatibility, IDE etc.. Maybe try EFI vs BIOS booting if your gear supports it. I know my server board is a bit iffy when I boot Linux in EFI mode for some reason, yet works fine in BIOS mode.

 

[Shadowrun78]

That's very strange indeed. Any particular errors or just failure? How about just a regular FreeBSD install?

You might try changing the BIOS settings for the SATA controller. There are usually a couple options like AHCI, Compatibility, IDE etc.. Maybe try EFI vs BIOS booting if your gear supports it. I know my server board is a bit iffy when I boot Linux in EFI mode for some reason, yet works fine in BIOS mode.

Yeah, I've gone through changing the Sata mode between AHCI and IDE, still no go. Also, I cannot, for the life of me seem to find in the boot options where I can change from EFI to Legacy mode. I want to say, in this version of the bios, that Lenovo took that option out because I can't find it anywhere. I've been banging my head against this for days and I refuse to give up because of, well...cake!

 

[pricklypunter]

Yup, EFI is prolly your culprit here. Have you got the latest bios? Have you tried an earlier version? Is there really no option to turn on the CSM for legacy boot? Often they hide settings like that in the security tabs/ fields. Try turning off Secure Boot.

Oh and you'll definitely be wanting AHCI mode for your install

 

[Shadowrun78]

Yup, EFI is prolly your culprit here. Have you got the latest bios? Have you tried an earlier version? Is there really no option to turn on the CSM for legacy boot? Often they hide settings like that in the security tabs/ fields. Try turning off Secure Boot.

Oh and you'll definitely be wanting AHCI mode for your install

Yeah. Latest bios installed 2.70/4.20, tried, 9.3, haven't tried 9.2 though. It's my understanding that 9.2 to 9.3, there was a change from mbr to gpt (I may be wrong on this) and that it was now installed on zfs instead of ufs.

So 9.2 may work, but then I may be stuck on that version.

From some research, this may go beyond freenas and may be an issue with freebsd in general and this bios type.

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