Building my firt unRaid server -- config advices appriciated ^_^"


Kam

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Hi there,

 

I'm very glad to finally start this post.
I'm a close-to-be fresh new unRaid user. I've looking around for weeks now to build myself a home server, and now I think I'm ready to start. So I wanted to share my hardware config with you guys and maybe get some advices before doing/buying stupid thing....

Actually, I've always been a software guy (and a bit of system) and poorly paid attention to the hardware part until recently when I started to read more about building a DIY NAS/server. As a matter of fact, the last computer I built entirely was in 2003, when I was 18 ^-^ ...

 

My goal is to build a server to be used mainly as a NAS + nextcloud for myself, my wife and some friends and family. But I want to use it as a VM station : 1 windows (not gaming, at least at first), a couple of linux to play with, and 1 MacOS for my wife so that she doesn't need to bring hers (macbook pro) when she comes to my place) or goes to unsafe places (I've found recently my old eeePC 901, so she can connect to the VM).


First, I would go for a TrueNAS core, but two things discouraged me:
- the heavy resources demanding ZFS file system, which looks amazing but very expensive imho...
- and mainly it seems to me that it doesn't meet my requirement for VMs
I think I might buy a TrueNAS mini, or build a cheap one with DDR3, in the future if my storage needs increase so much that it would required a second server...
- plus, I didn't pay much attention to unRaid as it looked like a closed commercial solution. But then I realized it was based on slackware, and I am much more at ease with linux than BSD ! (well even than windows ;))

 

But let's focus on the topic! I started to make a config with intel based CPU as AMD had bad reputation back in Athlon/Pentium times. Then I realized that Ryzen CPU seem pretty fine and that I could even get affordable pieces using DDR4 ECC memory !

 

So here's the last config I've come to :
- Fractal Design Node 804 as it can host 8 3.5 HDD + 2.5 SDD
- ASRock B550M Pro4 motherboard
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- be quiet! Pure Loop 240mm CPU watercooling
- be quiet! Straight Power 11 550W Platinum  PSU
- 2x Kingston KSM32ED8/32ME(pdf) 32GB DDR4 3200Mhz ECC
- Kingston A400 240GB read/write cache
Kingston NV1 NVMe PCIe 1TB for VMs
MZHOU Carte PCIe SATA 8 Ports (Amazon.fr) as M.2 slots condemn 2 SATA ports
- 2x Toshiba N300 4TB HDD
- 2x WD Red plus 4TB HDD
- 2x SEAGATE IronWolf 4TB HDD
+ an old MSI GeForce 1030 AERO ITX 2G OC I removed from a PC on which I installed QubesOS

I fixed myself a 2000€ budget (storage included), and it makes around 1900€ now so I'm good. HDDs and the Node 804 case are already purchased as it's the only parts I sure of... well that meens I not sure of much :D

 

Here's what I wonder:
- Is watercooling worth it ? I'd like the server to be as quiet as possible but also as cool as possible, I live in Grenoble (France) and summers can be damn hot, even though my flat's office is the coolest room.
- the Node 804 comes with 3 fans integrated, would it be wise to add a few more ?
- I really got an headache sizing the PSU ! and I still wonder if 550W is good. I still have room for 2x3.5" + 2x2.5" HDDs and might upgrade the GPU. So maybe I should go for a 600W or even 650W PSU ?
- Maybe 64GB of RAM is overkill but I'm thinking if I should choose between 4x16GB max and 4x32GB max the latter will allow me to run more apps on the server. The MacOS VM would probabl run 24/7 while the others would run on demand (maybe 1 linux VM would end running 24/7)
- The two M.2 disk I wanted to buy are not available anymore... but I understood quality is not a big issue. Yet I picked Kingston ones instead of unkown brands... Did I understand well or should I pay a little more attention to it ?
- And above all, is the sizing correct (240GB for cache, 1TB for VMs) ?
- Would my old GPU do the job ? or should I investigate for a better one ?

 

The last questions are less urgent as I will decide when I setup the server... that won't be done before buying the parts
- I plan to keep 1 HDD unassigned as a hot spare disk, should I use 2 parity disks which would leave me 12TB of data disks which would be enough for now ? or use 16GB data + 1 parity disk ? I haven't read enough to make myself an opinion, so any advice ?
- Toshiba N300 HDDs run at 7200rpm, do you know if it's possible to configure them to run only 5400rpm ? that would reduce the heat and noise I presume...
- Is there a smarter way to dispatch the HDDs between parity/data/spare disks when using different brands ?
- Is there a smarter way to plug the HDDs between the motherboard and the PCIe card ? I think I would plug 3 on each but really don't know...

 

Well I think that post is long enough ! Sorry if I'm to chatty :P (I hope you're not reading this on a mobile, sorry -_-" )
I'm really excited and can't wait to start playing/testing (messing?) with unRaid ! I hope you guys can help me confirm my hardware choices so that I can annoy you with software/config issues :)

Thanks in advance,
Kam

Edited by Kam
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