I've been running a Freenas NAS for about a year, on an HP N36L, but I'm already running out of space. I would like to build a second NAS (or possibly extend my existing one -- see below) to give me some room for growth. I'm very happy with Freenas and would like to continue using it. I would like to include more disks than my existing setup, though. I currently have four disks (I know the N36L can take up to six with some hacking, but I don't really feel up to trying this on a running setup full of data). I would like to use Raidz2, which only begins to make sense with six disks or more -- I think I'd like to go with at least six to start with, but it would be useful to be able to slap in two to four more later to grow my pool. This obviously rules out the N40L.
I'm basically looking for hardware recommendations. First off, to get this out of the way, I'm not sure if I can/should buy an external enclosure (connected via eSATA?) and add a second pool to my existing server. It seems that such things exist, and I've researched them a little, but they're a bit impenetrable to me.
If that is not the best option, I'll build a second NAS. I'm not sure if there's something I can buy off the shelf (like the Microservers) that would fit my requirements, at a price point that makes sense. If there is, I'm all for it. If not, I need to know whether it makes sense to accommodate these disks directly on the motherboard, or get a controller. The controller will run in JBOD mode, so it can be a relatively simple one -- hardware RAID interferes with the functioning of ZFS. I'll need recommendations for the motherboard, and the controller, if that's the way to go. I can figure out how much RAM I need -- I won't be using deduplication or encryption. If anyone has suggestions for disks, I'd like to hear them. I'm probably looking at 3TB disks. My existing NAS runs Caviar Greens. I've read on the FreeBSD forums that these are not great for NAS use (they tend to wear out), but I didn't know that at the time. The only other requirement is that the motherboard must have a gigabit NIC.
To summarize:
1. Can I/should I buy an external enclosure to attach to my existing NAS? If not:
3. What case should I buy?
4. Which motherboard should I buy? Must have a gigabit NIC.
5. Do I accommodate the disks on the motherboard (is that even possible with 8 - 10 disks?), or get a controller? Which controller? (No hardware RAID required).
4. Any ideas about which disks to get.
I know there are issues around motherboard and controller compatibility with FreeNAS, but I can research these.
I'm basically looking for hardware recommendations. First off, to get this out of the way, I'm not sure if I can/should buy an external enclosure (connected via eSATA?) and add a second pool to my existing server. It seems that such things exist, and I've researched them a little, but they're a bit impenetrable to me.
If that is not the best option, I'll build a second NAS. I'm not sure if there's something I can buy off the shelf (like the Microservers) that would fit my requirements, at a price point that makes sense. If there is, I'm all for it. If not, I need to know whether it makes sense to accommodate these disks directly on the motherboard, or get a controller. The controller will run in JBOD mode, so it can be a relatively simple one -- hardware RAID interferes with the functioning of ZFS. I'll need recommendations for the motherboard, and the controller, if that's the way to go. I can figure out how much RAM I need -- I won't be using deduplication or encryption. If anyone has suggestions for disks, I'd like to hear them. I'm probably looking at 3TB disks. My existing NAS runs Caviar Greens. I've read on the FreeBSD forums that these are not great for NAS use (they tend to wear out), but I didn't know that at the time. The only other requirement is that the motherboard must have a gigabit NIC.
To summarize:
1. Can I/should I buy an external enclosure to attach to my existing NAS? If not:
3. What case should I buy?
4. Which motherboard should I buy? Must have a gigabit NIC.
5. Do I accommodate the disks on the motherboard (is that even possible with 8 - 10 disks?), or get a controller? Which controller? (No hardware RAID required).
4. Any ideas about which disks to get.
I know there are issues around motherboard and controller compatibility with FreeNAS, but I can research these.