Move from Synology to DIY

dsgnr

dsgnr

dsgnr

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Hi guys, I need a bit of advice if I can.

I currently have a 2-bay Synology DS214+ which I use to for backing up multiple computers as well as nightly crons from my local development Intel NUC, as well as 6 production servers (I am a web developer). Unfortunately, the Synology has proven very difficult to work with in regards to when I need to SSH in to the box. Not sure why, it's just not reliable for cron and SSH in my experience.

Therefore, I am looking at creating my own NAS type solution where I can install something like Debian, set up shares for my local computers and give me better customisation of what I can do inside the CLI.

So far, I think I would like to go for the Fractal Node 304 due to it not being too much bigger than my Synology DS214+, whilst having the ability for 6 3.5" drives.

The trouble I am having is choosing a motherboard/CPU to use. There is so much choice and I am not sure what I need! This is mainly a time machine backup device, the odd streaming (no transcoding) to a OSMC enabled Raspberry Pi, but mostly cron rsync jobs nightly of around 10-15GB per night from my servers.

I would like to use either a RAID 1 or RAID 5 with this setup so I am not sure whether I'll need to buy a RAID controller, or whether the motherboard will be able to cope with this. I currently have 2x 4TB WD Reds, but would like to max this out at 6 x 4TB WD Reds eventually.

I am yet to find a motherboard that can both fit this case, and have 6 drives attached.

Thought this was the best place to ask for some help in choosing.

Thanks,
Dan
 
Depending on whether you plan to have a dedicated gpu in there (I'm assuming you won't if it's just for backups) you could always just put a pci express expansion card in there. Plenty more ports in the same size board that way, and you might actually get better performance.
 
Devrij said:
Depending on whether you plan to have a dedicated gpu in there (I'm assuming you won't if it's just for backups) you could always just put a pci express expansion card in there.
Click to expand...

Most of the time I'll be just SSH'ing into the box just the occasional VNC but hardly ever so I don't think a GPU is necessary.

I was looking at SATA controllers but wasn't sure whether this was the same as a RAID controller itself?

Also, it looks as though that case will support 2 PCIe cards so I could add a graphics card or an ethernet adapter later if needed.

I'm just not sure what sort of spec board/cpu to get to be honest
 
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You aren't going to need anything more than an i3, and mobo is just down to what features you want. There isn't a huge amount of variation in that form factor tbh
 
Thanks

So far, I've come across this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...cket-1151-ddr4-itx-motherboard-mb-687-as.html

I will put an i3 in but not sure if this motherboard is any good? I realise it's cheap.

I've noticed it only has one PCIe slot. I've not found a mini ITX board with two slots despite the Fractal Node 304 having two expansion slots. Any thoughts on this?

I would like to add a NIC and hardware RAID eventually so two expansion slots would be perfect.

Unless I upgrade the MIni ITX board to something better when I eventually save for a RAID card.

Any advice would be great as this is my first DIY box.

I am a systems engineer but usually get the other guys to spec the rack servers. I just build it and make the it all work for the customers needs lol
 
Just a thought as I looked into this route too
Theirs a few pitfalls

Data integrity
i3 means no ECC memory (could lose data or get corrupted data to your raid)

Power consumption vs synlogy
Noise level?

Their not big deals just something to think about.
 
What sort of processors do support ECC memory?

Power consumption, I know it'll be more but not sure how much yet lol

Noise, I plan on getting the quietest fans I can. I find the WD Reds I have in the synology quite loud anyway so I doubt that'll change too much with the right fans in place?
 
Now I know it won't support six drives but it will do four and for the price is impossible to beat.

A HP Gen8 Microserver can be had for less than £130 if you do a bit of searching
 
Or if you need a bit more horsepower than the HP, look up the Dell T20. Currently has around £80 on most retailers. The Xeon model with ECC currently runs for around £240.
 
Thank you for your suggestion - to be honest, I kinda want to build it myself just to say I've done it. And So I can upgrade, swap etc stuff later if needed.

On that note, any recommendations for a super quiet (and efficient) modular PSU for an i3 skyline with 16GB (maybe 32GB) ram and onboard graphics?

I know there are loads, but not sure about any quiet ones
 
i was just interested in this as i was hoing to do somthing simlair a while back but didnt realise petium/i3 supported ECC

Trouble is cant find any boards that supports ECC...

Heres a NON ECC Idea with bigger case to fit more drives.(i went for the silence approach with the case)
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £335.55
(includes shipping: £12.60)
​


​

Another (ITX)
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £300.25
(includes shipping: £12.30)
​


​
 
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So far, I've found this for my mini ITX box which supports ECC memory:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...1151-ddr4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-536-gi.html

Obviously I'd like the cheaper Mobo but if I have to use ECC then I have no choice. By the way, why is ECC memory necessary?

I'd prefer dual Ethernet ports as I'm planning to eventually buy a hardware RAID card and obviously ItX boards only have one expansion slot so unfortunately, I can't go down the dedicated NIC route :( if they did ATX boards that fit in the Fractal Node 304 or other small stealthy box then I may change to an ATX so I could have more expansion slots

Then I was gonna go for an i3 skylake

I haven't yet decided on a PSU but I'd like it to be modular and as quiet as possible so I'm not sure with this one yet.

This is going to be headless and idle most of the time he seems why I want it to be efficient.

Any ideas how much power this will use based on experience?
 
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ECC can handle single bit memory error correction
Depending on the OS running on the box
ECC might be essential or optional
For example i am running Freens on my server
And if i had some faulty normal ram i will have a 100% guarantee of data loss
ECC ram will detect errors and fix them
In case the errors are unfixable as multibit errors, to avoid data corruption the system will stop
As power consumption IDLE at 70W at boot 160W
With 6x 3Tb drives and 3X 0.5Tb drives And a LSI 9211-8i at 7W my Raid card

My advice get a power supply that has all the ports required to connect all of your drives
Molex plugs are nasty and dangerous for data integrity
 
dsgnr said:
So far, I've found this for my mini ITX box which supports ECC memory:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...1151-ddr4-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-536-gi.html

Obviously I'd like the cheaper Mobo but if I have to use ECC then I have no choice. By the way, why is ECC memory necessary?

I'd prefer dual Ethernet ports as I'm planning to eventually buy a hardware RAID card and obviously ItX boards only have one expansion slot so unfortunately, I can't go down the dedicated NIC route :( if they did ATX boards that fit in the Fractal Node 304 or other small stealthy box then I may change to an ATX so I could have more expansion slots

Then I was gonna go for an i3 skylake

I haven't yet decided on a PSU but I'd like it to be modular and as quiet as possible so I'm not sure with this one yet.

This is going to be headless and idle most of the time he seems why I want it to be efficient.

Any ideas how much power this will use based on experience?
Click to expand...


That board does not support ecc. It allows you to use ecc ram in non ecc mode. = turns error correction off.

Basically ecc detects corrupted data on any data transfers into ram and corrects them before writing to disk very useful in raid setups where your writing to many drives at once.

With ECC
2gb transfer - 0.1mb is corrupted ,- ram fixes corruption - saves to disk

Without
Ram does not fix your corruption. Your fav photo is now corrupted with out your knowledge. Then you backup to another drive for "backup" this also corrupted

It can build a has without ecc and raid but it depends on what your data is worth to you.
 
Ah right okay. I need to be careful when it says ECC support then.

Thanks everyone so far

I'm thinking either a BeQuiet or Corsair PSU. Just need it to be as quiet as possible and the Corsairs run fanless most of the time apparently which is good news for me!

Apart from what the mobo can accept, does it have any impact over performance? Say a £50 one vs a £120 one with the same socket etc? That's what my main issue is - making the right choice haha.
 
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