Small NAS home server woes

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨chellomere@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨selfhosted@lemmy.world⁩

So, I currently have a Netgear ReadyNAS 314 with 1 SSD, 3 HDDs, Intel Atom D2701 and 4GB RAM, running Debian 12, and since getting it I’ve been getting more into self hosting. What I have now is primarily too weak in the CPU and RAM department, but it could also use more HDDs. I’m aiming for 5-6 3.5 HDDs, 1 Nvme, 1 2.5" SSD.

What I’m currently running:

Samba and NFS server
OpenVPN
Jellyseerr/Jellyfin/*arr stack
Pangolin
Dawarich
Immich
rsnapshot
Homepage

And it’s rather sluggish right now, and is almost filling up its 4GB of swap.

What I’d also like to be able to run/have:

Nextcloud
Transcoding (including ability to decode AV1, but preferably also encode)
Anything else I may want to run (working on degoogling myself)
ECC RAM (to prevent bitrot, I’m already running btrfs raid1 to prevent bitrot from faulty disks)
1x 2.5G ethernet

If possible I’d like to have some room for upgradeability. I’m aiming for a low power build, that should be rather compact, especially not very wide unless I can find a better place in my office for it.

I’m looking at a Jonsbo N1 chassis (17cm wide) , but I’m also following a Readynas 626 (19cm wide) in an online auction. Options:

Intel N100 board

Pros: cheap, low power, quicksync with av1 decode Cons: boards with 2.5G ethernet have to be ordered from Aliexpress and have no support and uses the JMB585 chip that prevents low power C states, limited pcie lanes, no AV1 encode, not very upgradeable (1 DIMM, soldered CPU) , no ECC, I worry it may be too slow

Intel 13100

Pros: AV1 enc/dec, quite fast, upgradeable Cons: No ECC, relatively expensive

AMD 8500G

Pros: AV1 enc/dec, ECC, relatively fast, upgradeable Cons: relatively expensive, not as low power as the 13100

Readynas 626

Pros: enterprise grade HW, less DIY, ECC, may be relatively cheap Cons: high power for its performance (roughly that of the N100), wider (19cm) than a Jonsbo N1 (17cm), not upgradeable (no CPU or mobo swap), expensive DDR4 2133 ECC UDIMM

I’d love to hear what you think about these options and whether you have other concerns that I haven’t thought about.

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

just_another_person@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
First, I think you’re attacking this from the wrong angle. You’re focused on ECC memory for some reason, but that’s not going to prevent bitrot, just potentially reduce errors in transfer, or catch issues. Your filesystem of choice has more to do with degradation in storage.

Second, you haven’t mentioned any of the boards and their storage capabilities. Do they support the correct number of drives you want to use? Do they support hot-swap, and is that even something you care about?

Last, you want more services, and but are worried about power consumption…that’s not how that works. More services means more CPU and MEM until, which means more power usage. You can either constrain your TDP at that point by using an UNDERpowered CPU and have that tradeoff, or provide a more capable CPU and take an increased TDP. There is no third option, that’s just how it works. Pick the more capable CPU and take the power hit (really, it’s going to be minor compared to a large server), and just run the things you need to run instead of coming back in a year and wanting to flip it again.

source
- chellomere@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  You’re right, I probably don’t need ECC. I’m mostly worried about bit flips in my important data, and as you say, a checksumming FS and RAID will protect against this while the data is in storage. However, it doesn’t protect against bit flips while copying data, for example copying data to backups - but there are other solutions for this, which I should consider.
  
  Hot swap is nice to have. I haven’t even considered that it wouldn’t be supported by a mobo, I should look into that, thanks. These are the mobos I’m considering for each option:
  
  N100: Topton N100 motherboard, 4x2.5G, 6xSATA, PCIE x1 a.aliexpress.com/_EvVv0k6
  
  8500G: ASRock B650I Lightning WiFi (Gigabyte A620I AX might be an option, but it has only one M.2 slot so the upgradeability is less)
  
  13100: ASRock Z790M-ITX Wifi
  
  The N100 option is cheaper and should be lower power, but as you say I worry about needing another upgrade in a year or so, and this option doesn’t offer much upgradeability so that would mean at least a new mobo and cpu. The other options could accommodate a beefier CPU if needed.
  
  source
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m a big fan of old PC parts. My current NAS/home lab is my old PC, so a Ryzen 1700 + GTX 750 Ti. It’s overkill for what I need, doesn’t use a ton of power, and I didn’t need to pay anything for it.

If that’s not available, I recommend second hand. Look around your local area and see what’s available, or check online at places like eBay. Be mindful of power usage for server products if that matters to you.

My next option after that depends on what I’m looking for. A mini PC with an external drive enclosure can be really nice, and there are some reasonable ITX-esque DIY rigs with drive bays that look nice. I’ll be a lot more picky when buying new though, so I’m not going to recommend specific setups without knowing your priorities (space? Power usage? Noise?).

ECC is nice, but not a requirement. AV1 on the CPU is nice, but you can get that on a relatively inexpensive GPU if you go that route, or you could encode everything into AV1 at rest in a bulk operation. There are lots of options, so it mostly comes down to what you have access to, your budget, and your priorities.

source
Getting6409@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’ve been running an n100 box as my main everything box for about 1.5 years. I capture metrics on it and can say the thing is nowhere near capacity. This box is running jellyfin, a dozen or so nfs mounts that are heavily utilized, a dozen or so lightly used samba mounts, grafana, prometheus, jenkins, and a handful of mysql instances. I maxed out the ram (32gb) from the start and it averages 8gb usage, and has never exceeded 10gb. Historically, the CPU usage averages 28% utilization. I think as long as the board has nvme storage you’ll not feel constrained by these little hosts for many years.

source
catloaf@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I have a Jonsbo N3 and I’ve been happy with it so far. The N1 and N2 only fit four drives, so if you want more, you’ll have to get the N3 as well. And you’ll have to get an HBA or something, because your motherboard will probably only have four SATA ports.

The biggest power draw will be the drives, also. And you don’t really need ECC on the desktop; random bit flips are uncommon and rarely significant when they happen. Your filesystem and/or RAID should protect against disk corruption.

source
- chellomere@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Thanks, the Jonsbo N1 actually has five hotswap bays, and I believe you can squeeze in another 3.5" besides the PSU if you have a small PSU. I’ll consider the N3 but I don’t think it will fit where I have my current NAS so I’ll have to replan a bit.
  
  Yes, I’m thinking about either getting a PCIE SAS HBA to open up the option for SAS drives, or to get an ASM1166 M.2 to 6xSATA.
  
  You’re right that I’ve focused too much on ECC, I think I’ll see it as nice to have more than something I’d prefer to have.
  
  source
  - catloaf@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Check the backplane before you buy drives or an HBA. The N3’s backplane just has SATA ports and molex power, you’d have to swap out the whole backplane and hack something together. The N1 and N2 are probably similar.
    
    source
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
What’s your budget? I’m a big fan of old Xeon servers.

source
- fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  I’m aiming for a low power build, that should be rather compact,
  
  Considering that OP was targeting an N100 I don’t think an old Xeon, especially one without integrated graphics, would be close to that.
  
  source
  - chellomere@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah, old Xeons tend to not be very low power, also I don’t think I’ll be able to find one with a mini ITX board to fit it in a compact case. Also, I’d probably need to add a discrete GPU, which adds to the cost and power consumption.
    
    I want a low power build to limit heat and noise produced in my office room, to limit the electricity bill and as I understood it the case I’m considering also doesn’t have the best thermals, so I don’t want to put a CPU with too high a TDP into it.
    
    The ReadyNAS 626 actually has a Xeon D-1521, but with a quite low TDP - 45W.
    
    Regarding budget, I’m aiming for 400-800$. The N100 option, including case and PSU (but not disks) is at the lower end of this, while the 8500G and 13100 options are at the upper end.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
link42@lm.preferlinux.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Hi there, I have build a nice backup NAS recently:

Supermicro X11SCL-IF 16 GB ECC RAM 2666 Intel i3 9100T M.2 512 GB System Disk 4x 8TB Ironwolf 5400 RPM Fractal Node 304 Case Be quiet Pure Power 11

This is around 40W @the wall with all disks spinning and has Intel quicksync for decoding. My use case is mainly backup, you should consider i5 for hosting more apps on it. The processor was 30$ at eBay but is quite low power and has ECC support without being a Xeon processor. The newer generations of i3 do not have ECC ram from the spec. The board itself was 300€, but wanted ECC ram. The case is well cooled what ist most important for a system running for a long time. You should also consider N100 mini computer in addition to have more flexibility in the long run for different application demands.

Hope this helps for decision making

source
non_burglar@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I have a jonsbo n1, do not buy it.

Cooling is insufficient. Something about the case layout makes the motherboard area not get enough ventilation and the supplied fan can’t cool 5 disks, the chassis holding the disks doesn’t allow enough air through.

Only room for half-height expansion card.

Cable routing is abysmal, with sharp edges.
source
- chellomere@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Thanks for the advice, noted! I was attracted by the compact size, I guess it’s not realistic that it would handle 5 disks…
  
  source