This material is about how to get down to choosing hardware for your first TrueNAS server. Not necessarily the fastest, not necessarily bulletproof, but a fully functioning TrueNAS as a basic component of our Data Loss Prevention. I'll just point out that I'll rather focus on solving budget no and remember that this summary is fully subjective, it certainly can not be taken as a universal manual but more as a set of guidelines based on our experience.
Server on TrueNAS new or used?
As equipment for the lab or for the first TrueNAS, a used server is definitely a good idea. This will significantly reduce the cost. A server that is a few years old is a really good idea and should definitely last a few years quietly. Of course, they are just devices and can always break down, but don't be afraid of used servers. A fully operational server that is 10 years old or more is really no mean feat. Motherboards, RAM, processors, network cards are things that can last a long time. Power supplies break down a little more often, but they too generally work for long years. I emphasize all the time we are talking about server solutions and not consumer computers.
Which drives for TrueNAS new or used?
The case is different with disks. Just as in the case of the server itself we can really afford to make concessions at the expense of, for example, performance or sometimes even without losing performance, this absolutely does not apply to disks. Here savings often end up in trouble. If you plan to use the NAS for at least a few years then always a new set of drives, and absolutely, under no circumstances, do not buy consumer platter drives for the NAS. Such drives can die like flies in NAS even after a few months. The minimum I would recommend is WD RED or SEGATE IRONWOLF. Manufacturers give them a 3-year warranty and they just about always last at least that long. Series WD Red PRO and SEGATE IRONWOLF PRO have a 5-year warranty, but they are clearly more expensive. If you are interested in details on the selection of drives I invite you to the material [TrueNAS – Jak dobrze dobrać dyski do ZFS?]
Which CPU for TrueNAS?
As for the processor, for a budget start to a few drives for basic functionality, virtually any processor will be OK. Even some semi-lazy 4 cores of some Intel XEON should suffice. The minimum goal is for the processor to have PCI 3.0 support and DDR3 RAM. In truth nothing fancy.If you manage to buy some 8 cores then in practice for most applications you should be ok. 10 and more cores or dual processor is for hard work. If you plan to encrypt disks or create a VPN connection directly on the server take care to support AES-NI instructions in the processor.
When is a more powerful CPU worthwhile?
When is it worth spending more on a processor? If you plan to use additional functionality over and above the standard network drive functions. If you plan to use an application like Nextcloud, for example, or any other that will drain CPU resources then you will find that it will run slower. But here we are actually starting to require our NAS to be an application server so understandably you will need something more than a minimal CPU. In addition, if you plan to de-duplicate data resources then it too requires CPU resources. Each write to a disk requires a lot of comparison work to see if such a piece is not already in stock. Remember, however, that a more powerful CPU means more power. More power means more electricity and higher bills. In addition, more heat is emitted which needs to be dissipated so increased temperature and also fans give more noise.
What kind of RAM and how much for TrueNAS?
As for RAM, for a home file server alone, 8GB should be enough although 16GB is the recommended minimum.
Let's remember that the heart and big advantage of TrueNAS is the ZFS file system. The working motto of ZFS is "The more RAM the better." More about ZFS is in the material" [TrueNAS - ZFS why it's awesome] In a nutshell, if our file server is heavily loaded with repeated readings of the same data, they are served from RAM instead of disk, which is a huge acceleration in the case of a loaded server. However, in the case of a home file server, for a few users the difference will be rather small or even unnoticeable, so without specific reasons it is unlikely to be worth adding additional RAM.
However, if you will want to use TrueNAS not only as a file server. You will decide to use additional functionalities like the mentioned Nextcloud, Pi-hole, Minecraft server or whatever. Then you should definitely think about having more than 8GB of this RAM.
Very, but a very rough estimate, we can assume that a server under TrueNAS for the home is 8 to 16 GB of RAM. A server for a small company, a dozen or so users is 32 GB RAM. For larger solutions, it's 64 to 128 GB of RAM.
Regarding the selection of RAM itself. Remember that the difference in data access time between disk and RAM is much, much greater than between different types of RAM. And the conclusion is that it is better to buy more and slower RAM than to splurge on faster RAM bones.
The last issue regarding RAM is ECC error correction. ZFS has Self-Healing functionality which checks the correctness of the data every time the data is read from the disks and corrects if it was wrong. I also tell you about it in the material [TrueNAS - ZFS why it's awesome] Of course, this does not solve all potential problems with bit falsification, but a good portion of them, so if you were to add extra money for RAM dice having ECC, then in the case of budget solutions there is no need.
Which motherboard for TrueNAS?
The choice of motherboard will result from the type of processor and the type of RAM you bought. The motherboard is unlikely to be a bottleneck at any time when it comes to the performance of our file server. It is worth remembering that the board should support PCI 3.0 especially if we come to connect a 10Gb network card. As a bonus, an IPMI or similar function which is used to manage the server even if it is turned off. In some form, virtually all server boards have similar functionality.
Since TrueNAS likes/should have direct access to the disks pay attention to whether the board sometimes has some default RAID that cannot be bypassed. Some server boards have this and then you have to buy a separate driver for the disks. The disk driver on the board should either have no RAID function at all or the RAID should have an HBA function which gives the board direct access to the disks. The good news is the simplest boards generally don't have fancy disk drivers.
Also pay attention to the number of ports for connecting disks and, of course, what those ports are. Because probably, for example, four SATA ports for disks are to be found everywhere, but already more and other ports you would rather have to look for.
Of things no longer cheaper but worth splitting a slot or two for NVMe drives right on the motherboard. Well okay actually as of December 2023 you won't find too many budget used server boards with M.2 connectors for NVMe drives but they are incredibly fast that's why I mention it.
An important thing is the number of PCI ports because in each port we can put an additional network card for example 10Gb. Or, what may be equally interesting, we can put NVMe drives there through an appropriate adapter, which frees us from looking for more expensive boards with M.2 connectors for those very drives. In addition, when our NAS grows, we can insert an additional disk controller into the PCI and connect more disks.
Which disk driver for TrueNAS?
If you already have the misfortune that your board does not have the passthrough/HBA mode function or simply want to connect more drives. Then look for a driver just with the passthrough/HBA function. There is no point in paying extra for fuzzy drivers because their advantages will not be used in any way. The only purpose of such a disk driver is to give the system direct access to the disks.
Which network card for TrueNAS?
As for connecting our TrueNAS to the network. For the home, we will probably only need the simplest 1Gb connection. Especially since some probably use data over wi-fi anyway so 1Gb won't be a bottleneck. For the more demanding we will probably need 10Gb either already present on the board, so far rare with budget solutions, or some card on PCI 3.0. Remember, however, it is recommended that in any case there should be some variation of Intel or Chelsio and you should be fine. This doesn't mean that others won't work, but there are known problems with Realteck or Broadcom cards, for example.
What kind of power supply for TrueNAS?
Moving on to the electrical power supply for our file server it would be nice to have a redundant power supply, but for budget solutions there is no push. If you are not going to connect more drives than the chassis specifications, then the only thing left to remember is that sometimes it is useful for power supplies not to make too much noise.
Do I need a UPS for TrueNAS?
The second element of power supply is the UPS, and here I already advise against saving money. It is important for the server to finish its work. It is not a matter of erroneous writing to the disks, but more data that will be in RAM will not have time to be written to the disks and will be lost. The UPS should be able to communicate with the server, then during a power outage the server will simply shut down. You don't need a huge UPS just enough to support the server for a few minutes until it shuts down. Underneath, the Network UPS Tools (NUT), a well-known Linux-like daemon, is responsible for TrueNAS' communication with the UPS, a list of compatible UPS can be found at the link in the article [https://networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html].
What kind of enclosure for TrueNAS?
Finally, we need somewhere to put our guts so regarding the selection of an enclosure for the first TrueNAS. Here let's keep in mind two aspects. The first is how many drives and the type we plan to put in our server. Will it be 3.5 inch platter drives or smaller 2.5 inch enclosures.
The next decision is whether to have a tower enclosure that you will put anywhere or whether you have or plan to have a small RACK cabinet then you should definitely consider a RACK enclosure.
Which drives for TrueNAS?
Disk selection is a key element when building a file server but I've already committed a broader piece on this topic [TrueNAS - How do you get the drives right for ZFS?] to which at this point I wanted to refer for details of disk selection is TrueNAS.