ZFS Small Server BuildSerge Y. Stroobandt, ON4AA

Copyright 2015–2021, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

This page is still under construction.

Introduction

Off‑the‑shelf alternatives:

CaseChenbro SR301(69)

• FreeNAS hardware best practices

• iXsystems FreeNAS Mini (not distributed in Europe)• OSNET NAS Mini ZFS: spec sheet and WD Red spec

1

www.princexml.comPrince - Non-commercial LicenseThis document was created with Prince, a great way of getting web content onto paper.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/https://www.freenas.org/whats-new/2015/02/a-complete-guide-to-freenas-hardware-design-part-i-purpose-and-best-practices.htmlhttps://www.ixsystems.com/storage/freenas/https://www.osnet.eu/en/content/nas-mini-zfshttps://www.osnet.eu/sites/www.osnet.eu/files/PDF_appliances/NAS_Mini_FR_new.pdfhttps://www.osnet.eu/sites/www.osnet.eu/files/WD_red_NAS.pdfhttps://www.chenbro.com/en-global/products/TowerServerChassis/Mini_ITX_Server/SR301

Figure 1: Closed Chenbro SR30169 case

2

Figure 2: Chenbro SR30169 with opened door

Figure 3: Chenbro SR30169 drive bays

3

Figure 4: Inside of the Chenbro SR30169 case

4

CPU & motherboard

Buying an Intel Atom C2xxx?Make sure it is a C0 stepping!In January 2017, Intel first publicly acknowledged the issue withflawed LPC clock outputs on its Atom C2000 system-on-chips. Thishappened very sneakingly in the form of bug AVR54 in the productspecification errata list. This happens to be a very serious issue. It lit-erally is a ticking time bomb under one’s infrastructure. Accordingto the Intel data-sheet, LPC_CLKOUT0 and LPC_CLKOUT1 are drivenby the processor to provide essential timing signals to hardware onthe board, including the boot ROM. If this signal stop ticking, the restof the electronics stops, too.

C0 steppingBy the end of April 2017, Intel revealed that its Atom C2000 chip fam-ily has a new C0 stepping, up from the previous B0, meaning at leastsome parts of the chip have been redesigned.

Free Super Micro repair through direct RMAFor EU consumers: The defect existed in the processor containedwithin the product at the time of manufacture, therefore it was “not ofmerchantable quality” when acquired. When the failure eventually oc-curs or whether the product is still under warranty does not matter.

return merchandise authorization (RMA)

Super Micro: RMA services, contact information, «merchantabilityAtom C2550 failing clock recall», «free ECO update»References

Super Micro A1SAi-2550F

Intel’s Atom C2000 chips are bricking products — and it’s not just Cisco hit

Intel Atom chips have been dying for at least 18 months — only now is truth coming

to light — Vendors clocked C2xxx flaw when returns spikedIntel redesigns flawed Atom CPUs to stave off premature chip death

Intel Atom C2000 C0 Stepping Fixing the AVR54 Bug

5

https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/specification-updates/atom-c2000-family-spec-update.pdfhttps://www-ssl.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/specification-updates/atom-c2000-family-spec-update.pdfhttp://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/atom-c2000-microserver-datasheet.pdfhttps://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/27/intel_redesigns_atom_line/https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2000-c0-stepping-fixing-the-avr54-bug/https://m.forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://m.forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorizationhttps://www.supermicro.nl/support/rma/https://www.supermicro.nl/about/contact/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/06/cisco_intel_decline_to_link_product_warning_to_faulty_chip/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/06/cisco_intel_decline_to_link_product_warning_to_faulty_chip/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/07/intel_atom_failures_go_back_18_months/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/27/intel_redesigns_atom_line/https://m.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/27/intel_redesigns_atom_line/https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2000-c0-stepping-fixing-the-avr54-bug/https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2000-c0-stepping-fixing-the-avr54-bug/https://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SAi-2550F.cfm

Figure 5: Super Micro A1SAi-2550F top view

Figure 6: Super Micro A1SAi-2550F side view

6

DDR3 ECC SO-DIMM2× Kingston KVR16LSE11/8 8GB PC3L-12800 (1600MHz) CL11 204-Pin ECCSO-DIMM spec sheet

Figure 7: Kingston KVR16LSE11/8

Power supplyLC-Power LC7300 v2.3 300W 80PLUS Silver certified; spec sheet

7

https://www.kingston.com/us/memory/search/?partid=kvr16lse11/8https://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/KVR16LSE11_8.pdfhttp://www.lc-power.de/product/netzteile/pro-line-serie/lc7300-v23-silver-shield/https://www.lc-power.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/deutsch/psu/pro-line/7300_v2.3/LC7300_V2.3_Silver_Shield_Datenblatt.pdf

Figure 8: LC-Power LC7300 v2.3

8

Solid state system drive

SATA cables

Figure 9: Chenbro SR30169 SATA connections

4× InLine 27703L left-angled 6 Gbps SATA cable, 0.3 m; spec sheet

9

https://www.intos.de/produktuebersicht/kabel/sata/sata-rundkabel/27703l/inline-sata-6gb/s-anschlusskabel-rund-abgewinkelt-links-blau-mit-lasche-0-3mhttps://www.intos.de/ArboroPDFCreatorSW4?id=2526

Figure 10: InLine 27703L

Internal USB 3.0 cableThe case comes with a dual USB 2.0 port at the front. However, the mother-board does not carry an internal USB 2.0 connector. It does feature a 20‑pinUSB 3.0 connector. There is also a 9‑pin COM2 connector which, at first sight,might be mistaken for a 9‑pin internal USB 2.0 connector. Luckily, the USB 2.0cable assembly can be demounted to be replaced by a 20 pin female USB 3.0 in-ternal connector to dual port cable (see picture). Make sure you grab one withthe right USB connector separation distance. For the model shown here, I onlyhad to saw off a bit of each lug to make it fit. The original screws and some hotglue keep the connector head in place.

Figure 11: Female 20‑pin USB 3.0 internal connector to dual port cable

10

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/O3T-New-Designer-2-Port-USB-3-0-A-Female-to-20-Pin-Cable-Internal-USB/32230479563.htmlhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/O3T-New-Designer-2-Port-USB-3-0-A-Female-to-20-Pin-Cable-Internal-USB/32230479563.html

Hard drives

Price

quantity descriptionitemprice

subtotal

1 Super Micro A1SAi-2550F retail, C2550 Mini-ITXMainboard € 296.77 € 296.77

2 KINGSTON 8GB 1600MHZ DDR3L ECC € 91.60 € 183.201 Chenbro SR30169, Mini-ITX-Gehäuse € 119.62 € 119.62

1 LC-Power Pro-Line LC7300 V2.3 Silver Shield 300WNetzteil € 39.69 € 39.69

4 0,3m SATA 6Gb/s Anschlusskabel rund, abgewinkeltlinks, blau € 5.66 € 22.64

1 20‑pin female USB 3.0 internal connector to dual portcable € 3.75 € 3.75

4 WD Red hard drives NA NA

VAT included, shipping excluded TOTAL € 665.67

This work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Other licensing available on request.

Unattended CSS typesetting with .

This work is published at https://hamwaves.com/zfs.server.build/en/.

Last update: Wednesday, April 28, 2021.

• March 22, 2015• csv.de

11

https://www.csv.de/http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A0588039&KATEGORIE=0588http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A0588039&KATEGORIE=0588http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A%20G3342A459&KATEGORIE=043http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A2907086&KATEGORIE=2907http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A2800726&KATEGORIE=28http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A2800726&KATEGORIE=28http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A3312311&KATEGORIE=33122http://www.csv.de/artinfo.php?artnr=A3312311&KATEGORIE=33122http://www.aliexpress.com/item/50cm-USB-3-0-A-Female-to-Housing-20-Pin-Female-Slot-Adapter/32237073674.htmlhttp://www.aliexpress.com/item/50cm-USB-3-0-A-Female-to-Housing-20-Pin-Female-Slot-Adapter/32237073674.htmlhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csshttps://www.princexml.com/https://www.princexml.com/https://hamwaves.com/zfs.server.build/en/

ZFS Small Server BuildSerge Y. Stroobandt, ON4AACopyright 2015–2021, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

IntroductionCaseCPU & motherboardBuying an Intel Atom C2xxx?Make sure it is a C0 stepping!C0 steppingFree Super Micro repair through direct RMAReferences

DDR3 ECC SO-DIMMPower supplySolid state system driveSATA cablesInternal USB 3.0 cableHard drivesPrice