Recommendation for cheap remote backup node?

[Astrodonkey]

I’m planning to set up a remote instance of TrueNAS Scale at an offsite location. Can anyone suggest a cheap, compact setup? Looks like a pi is not an option. Don’t think I need to have redundant drives since this is just a dump for snapshots.

 

[Arwen]

We can't really recommend something without knowing how much storage you would need.

For example, a remote server with 1 x 3.5" drive bay and 2 NVMe slots, you can get a 22TB HDD + 2 x 8TB NVMe. It might make an odd asymmetrical pool, but you can stripe all that together for backup purposes. Even run scrubs to find files that need fixing.

I've been looking at these;

ASRock DeskMeet B660 Series

Supports 14th, 13th & 12th Gen Intel Core Processors (LGA1700)<br />Supports MAX Height ≦ 54mm CPU Cooler<br />Supports 4 x DDR4-3200MHz DIMMs, up to 128GB<br />1 x PCIe 4.0 x16<br />Graphics Output Options：DisplayPort, HDMI & D-Sub<br />3 x SATA3<br />1 x Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA3), 1 x...

www.asrock.com

ASRock DeskMeet X300 Series

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors, up to 65W<br />Supports MAX Height ≦ 54mm CPU Cooler<br />Supports 4 x DDR4-3200MHz DIMMs, up to 128GB<br />1 x PCIe 3.0 x16<br />Graphics Output Options：DisplayPort, HDMI & D-Sub<br />2 x SATA3...

www.asrock.com

In one place they reference 1 x 3.5" drive bay. But, in another place 2 x 3.5" drive bays.

Anyway, something to think about.

(I am thinking about the AMD one for an upgrade of my existing miniature desktop PC. Though I have decided to wait until the AM5 version is released.)

 

[samarium]

I’m planning to set up a remote instance of TrueNAS Scale at an offsite location. Can anyone suggest a cheap, compact setup? Looks like a pi is not an option. Don’t think I need to have redundant drives since this is just a dump for snapshots.

If you want TN, then a Pi is not an option. If you just want a remote ZFS snapshot target, then I am running a 4GB Pi4B under ubuntu server as a remote ZFS target with a 2 disk mirrored USB hot swap enclosure. It isn't a great solution, but it is much better than the 2GB Atom TV box I was using before, and it works for the limited backups I require of it. The disk enclosure even automatically powers down the disks after a while, which is both a blessing and a curse, as I don't have control over that. I've concentrated my backups around 1 time, and I prune snapshots and accept backups then, and the disks then go to sleep for the day. If you do use USB disk make sure the solution survives a scrub with enough data to cause things to test sustainability under load, which was a problem with the Atom. No ECC of course.

 

[Astrodonkey]

Thanks for the ideas. Storage required would be around 8 TB.

 

[samarium]

My JBOD seems to expose a 5Gbps USB hub, and 2x 5Gbps USB mass storage devices connected to the disks. Ideally would use UAS rather than mass storage, but this seems to work OK for me but YMMV. Cooling of both the USB chips, and the disks can be important. You might want to check power loss recovery too since it will be remote.

I would rather find a 10 or 20 Gbps USB connection with UAS, but haven't found one yet, and the Pi wouldn't keep up anyway. Seems to be some hints on level1techs that there will be something available soon, but I wont hold my breath.