notandor

Yes, expensive with 8 hot-swap backplanes. Also, the case almost looks like a microATX case for its size... ~8"x~16"x~16" At almost 3/8 the size!!, this one (~8"x~8"x~12") will be tough to beat by any standards http://www.oemproduction.com/storage/NAS860N10.asp 10 drives...and probably mini-itx at bottom. But availability of just the case is a big big question.

Just looking at advertised capacity, it is definitely 3.5" drives.

This looks like one awesome case, if it exists for buying as a case and has mini-itx at the bottom!!! At ~8"x~8"x~12"... it almost doubles the capacity (10 drives) say compared to iStarUSA, or any other mini-itx case with almost similar dimension. How do I get my hands on one of these???

I want to build a small unraid server (probably w/ BASIC license) for testing, speed, bandwdith, drives issues and side use, which can be backed up on my main unraid server and do other network tests. Regarding this small server I have a question w.r.t. licensing as it was not clear from the page here: http://lime-technology.com/products/registration-keys I do know that the PLUS license allows 6 drives (also mentioned above in the link), which in reality is 6 data + 1 parity... i.e. effective 7. Also mentioned in the link above is that BASIC license allows 3 drives. - Does it mean 3 data + 1 parity... i.e. effective 4, translating similarly to PLUS licensing nomenclature? - Or is it really 2 data + 1 parity as I couple folks had mentioned in other pages in the forum? If it is the former than ok, but if it is the latter then why create a confusion with different counting approach for BASIC and PLUS?

yes, i'm going with 3tb's, but on the second das ... i've already purchased 3 ... should be here next week lboregard, which 3tb's you purchased? brand? model? type?

Hi lboregard, Any new update?

So what advantage does the Chenbro have over the Intel then? Because it looks like the Intel is cheaper too. If you are building the esxi and unraid in the same box then really no advantage... as you get 4 SATA port from 1 SAS port of M1015 and 20 SATA port from 5 SAS ports of Intel... so essentially 24 SATA ports... the other port of M1015 is connected to 1 SAS port of Intel. If you are building esxi and unraid in different boxes AND if you plan to keep parity and cache in the esxi box, then also no advantage as of today... as parity and cache will go on 1 port of M1015, and in esxi with Intel you can populate 20 data drives.. maximum limit of drives as of today. If you are building esxi and unraid in different boxes AND want to be anal :-) (I'm).. and keep all unraid related stuff in one box, then chenbro can come to rescue.. it allows 24 ports... so 1 parity, 1 cache, 20 data and will leave 2 free for the future. If one wants to be futuristic, they could buy the next version of Intel... RES2CV360... which has 36 ports (almost same price as chenbro).. though all are internal ports and 1 or 2 could be used to connect to M1015... and hope someday Unraid will use all! Chenbro is a solution if one wants to keep good clean boundaries in rack which has for e.g. sliding rails. In that case, you will want to have external cables pluggable/unpluggable to connect and disconnect two boxes.

So you mean there is a chance that the above proposal might work... as the proposal is not really modifying OUTs or INs of chenbro... just that it is trying to use 2 INs (external and internal) at the same time? If this works... I'm thinking this will be a sweet way of keeping HEAD and DAS with clean boundaries and cable/rack management without worrying about any sort of slowdown essentially passing 1 PCIe x8 bandwidth fully to Unraid. Ideal goal would be to have a Norco 4224 as DAS with 2 parity and 22 data drives... once in some future version of unraid limetech supports this... with cache being on NFS RAIDz in the ESXi HEAD! :-) Till then the empty hotswap slots can be used for hot/warm spares! lboregard, eagerly waiting for your results...

Hi lboregard and johnm, Just wanted to bounce of some ideas to address both: - maximum thru-put of PCIe x8 (to avoid slowdown and bottlenecks) to an Unraid DAS - and clean installation w.r.t. having a ESXi head + UnRAID DAS(es)! Do you think this following configuration would work? Esxi head box (could be whatever you have norco 2112 etc.) > IBM M1015 in PCIe x8 slot > 2 port pitstop adapter (where both INside ports will be internally connected to 2 sas ports of M1015) UnRAID DAS (Norco 4224... 24 bays) > Chenbro CK23601 ------ Has 6 SAS ports inside for backplane... i.e. 24 bays connected > 1 port pitstop adapter (connected to internal IN port of CK23601) With this you essentially connect both machines with 2x 8088 cables: - Esxi head's 1st OUTside port of pitstop adapter -> UnRAID DAS' Chenbro CK23601's External IN port - Esxi head's 2nd OUTside port of pitstop adapter -> UnRAID DAS' 1 (and only) OUTside port of pitstop adapter This configuration can easily be extended to ESXi head and 2 DAS(es), by just using 4 port (instead of 2 port) pitstop in the head. Advantages: - Should allow clean installation, clean cables etc. - Maximum bandwidth possible from a PCIe X8 (M1015 port), going to UnRAID DAS... avoiding slowdown of parity etc. Parity and cache can be now in the DAS itself. Question is will Chenbro allow both the inputs to be used (from M1015) and still work? I think other SAS cards (which don't specifically define INs OUTs e.g. Intel RES) allow this. Chenbro defines its ports as: Internal Ports - Input from RAID/HBA?4-ports (1x Mini-SAS) - Output to Backplane?24-ports (4x Mini-SAS) External Ports - Input from Host?4-ports (1x Mini-SAS) - Output to JBOD?4-ports (1x Mini-SAS) Let me know what u guys think? Also, lboregard... other than the original experiment of putting parity in the head... you might just connect the second cable from M1015 port to the other IN of Chenbro and run parity again (still in das) to see if this speeds up?

lboreguard, any update on parity run?

Some of the later supermicro motherboards (LGA 2011) are starting to carry the "Intel® i350 GbE controller" versus the very popular and supported "Intel® 82574L Dual port GbE LAN"? Is the Intel i350 GbE controller supported and will work w/ unraid stock and/or under esxi? or are their any known issues? Just want to get some foresight from experts... to ensure it will not be a uphill battle w/ this NIC before I buy...

Thanks lboregard, for the results... though johnm and you have mentioned that reduction in parity speed was expected in the single M1015 slot config. I'm not able to understand exactly why? As per my understanding, PCIe v3.0 8x slot has a bandwidth of 8GB/s (8 lanes * 1 GB/s per lane). With one M1015 slot, 4GB/s should be available. assuming 24 drives: ~166 MB/s available bandwidth per drive assuming 1p+20d+1c i.e. 22 drives: ~180 MB/s available bandwidth per drive i.e. ~50 MB/s parity feels a bit low.... even if all drives were spinning (its like 27% efficiency... 50/180) I was expecting close to 70-90 MB/s ... given the Green WD drives read speed limits ~70-90 MB/s being the limiter here. I had read somewhere that the 24-port and even 36-port expanders like Intel and Chenbro, had come in the market with 24-bay 4U and 36-bay 6U cases configurations... with the basic assumption that a PCIe v3.0 8x has enough bandwidth (~110 MB/s per drive for 36 drive config) to support arrays and should still easily saturate SATA2 drives. Hence majority of server boards carry x8 PCIe slots only... and x16 never became the norm. Given this reasoning and previous calculations, one M1015 slot shouldn't really slow down parity. Please correct me here. Any thoughts? Could something be going w/ Chenbro card? Or in your config? Also johnm asked, will you be able to do another test with the parity now on the other slot of M1015 (basically in the head w/ direct access to PCIe lanes vs earlier shared lanes with data drives)? This might give some more insight...

Thanks lboregard, looking forward for the results... Had another question as you or johnm might be aware on this... Does having a Chenbro UEK type configuration allows "daisy chaining" power too? Meaning powering up or down the main esxi HEAD would automatically power up or down the DAS unit? And this sort of arrangement can work using UPS too, in case of power down and shutdowns.

Were you able to run parity and check speeds? Would appreciate the results. It seems before one decides and buys a Chenbro expander card, the application way needs to be decided too.. as they are coming in 2 different form factors: CK23601 ... the stand alone card UEK-23601 ... the card with the kit Speed results (ideally loaded with 24 drives.. 20 for now) would help in decided if one should go a particular way: parity (cache OPT) in head -OR- parity (cache OPT) in DAS Also, in a norco 4220 or 4224, where would you mount the UEK: front: then a 8088 cable will be going from back-of-head to front-of-das in a rackmount... kind of ugly back: is it possible? slot-wise where... i think uek uses a 3.5" slot.. might be wrong here.

Do you still have the 470 for sale? Please check your PM too.