Spritzup

As requested... smart_report.txt syslog_athena.txt

Dammit, sorry! I thought I had my system specs in my sig... to many forums Anyways, as requested --> CPU --> Intel Xeon 1230 v2 RAM --> 24GB of KVR1333D3E9S Mobo --> SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O Storage Controller --> 2x SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Hard Drives --> a mix of Hitachi's and Western Digitals OS --> unRaid 4.7 Pro running on ESXi 5.0 U1 Cheers!

Morning All, After a rebuild of my unRaid box I'm seeing extremely slow performance when using the cache drive (Seagate 7200RPM 1TB). In fact, the write speeds directly to the array are about 3x faster than write speeds when using a cache drive (28mbps vs 8mbps). I've tried sharing out the cache drive and writing directly to it, and I'm seeing speeds in excess of 90mbps... so that leads me to believe it's not the drive itself. Nothing is showing in the logs, and nothing concerning in the smart reports. Has anybody else seen this behavior before? And better yet, anybody have a fix? Thanks!

Hey Johnm, Thanks for the great write up, it was very helpful in getting my server off the ground. A couple of questions --> 1. I ran into an issue where one of my MV8 appeared to have a interrupt conflict with something (NIC's would be my best bet). I had the card in the second PCIe 8x slot (second closest to the CPU). I could have resolved it either through disabling HPET, or simply moving the card. I chose to move the card, but both methods were tested and working. Did you run into this issue, or have you seen this before? 2. I put my unRaid image onto the SSD. I was just wondering if their was any way to hide it from showing up in unRaid's disk selection? Thanks again! EDIT - I'm also seeing "Aug 5 17:53:28 Athena vmsvc[1792]: [ warning] [vmsvc] Error in the RPC receive loop: RpcIn: Unable to send. (Errors)" which are coinciding with losing connection to a share. Any thoughts? EDIT #2 - I think I've tracked it down to the modded driver for the 82579lm causing issue's... trying a fresh install and we'll see how it goes. EDIT #3 - Yup, looks like that was the issue. So long 82579lm, maybe one day we'll have a stable drive for you

Possibly in the states, but in Canada the "few extra bucks" turns out to be closer to $200 more... when you can find them in stock. I read quite a few reviews (even some that compare the SanDisk to the Plextor M3), and the Sandisk always came out on top... even with prolonged use I'm happy though that the only comment you had on my re-build was the SSD. Means I must be on the right track

Due to a wicked sale, changed out my SSD to --> Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD

Ok, so after taking all the advice, and doing some more shopping around, I think I have come up with a plan for the rebuild. I've modified my plan to save some money now (home reno's are expensive!), while not impacting my ability to upgrade down the road. As always, thoughts and comments are welcome! Memory = KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G - This will give me 24GB total CPU = Intel E3-1230v2 SSD = Corsair Force Series GT 240GB - This will be my datastore drive Network Card = Intel Pro/1000 Quad Port Gigabit PCI-E Server Adapter YT674 - Overkill, but I got a great deal...and unTangle suggests assigning 2 ports directly to the VM I will then setup my drives in the following way --> Attached to the mobo Datastore Drive (SSD) VM Scratch Space (750GB 7200RPM spinner) Cache/Datastore Backup Drive (Assuming this will work... I will share 1TB as cache, and the other TB to use as backup for the datastores) PassThough MV8's to Unraid with the rest of my drives. Hopefully that will work out as planned

The legs in the rack are hollow, so I suspect that you couldn't use rails to hold the case up... hence why I used the 2 pieces to give it some height, and to have a place to put my UPS. ~Spritz

Thanks for the tips. I need to do some more reading about the network side of things... maybe talk to the VM guys at work and get their opinion on things. ~Spritz

ugh, I really need to stop building personal systems at work... I get distracted to easily. Thanks for the catch.

I used this for the top, and this for the bottom. Then I just picked up some locking casters from the hardware store.

D'oh! I missed that, thanks for the quick reply!

After happily running unRaid for the last year or so, I hit a point where I wanted to do more with the machine. I tried a few alternatives, but nothing works as well as unRaid does. So the easiest (being relative) is to install esxi and virtualize my server. I've read Johnm's server build (thank you!), and fortunately my server build was similar to Johnms, so I have a good starting point. Having said that though, I do have a few questions... but first the new hardware --> CPU = Intel Xeon E3 1220 Memory = 16GB Kingston Valueram (KVR1333D3D4R9SK2/16GI) This will allow me to run the following machines (still a work in progress) --> untangle (router/firewall) unraid (maxed out with 22-drives) Win2k8 R2 (domain controller & Apps/CP/SB/SAB) Win2k8 Storage Server or WHS2011 Windows 7 (test box) Now for the questions --> 1. Maximizing drives and drive space --> The norco-4224 has bays for 24 drives, but unRaid only supports 22. How do I insure that I can use that other drive space for VM's? 2. Networks cards... should I assign a NIC to each VM? Assign 2 to untangle, 1 to unraid and 1 to the rest? I was looking at this card to expand my ports. Opinions on this would be appreciated. 3. In Johnm's build, he has used an SSD for his datastore. This makes sense to me, as it removes a bottleneck. However, how should I do storage on these machines... just a seperate spinner split between them? 4. I know one of the NIC's isn't supported by esxi, but can I just pass that to one of the windows systems where it is supported? 5. Lastly (for now) I assume that esxi has a backup utility for the datastore, is this the case? If not, how are people backing it up? I think that's it for now, I'm sure as I narrow down my build I'll have more pointed questions. Thanks in advance for the help. ~Spritz

Good Afternoon All, It's been quite a while since I've been around these parts. My unraid system is still purring along nicely, but I'm looking to upgrade my versions of Sickbeard/Couchpotato/Sabnzbd. I installed them using Prostuff's package, and was easily able to update the couchpotato packing through the CP webgui. However, I'm not sure how to update either SAB or SB. SB is listed as the "Alpha Master" and therefore won't allow me to upgrade through the webgui. As far as Sab goes, I'm just not sure how to update it period. Any help you guys can provide would be appreciated.

I'm getting the following error when attempting to install transmission --> ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory And then it doesn't install. Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide.

Whenever I try to install this, I get the following error with pyload --> "pyload-src-v0.4.8.zip apparently did not install properly, /etc/rc.d/unraid.d/rc.unraid_pyload does not exist." I also get the following error with both pyload and the transmission --> ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory ls: cannot access /mnt/disk[1-20]: No such file or directory I've downloaded and installed all the dependencies. Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.

Added a picture of my ghetto ikea server rack

Evening all, I've been running into an odd error when shutting down my system... in that it doesn't. Some processes seem to stop (including Samba, and telnet) but then the system hangs. The only way to power it off at that point is to hold down the power button. Now having said all that, the reboot command works fine. I've tried manually killing processes and still no luck. Prior to me tearing into some hardcore troubleshooting, I wanted to see if anybody else has experience this before and had a solution. Thanks!

Raj, You are correct on the IPMI, I skimmed the model number too quickly. However, I must disagree with your suggestion to purchase already outdate parts on what is going to shape up to be a fairly expensive build. Almost anyone looking to build a 24-drive server is probably not going to be looking to upgrade any time soon, so they should build with future proofing in mind. Based on that, I think what I suggested is the best way to go. Also, the 540's are becoming hard to find and the 550's and the 2100 are the same price. Just my 2cents. Spritz

Well I enabled NCQ and I'll see if I run into any issue's. I'm hoping not, as I suspect NCQ will help increase the array's performance (especially with small files).

I ran into the same problem, so I ordered these from e-bay. They seem to be working great so far, and I was happy with the quality. Edit - Just looked at your spreadsheet and I have a couple of comments. Motherboard/CPU - For $20 more on the motherboard you can get a model that has IPMI (remote management) which means once it's configured, you never need to have a monitor/keyboard plugged into it. Furthermore, that additional $20 buys you the latest socket (1155) and replaces a PCI slot with an additional PCIe (4x I believe) slot. You can then get an i3-2100 instead of the i3's you listed. RAM - Supermicro boards are notoriously picky when it comes to ram, just just make sure any ram you get is on their approved memory list Fans - Why do you only have one 80mm fan when the board supports 2? I would suggest you get 2. I would suggest that you either look at my build (Athena) or Johnm's build (Goliath)

My thoughts exactly. Thought it appears that unRaid defaults to it being disabled. Now if the link that mbryanr posted is correct, this should be a non-issue unless you're running a j-micron controller...

Yup, you got it.

I got a PM from someone asking how I'm using a cache and app drive, as well as how I have them wired to the motherboard. So I figured it was easier to answer here than answer in PM. The cache drive is connected to the motherboard on one of the two SATA3 ports, while the Apps drive is connected to the 2-Port Sata card. Both drives are connected using a SAS-Sata cable (which also connects the parity drive and the extra drive bay). Power is provided to all drives in the array through the back plane. You can actually see all the power cables hooked up in the top portion of the pictures. As far as how I'm using the cache drive, this is a feature built into unRaid. I've simply chosen what user folders will take advantage of the cache drive, and what folders won't. For my app drive, I simply had the various pieces of software (Sab/CP/SB/Transmission/Airvideo) installed to the drive. This is a simple thing to do with the included unmenu installers. The only 'gotcha' with the app drive setup is that you must have it mount the drive every time the system boots. To do that, I added the following lines to my 'go' script, right after it starts up unmenu. mkdir /mnt/Apps mount -t reiserfs -o noatime,nodiratime -L Apps /mnt/Apps/ I hope this helps!

Thanks John. It's funny I had actually decided on most of these parts prior to you posting about your build, though once I saw your parts list I followed your progress very closely My temp reading is posted in my last post, though oddly enough the IPMI (god I love it) doesn't display the CPU temp (it just says 'low'). As far as the wiring goes, I've had the opposite experience of you. With all the systems I've built for people, not to mention the systems I've built at work, I've never had a problem with running the wires underneath the motherboard. Having said that though, I always verify that the wires will be lower than the lowest point on the motherboard. I also zip tie them closely together and run them against (and sometimes zip tie too) the standoffs. I've yet to have this method cause issue's. Thanks for the feedback!