BlackCat

So if you can run a server headless without IPMI, does IPMI just give you the ability to troubleshoot without adding the monitor and keyboard? I'm sure I'm over simplifying things. IPMI lets you configure BIOS settings remotely or run the MEMORY test in the boot menu remotely. You can reset the boot device to be the flash drive remotely. You can see the BIOS messages that appear on the system console remotely. You can troubleshoot almost anything else without IPMI if unRAID is running and the telnet server is available. Joe thanks for the info. Since IPMI can do things like show you temps recorded by the sensors on the motherboard and send you alarms when something is wrong, can this be done without IPMI? Are the hard drive temps reported by the motherboard or just cpu temps? I see that you can power the server on and off with IPMI, how is this different from a wake on lan function? Would they not both need to leave some networking capabilites on to listen for a request? Thanks again. Never mind I found what I was looking for.

Glad to hear it's working well. If you get a chance to test WOL that would be great. I'm planning to pickup up my motherboard/cpu combo after thanksgiving, so I have some more time to consider my options and maybe I'll find a good sale. Which Asus P7H55-M board do you have? (there seems to be a couple different ones on newegg- Pro, LX, LE, /CSM) Since the Asus board doesn't have the on-board usb port did you have to leave your Unraid flash stick outside the case?

So if you can run a server headless without IPMI, does IPMI just give you the ability to troubleshoot without adding the monitor and keyboard? I'm sure I'm over simplifying things.

Can you run a server headless without IPMI? Since I'm new I don't have any experience with IPMI and not sure if it's over my head. I do however want to use the i3 540 and be able to run my server headless. Thanks for the help.

How is this working for you? I plan on using the i3 540 as well. I was going to use the SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O listed in the suggested builds, but I'm not sure if it's right for me. Are you running your server headless? Does the motherboard have Wake On Lan functionality?

That is good to know because some of the stuff takes a bit to understand, but I'm up to the challenge. Always good to keep learning. I was going to use the SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O motherboard for the core i3 540. It's suggested in the 20 Drive Beast build here: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Hardware_Compatibility#20_Drive_Beast The Norco case is suggested in that build hence why I was curious about the fit in the 590. I know the 540 is more processor than I need now, but I would like to room to expand my capability in the future. That is good to know, it's just hard to judge when reading newegg since everyone has different expectations. So when someone says they open easily it's hard to know what "easily" really is. Thanks for the reference, doesn't seem too bad, but I guess I'll judge once I pick one up. I agree, it wasn't something I would try until further down the line and comfortable with unraid, but I like to have an idea of what I would like further down the line so I can plan from the ground up accordingly. That said sometimes I do get carried away. Thanks for the info. I thought about a rack mount case, but I just don't have room for it that is why I'm going with the tower. Plus I just purchased the 590 case and seeing if I can find some good sales during the holidays. Congrats on your build. Thanks for the advice. I plan to start small and work my way up, but I am also trying to minimize extra costs by planning up front. Even though I know stuff usually comes up.

First I want to say hello I'm looking forward to building my unraid box and getting it running. This is going to be my first build ever. I don't have any experience with Linux, scripting, or building computers, so I'm excited yet nervous at the same time. I am building the box to house my movie collection, other media, backup files(I know you still need to backup your backups), and access them from outside the house. I'm planning on building the 20 Drive Beast, but instead building it as a 15 drive capacity server in the Centurion 590 Case. I plan to use the SuperMicro CSE-M35T-1B hot-swap cages with 2TB WD EARS Green Drives(with the jumper installed). However, I do have two 1TB SATA drives (a Hitachi 7200 rpm and a WD EVDS) containing some of my media that I would like to install after the media has been transferred. I'm sorry if my questions are posted somewhere else. I have been doing a lot of reading on the forums and sometimes it can be hard to find exactly what your looking for. So here are some of my questions in regards to thinking out this build: 1) Since I am using the CM 590 with the SuperMicro 5 bay enclosures and not the Norco case, will I have any clearance issues with the motherboard and ram installed?. I am guessing I will be OK since the 590 is used in a lot of builds, but I have read that the fan sometimes interferes in mid-tower cases. 2) How easy are the SuperMicro hot-swap bays to accidentally open? I share a small 410 sq. ft apartment with my girlfriend so the server won't be hidden away. If someone brushes the buttons by accident how likely is it to open the hard drive bays? 3) I have read the reviews on the SuperMicro hot-swap enclosure and lots of people seem to complain that the fan is too loud. I don't have any reference to what “loud” is since I have only used my laptop with a 2.0GHz Dothan processor for the past 7 years. I don't know the size of the CPU fan in the laptop, but runs all the time and I can hear across the apartment (approximately 20 ft). I wouldn't claim it's loud since I have nothing to compare it to. Can anyone give me an idea what “loud” actually is for the hot-swap enclosure? (Yes I know I can change the fan if I need to) 4) I have been reading about whether or not I need a cache drive. I haven't decided if I'll use one or not yet, but I do like the idea of at least have the warm spare ready. Anyways, I was reading that you can configure the cache drive in a raid 1 array, my question is, can you have two of the five drives in a hot-swap enclosures to run in a raid 1 array and still have the other 3 run normally? Sorry if this is dumb question, but I don't have experience with hot-swap drives and raid. Thanks for all the help. Hopefully I worded things clearly enough.