cktulsa

I have two IBM System x3500 7977AC1 servers - one was running Unraid with a LSI 9211-8i card, but I removed that and the drives to migrate to my new server hardware. The other one is currently running Ubuntu 18.04, and has 8 1TB SAS drives connected to the internal ServeRAID card. I have two extra matching drives. The servers each have 48GB ECC RAM and dual quad core Xeon x5450 3.0GHz processors. I had many Docker containers and VMs running on Unraid without the server really breaking a sweat. These servers also have dual power supplies and hotswap backplanes for the drives (backplanes work fine with the LSI controller). I am located in Tulsa, Oklahoma and would prefer local pickup, but I could also drop them at a UPS store for packing if you arrange that in advance. They are bulky and heavy - I am guessing around 60 lbs each with drives installed. Happy to answer any questions.

Huge thanks to the Linuxserver.io team for this Docker container. I just set it up on my existing Unifi network and migrated from my old controller (running on a DigitalOcean cloud instance) using the Unfi controller's Site Export Wizard. The process was flawless, and I had all of my devices up on the new controller in about 5 minutes. Both controllers were on 5.12.35, and all devices were up-to-date, so that probably helped a lot.

I just now set up this Docker container and accessed it via Chrome Version 79.0.3945.88 on a Mac -- no issues with the self-signed cert.

Quick update: I ordered and received a boxed 9211-8i, and I realized I could cable that thing right up to the hot-swap SAS backplanes in this IBM server. No need for the forward breakout cables. All I needed was two SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 cables that were pretty long, and I was good. Before cabling up the drives I installed the card and followed these instructions to flash it to IT mode: https://nguvu.org/freenas/Convert-LSI-HBA-card-to-IT-mode/ That part was easy. Then I cabled up the backplanes to the card and booted the server. Unraid can see all four WD SATA 2TB drives and it's now doing a parity sync. So now I have all four drives directly accessed by Unraid and no more ServeRAID card in the way. Thanks for everyone's advice! Curt

@mrbilky thanks for the great info! Curt

Thanks @itimpi ! I'm thinking of going with the LSI 9211-8i : https://smile.amazon.com/SAS9211-8I-8PORT-Int-Sata-Pcie/dp/B002RL8I7M Plus a set of SFF-8087 to SATA Forward Breakout cables. I can probably handle the flashing to IT mode since there's instructions here (hopefully I can find the most current ones). Curt

OK, I made some interesting progress on this. I got a bit more serious about disassembling one of the servers, and found that I can remove the entire SAS backplane. This frees up the space to run cabling from a PCI-E controller card to a set of SATA drives mounted in the original caddies. Thinking I will follow everyone's advice and ditch the old ServeRAID 8x controller for one that's better for Unraid and keep pushing forward on a build. So now I just need to source a truly appropriate controller card that will work well for my scenario. I've read some forum threads on this, and I found this list: https://wiki.unraid.net/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers My slots are labeled PCI-E x8 and one has a (x4) next to that. I assume these are PCI-E 1.0. Given all that, any obvious recommendations for a good controller card that's easy to get and works out of the box? Thanks! Curt

I am definitely on board with these advantages, and I'd really like to run it. But if it's not advisable to run it on the hardware I have, I'll have to go another route. If anyone thinks it would be better to run Unraid on this hardware than to go with hardware RAID (probably RAID 6), I'd be very interested in hearing about that! Curt

Thanks @jonathanm - the advice is much appreciated and makes sense. Given that I can't afford to go build a better Unraid box right now, and I can't easily run a different controller in this chassis, I am now leaning toward leaving Unraid for another time. I could load these servers up with ESXi and run Nextcloud in a Docker container, and take advantage of the RAID I already have. Sometimes Unraid just may not be the best option. Curt

That would probably mean a different server. There's no good way to mount drives in this chassis without using the hot-swap backplane. What's the risk with this controller as-is? Thanks. Curt

Hello community, I found out about Unraid just a couple of weeks ago. I have a lengthy IT background (back to TRS80 Model I days) and I've found myself wanting to beef up my home IT infrastructure lately. I'd thought I would build a FreeNAS box and maybe run Nextcloud in a Docker container, but then I discovered Unraid. I've been tinkering with it ever since, most of the time on a totally unsuitable ShuttlePC I had laying around. But it gave me the chance to gain some understanding of Unraid before diving in. A few days ago I ran across a couple of older IBM servers for practically nothing, and decided to try out building up an Unraid instance on one of them. My goals for this build are pretty minimal. I'm not that into digital media and plan to use the box primarily as a file server, as well as running some Docker containers and maybe a Linux VM or two. I'm not too interested at this point in Windows or any GPU pass-through. Basic specs on the servers: IBM System x3500 (huge, heavy tower case) 2 x Xeon x5450 - quad-core, 3.0 GHz, 12MB L2 cache (VT-x but no VT-d) 48 GB DDR2 ECC RAM ServeRAID 8k SAS/SATA raid controller w/ 8-drive hot-swap backplane Dual 835 watt power supplies Two 64-bit PCI-X slots, three PCI-Express slots Four Gigabit ethernet ports I quickly discovered that the RAID card can handle only up to 2TB drives, so I bought four Western Digital Red NAS drives - the 5400 RPM ,256MB cache version. I also discovered that the card has no true pass-through mode (as far as I can tell). I set up the four drives as individual "volumes" using the RAID config utility, and Unraid was able to see them. I set up one as a parity drive and the other three as data drives giving me 6TB, which is more than enough for my current needs. I'm not waiting for the initial parity sync, which says it will take a long time (like 6 hours). I thought at some point I may buy two 500GB SSDs and a PCI Express SATA controller for Unraid cache. I suppose I'll buy an Unraid license if things go well, and sometime later might consider building up a more modern hardware platform for Unraid. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Curt