I would first thank all of the unRAID community for keeping alive such a wonderful and helpful forum. I've been reading everything I could to be familiar with the system before I dive into it. It took me... more than a year  

 

I took inspiration from the great topic "Prototype Designs" from Raj (or should I say the topic Prototype Design topic from the great Raj?   ) and adapted it to fit my needs and to what we can find here in Europe (I'm French).

 

So here come the beast :

 

OS at time of building: Last unRAID version to date (bought it a week ago)

CPU: AMD Sempron 140

Motherboard: ASUS M4A78LT-M LE

RAM: Kingston HyperX blu 2 x 1 Go DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL9

Case: CoolerMaster Elite 334

Drive Cage(s): none (so far)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder Series CX500 - 500 W

SATA Expansion Card(s): none (so far)

Cables: Standard SATA latching cables

Fans: 1x NOCTUA 120 mm NF-S12B FLX

 

Parity Drive: 2To Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI

Data Drives: 4x 2To Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI

Cache Drive: 2To Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI

Total Drive Capacity: 8 To

 

Primary Use: Media Server (HD Movies - Music - Series - Photos) with a Mediaportal HTPC

Likes:

Dislikes:

Add Ons Used: unmenu, screen, email, preclear, probably monthly parity check  after

Future Plans:

 

Boot (peak):

Idle (avg):

Active (avg):

Light use (avg):

 

I'm still at the very beginning of the process and I want to do it well so I take my time. Here the steps I planned :

 

1 - Upgraded the firmware on the F4 disks. I already had 3 of them and I bought the 3 others before I learned there were a problem with them. 3 of them are already on another PC almost full of the medias I want to put on the unRAID server so I did only the 3 last for the moment.

 

2 - Install the unRAID server. Easy ride with the key bought directly from Limetech (free whipping even to France!). A bit of struggle with the Internet connection, my network wasn't mean for that. Installed unmenu, screen, mail and preclear with no trouble.

 

3 - Preclear the 3 disks. Already did it one cycle apparently with no trouble (I'll post the mailed logs after all the cycles are done to check it). Even if I understand the usefulness of the preclearing I'm not sure for the starting at sector 64, I did it anyway. If I understood well, doing a few preclear cycle is usefull to see if the disk has no sector errors and to be sure (or surer) that it will not crash during the first hours/days of uses is that correct?

 

This is where I am for now.

 

Next

 

4 - Build the array with 2 drives.

 

5 - Transfer all datas from 2 of the already in use F4 disks to the server

 

6 - Install the 3rd precleared disk as parity and run a check.

 

7 - If everything is ok, upgrade firmware and preclear the 2 emptied drives, then installing them in the array

 

8 - Transfer all datas from the remaining F4 disk, run a parity check, then update firmware, preclear and install it in the array as cache (and warm spare) drive

 

Phew ^^

 

I will post pictures I soon as the server is in its final shape. I already ordered the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS/SATA Card and 2 forward breakout sas/sata cable for (imminent) future expansion, I will also probably soon change the case (I already got this one, this is why I used it), I found a Centurion 590 on ebay and I found the UK retailer of Norco for the ss500 5in3 cases.

 

I hope I did my homework well and if you have any suggestions I will gladly take them.

Bienvenue, et congratulations sur votre premiere serveur unRAID!  < I doubt my grammar is correct, but hey, I tried

 

I see two issues with your build.  First, the motherboard.  The Asus M4A78LT-M LE uses a NIC that is incompatible with unRAID (see this thread for more details).  You have two options:

 

1) Return or replace the motherboard (annoying, but could save you money)

2) Disable the onboard NIC and use an external PCI Gigabit NIC, such as this (easy, but could cost more money)

 

The second problem is that the Norco SS-500 doesn't work too well with locking SATA cables.  Technically they do work, but the cables don't make a very good connection.  Standard non-locking SATA cables work fine.

 

Past those two issues, everything looks good.  It is perfectly fine to preclear all your Samsung F4 disks starting at sector 64.  You are correct that preclear helps you make sure that the disks won't die early.

 

You are lucky to have found a Cooler Master 590, it is a great case.

 

Easy ride with the key bought directly from Limetech (free whipping even to France!).

 

Your English is very good, so I'm sure this is just a typo...mais il était trop drôle!

Hello and thank you for the answer, your French isn't too bad either^^

 

I was SURE something would go wrong, damn. I ran a search on the MoBo but I never found this issue. Guess I will have to find a gigabit card, the price is not a problem (it's just like 10€ or so), but how can I be sure it will work this time? Are all the cards supposed to work with unRAID or is there also some kind of chips that will not be compatible?

 

The Norco case issue isn't an issue at all, I got a lot of cables around her, if I decide to buy them, I would use other cables.

 

And for the typo (yes, is a typo, even if it could be confusing with my nickname  ) I like it so I will not edit ^^

 

Last question : I know there is no definitive answer and it is probably the more the better, but how many preclear cycle you find are enough before adding a new disk to the array? The second cycle will finish tonight and I must say I can't wait to play with my new toy  . I guess it depends on how many errors are found but if there is none, which was the case for my first cycle as far as I know (logs attached with this message)?

sda.txt

sdb.txt

sdc.txt

 

I will post pictures I soon as the server is in its final shape. I already ordered the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS/SATA Card and 2 forward breakout sas/sata cable for (imminent) future expansion, I will also probably soon change the case (I already got this one, this is why I used it), I found a Centurion 590 on ebay and I found the UK retailer of Norco for the ss500 5in3 cases.

 

I hope I did my homework well and if you have any suggestions I will gladly take them.

 

Hello Wild Pony,, the more from Europe the better,, I think Unraid isn't that popular yet in France/Belgium/The Netherlands ,recommended Unraid parts are still available second hand when you search a bit , i also found 2 Centurion's 590's , anyone in Europe still need one?

link from a Dutch seller!

 

http://computer-software.marktplaats.nl/behuizingen-en-kasten/442205609-cooler-master-centurion-590-cooler-master-voeding-700-watt.html

 

The Uk retailer?. is it x-case.co.uk.?

Hello Wild Pony,, the more from Europe the better,, I think Unraid isn't that popular yet in France/Belgium/The Netherlands ,recommended Unraid parts are still available second hand when you search a bit , i also found 2 Centurion's 590's , anyone in Europe still need one?

link from a Dutch seller!

Yes, it's very difficult to find recommended parts here so I had to improvise, which led to the defective MoBo...

 

I found this http://www.coolermaster.nl/shop/product_info.php?products_id=480 and that http://cgi.ebay.fr/COOLER-MASTER-CENTURION-590-BLACK-MID-TOWER-/170620358047?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item27b9c40d9f. I suspect the eBay one is from the same but this sentence kind of frighten me : "We do not handle any inquiries regarding damage/missing accessory details! No warranty on the cases!"

 

I will try to do with what I have for now and we'll see if I need to expand later.

 

The Uk retailer?. is it x-case.co.uk.?

Exactly. I contacted them a few week ago and the prices and shipping to France were very decent so I now that if I'm in need, I could order there (they even got the 4224 beast  but the price is just awful : 418£ = 474€ =690$ when it is at 400$ at Newegg...).

I forgot.

 

This server will just be a training. Next time I will use this : http://www.xcase.co.uk/Chenbro-9u-RM91250H01-p/case-chenbro-rm91250h01.htm, just to make Raj looks like a sissy  ;D

I believe two full passes of preclear are enough, that's what I use on my client builds.  Your drives look fine, so you may start to play.  By the way, SDB was precleared with a starting sector of 63...nothing wrong with that, but you said in your first post that you used sector 64 on all of them.  Guess you missed one.  No need to redo it, though it will still work fine,

 

unRAID only supports up to 22 drives at the moment...so have fun with your 50 hot swap bays that are over half empty 

I believe two full passes of preclear are enough, that's what I use on my client builds.  Your drives look fine, so you may start to play.  By the way, SDB was precleared with a starting sector of 63...nothing wrong with that, but you said in your first post that you used sector 64 on all of them.  Guess you missed one.  No need to redo it, though it will still work fine,

I saw I made a mistake so I corrected it on the 2nd cycle (same results so I didn't posted the logs), my 3 disks are now all right, 2 of them are already installed in the array and I started filling one with a mounted ntfs disk and mc.

 

Unfortunately (even if expected), it indeed seems to be a problem with the NIC so I will try to buy another one tomorrow.

 

So far, so (very ^^) good.

Unfortunately (even if expected), it indeed seems to be a problem with the NIC so I will try to buy another one tomorrow.

 

At least you knew to expect it, so you didn't have to panic and waste a bunch of time troubleshooting.

Gigabit card installed, NIC disabled, everything's going fine now.

 

Stopped shaving, barely eating.

 

 

Must... keep... going...

Don't worry, there are many of us trained to treat UCD in this community

Don't worry, there are many of us trained to treat UCD in this community

 

And some are a little hostile towards the treatment . 

 

Everything seems to go fine for the first week or so but we all seem to fall back into UCD.

 

The Uk retailer?. is it x-case.co.uk.?

Exactly. I contacted them a few week ago and the prices and shipping to France were very decent so I now that if I'm in need, I could order there (they even got the 4224 beast  but the price is just awful : 418£ = 474€ =690$ when it is at 400$ at Newegg...).

 

A little cheaper and from the Netherlands  440,00 €

http://cybershop.ri-vier.nl/4u-server-case-w-24-hotswappable-satasas-drive-bay-rpc4224-p-67.html?zenid=624979154a2a324ab678be0e30de90e6

 

Newegg and living in the US is a money-saver comparing to Europe

Everything's still going smoothly so far.

 

Have 4 datas disk installed and running, parity speed is about 110,000 KB/sec as expected but something is bugging me.

 

I have precleared and added the sixth (and last for now) disk as a cache disk, to see what speed I could get by using this. And the least I can say is that it is somewhat disappointing...

 

With parity calculation, I got transfer speed around 35-40Mo/sec, which is good enough for me. With cache drive, I'm around 60Mo/sec, and I expected quicker. I got a notebook connected directly to the unRAID server through cat 5e cable (2m long), both cards are gigabit and cache drive is a Spinpoint F4 EG that has almost 100Mo/sec write speed (tested on another computer).

 

So what's wrong?

 

I couldn't test fully cause my other computer is down but I suspect the network to act as bottleneck, and more specifically the cable. I tested the other way around (getting server files to my notebook) and I got almost the same speeds, more or less 60Mo/s.Was trouble me is that it is way under max speed for gigabit, I didn't expected 120Mo/s but 90 would have been just fine and made a real difference. 40 to 60Mo/s is a mere +50% speed, and for now I don't see that as a real advantage. I tested on the Supermicro card and directly on the motherboard's sata.

 

So the question : does my speeds seem normal to you?

 

 

Another small question : I received my Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS/SATA Card and the breakout cables. I downgraded the firmware and disabled the INT13 option in the BIOS. I plugged a drive and the preclear went fine (besides the SMART error which are to be expected as far as I understood). I ran the cache disk on it for a few moment, no problem either. Can I definitively say that the card is fine or is there a special set of test I can run (testing all the ports, etc.)?

 

Thank you

Try Iperf (package install on raid server) and you should install a java package on you pc: you can test the max troughput of your network.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=10771.0

 

but for what i'm reading on this forum your speeds with that set-up are quite normal

Try Iperf (package install on raid server) and you should install a java package on you pc: you can test the max troughput of your network.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=10771.0

 

but for what i'm reading on this forum your speeds with that set-up are quite normal

Thanks for the answer.

 

I will not install anything for now. If it seems normal to you, that's fair enough. I'm not a speed and optimization freak and even 40Mo/sec (without cache) is way enough for me, so I will let the cache drive like that for now and I will just use it as another data disk when I will need more space.

 

I guess it means that my build is now finished, I will wait to need more space to buy a proper case, use the Supermicro card and add hotswap cases.

 

I just can't believe how easy it was even for a newbie like me to build such a toy. Can't wait for the first disk failure to see if everything is so right! (yes I'm a bit masochist ^^)

Yep, those speeds are normal.  The fastest cache drive speeds reported were just a bit over 70 mb/s with a budget SSD and I think close to 90 mb/s with a performance SSD.  With a HDD I haven't seen anything significantly over the 60 mb/s speed that you are seeing.

 

 

 

I will not install anything for now. If it seems normal to you, that's fair enough. I'm not a speed and optimization freak and even 40Mo/sec (without cache) is way enough for me, so I will let the cache drive like that for now and I will just use it as another data disk when I will need more space.

 

I guess it means that my build is now finished...

 

I just can't believe how easy it was even for a newbie like me to build such a toy. Can't wait for the first disk failure to see if everything is so right! (yes I'm a bit masochist ^^)

LOL!  That is the way many of us feel.  A sense of deflation after the euphoria of building the server, transferring the data and adding all the scripts/add-ons required.  I believe this is where UCD steps in! :-D

 

Of course, none of us want to have to deal with a data disaster <where UCD actually helps prevent!>

Hello and thank you for the answer, your French isn't too bad either^^

 

I was SURE something would go wrong, damn. I ran a search on the MoBo but I never found this issue. Guess I will have to find a gigabit card, the price is not a problem (it's just like 10€ or so), but how can I be sure it will work this time? Are all the cards supposed to work with unRAID or is there also some kind of chips that will not be compatible?

 

The Norco case issue isn't an issue at all, I got a lot of cables around her, if I decide to buy them, I would use other cables.

 

And for the typo (yes, is a typo, even if it could be confusing with my nickname   ) I like it so I will not edit ^^

 

Last question : I know there is no definitive answer and it is probably the more the better, but how many preclear cycle you find are enough before adding a new disk to the array? The second cycle will finish tonight and I must say I can't wait to play with my new toy  . I guess it depends on how many errors are found but if there is none, which was the case for my first cycle as far as I know (logs attached with this message)?

 

Hello Wild Pony,

 

It seems my post is 'out of sync', but since I'm running that same Asus MB, decided to put my two cents into play. I hope it helps.

 

As suggested above, considering you already built the server, you could go either way, replace MB, or get a PCI NIC. About the ASUS M4A78LT-M LE motherboard, it has been rock solid in my build. Though LE basically translates in this case as 'el cheapo' onboard NIC.

 

I installed on my server an Intel Pro 1000 Gigabit PCI network card (rather cheap solution), deactivated the onboard NIC in the BIOS, and it has been smooth sailing ever since. You will be able to boot without issues with this board and the onboard NIC, but transfers get complicated. I replaced my NIC about a week after the build was running, as I tried to populate the server and had issues.

 

By now happily running 5 drives from the MB ports, and the rest from the SAS card.

 

On your other query, I run 3 preclear cycles on every new disk, but I'd say Raj is the one to get your bearings from on this. I use 2 preclears for used/existing disks.

Yep, those speeds are normal.  The fastest cache drive speeds reported were just a bit over 70 mb/s with a budget SSD and I think close to 90 mb/s with a performance SSD.  With a HDD I haven't seen anything significantly over the 60 mb/s speed that you are seeing.

Maybe a stupid question but if the bottleneck here comes from the write speed of the disks, can a RAID 0 on two disks make it faster?

 

With the Spinpoint F4 EG (now in use in my unRAID server) in RAID0, I achieved 120-140 Mo/sec writing speed on another computer. Using this RAID0 as a cache drive would probably boost the write speed.

 

Of course, since I didn't read a lot of thing about it and you must all have thought about it much before me, this must means there is some limitations. Maybe unRAID doesn't see a RAID0 array as a single drive (or doesn't see it at all) and therefore can't use it as a cache drive. (or maybe people just doesn't want to "waste" sata ports on this).

 

Any idea about it?

 

 

 

I will not install anything for now. If it seems normal to you, that's fair enough. I'm not a speed and optimization freak and even 40Mo/sec (without cache) is way enough for me, so I will let the cache drive like that for now and I will just use it as another data disk when I will need more space.

 

I guess it means that my build is now finished...

 

I just can't believe how easy it was even for a newbie like me to build such a toy. Can't wait for the first disk failure to see if everything is so right! (yes I'm a bit masochist ^^)

LOL!  That is the way many of us feel.  A sense of deflation after the euphoria of building the server, transferring the data and adding all the scripts/add-ons required.  I believe this is where UCD steps in! :-D

Fortunately, I'm not finished with the exploration ^^

 

All I got is a "basic" version of the server, with almost no scripts/add-ons installed, an awful cable/case management and not enough space for the medias I will soon pour in.

 

It's just the beginning, and I like it ^^

Hello Wild Pony,

 

It seems my post is 'out of sync', but since I'm running that same Asus MB, decided to put my two cents into play. I hope it helps.

 

As suggested above, considering you already built the server, you could go either way, replace MB, or get a PCI NIC. About the ASUS M4A78LT-M LE motherboard, it has been rock solid in my build. Though LE basically translates in this case as 'el cheapo' onboard NIC.

 

I installed on my server an Intel Pro 1000 Gigabit PCI network card (rather cheap solution), deactivated the onboard NIC in the BIOS, and it has been smooth sailing ever since. You will be able to boot without issues with this board and the onboard NIC, but transfers get complicated. I replaced my NIC about a week after the build was running, as I tried to populate the server and had issues.

 

By now happily running 5 drives from the MB ports, and the rest from the SAS card.

 

On your other query, I run 3 preclear cycles on every new disk, but I'd say Raj is the one to get your bearings from on this. I use 2 preclears for used/existing disks.

Thanks for the input!

 

Yes, this card seems very stable. I don't know yet how to see the uptime (from the telnet console I guess, probably in the syslog too?) but it must be close to a week and I(ve got absolutely no sign of any trouble. Running 4 datas, 1 parity and 1 cache drive and everything is fine, with or without the SAS card.

 

It could have been the perfect motherboard (=cheapest ^^) without this NIC issue...

Yep, those speeds are normal.  The fastest cache drive speeds reported were just a bit over 70 mb/s with a budget SSD and I think close to 90 mb/s with a performance SSD.  With a HDD I haven't seen anything significantly over the 60 mb/s speed that you are seeing.

Maybe a stupid question but if the bottleneck here comes from the write speed of the disks, can a RAID 0 on two disks make it faster?

 

With the Spinpoint F4 EG (now in use in my unRAID server) in RAID0, I achieved 120-140 Mo/sec writing speed on another computer. Using this RAID0 as a cache drive would probably boost the write speed.

 

Of course, since I didn't read a lot of thing about it and you must all have thought about it much before me, this must means there is some limitations. Maybe unRAID doesn't see a RAID0 array as a single drive (or doesn't see it at all) and therefore can't use it as a cache drive. (or maybe people just doesn't want to "waste" sata ports on this).

 

Any idea about it?

 

I'm not sure if anyone has tried a RAID 0 on the cache drive since typically speed is sacrificed for safety in the unRAID world.  A RAID 0 is one of the best ways to put your data at risk - you are more than doubling your chance of losing your data to a disk failure!  For this reason alone most unRAIDers won't touch RAID 0.  Still, in theory it should work.

 

The opposite has been tested.  WeeboTech (I think? Might have the person wrong) is running a server with a cache drive that is a hardware RAID 1 on an Arcea controller.  This doesn't help performance at all, but it does protect data from the cache drive failing.  Getting the controller recognized by unRAID as a cache drive can be tricky, though, so this isn't recommended unless you want to get your hands dirty.