Basic questions on new build

[ubuntuaddicted]

I'm building my first unRAID server. It's main use will be media storage shared internally via SMB and NFS. Need to learn more about what unRAID is based on as far as Linux (correct me if I'm wrong) as I am familiar with Ubuntu which is based on Debian. I'd like to also run services like apache2, ssh, transmission-daemon (but willing to learn new torrent server), internal dns (my router is stupid so host names and static ip's aren't handled correctly), MySQL and php.

 

Total storage is roughly 4.5 terabytes consisting of

(2) 1TB IDE drives

(2) 300gb IDE drives

(2) 500gb SATA drives

(1) 1TB SATA drive

 

I'll research correct PSU requirements of all those drives.

 

1. Unless someone can easily say they already know I'll need a 600watt PSU then that would be appreciated.

 

MB will have 2 IDE controllers which will take care of 4 drives then I have a Promise PCI addin card that has 1 more IDE controller and 2 SATA ports. MB will have 2 or 4 SATA ports.

 

2. I believe my MB has the connectors for all drives BUT will it handle all that bandwidth? Accessing disks constantly would be torrent server but that's about it, other services are used much less frequently.

 

I am not sure how much RAM to use but I know currently the above listed services all run fine right now on 256mb.

 

I can't afford an APC so how does unRAID handle the array IF power goes out?

 

Never used raid b4 so I am not sure about my options as far as data backup. Currently about only about 1.6TB of data currently, if I want redundancy I can easily do that I am assuming (sorry, I'll read up on the wiki)

 

It'll have only 100mbit NIC in it, that's acceptable I'd think? Correct me if I am wrong please.

 

Most likely a P4 or even a Celeron D is what I am thinking as its really not doing anything CPU heavy. My current services AND my mythtv backed (3 tuners) all run now fine on a P4.

 

Can a hard drive be used by unRAID if its hooked up as an external drive via USB 2.0?

 

Any response here would be much appreciated. Thank u

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

[SSD]

I'm building my first unRAID server. It's main use will be media storage shared internally via SMB and NFS. Need to learn more about what unRAID is based on as far as Linux (correct me if I'm wrong) as I am familiar with Ubuntu which is based on Debian. I'd like to also run services like apache2, ssh, transmission-daemon (but willing to learn new torrent server), internal dns (my router is stupid so host names and static ip's aren't handled correctly), MySQL and php.

 

Total storage is roughly 4.5 terabytes consisting of

(2) 1TB IDE drives

(2) 300gb IDE drives

(2) 500gb SATA drives

(1) 1TB SATA drive

 

1TB IDE drives?  I didn't even think they make them.  But just did a search and appears Seagate does (or did).  They are very pricey to buy.  You might consider selling them used and buying larger SATA drives to replace them.

 

But to answer the question, these drives would work fine for an unRAID array.

 

1 of your 1T drives will become parity, and the rest of the drives would be data.  That would give you about 3.6T of capacity.

 

I'll research correct PSU requirements of all those drives.

 

1. Unless someone can easily say they already know I'll need a 600watt PSU then that would be appreciated.

 

600watt would be more than enough for those drives.  You'd probably get buy with 430 or so.  Others may be able to advise you better.

 

MB will have 2 IDE controllers which will take care of 4 drives then I have a Promise PCI add-in card that has 1 more IDE controller and 2 SATA ports. MB will have 2 or 4 SATA ports.

 

Using your PCI bus (IDE and you PCI add-in card) is going to limit the array parity check speed.  Since you only run a parity check once a month, it is not a huge deal.  But if your parity checks are taking 1-2 days to complete, you won't be a happy camper.  Even if you're a budget minded unRAIDer, 4-5 drives on the PCI bus may be about the most you'd want.  Personally I'd recommend moving away from the IDE drives and the PCI bus except for 1-2 drives.  A few months ago I would have said that $150 would replace all of your IDE drives with 2 shiny new 2T SATA drives, but that deal might be hard to find today.  But hopefully you can start replacing the older IDE drives over time.

 

More SATA port on the motherboard is a good thing.  2 SATA ports is the bare minimum.  4 is better.  6 or even 8 is possible.  More is better, as MB ports are normally not on the PCI bus, and thus provide the best performance.

 

2. I believe my MB has the connectors for all drives BUT will it handle all that bandwidth? Accessing disks constantly would be torrent server but that's about it, other services are used much less frequently.

 

See note above about PCI.  You might want to read HERE for more info on PCI vs PCIe.  Having lots of drives on the PCI bus is not a problem, but accessing lots of drives on the PCI bus at the same time slows things down.  But unless you have torrents spread all over the drives, you'd likely be fine.

 

I am not sure how much RAM to use but I know currently the above listed services all run fine right now on 256mb.

 

Maybe, but I'd opt for at least 512mb, and recommend 2G.  The entire OS as well as the syslog live in RAM.  256 may be pushing it, but others might be able to tell you if they've got unRAID running in 256mb.

 

I can't afford an APC so how does unRAID handle the array IF power goes out?

 

Amazingly well.  The problem is that a parity check ensues after a power outage, and that could mean 8+ hours of time during which the server will be very busy if you try to use it.  That, more than data corruption, pushes people to invest in UPSes.

 

Never used raid b4 so I am not sure about my options as far as data backup. Currently about only about 1.6TB of data currently, if I want redundancy I can easily do that I am assuming (sorry, I'll read up on the wiki)

 

The unRAID array is not hard to back up, but due to the nature of a media server, it tends to get big.  Read up on options in the forums and wiki.

 

It'll have only 100mbit NIC in it, that's acceptable I'd think? Correct me if I am wrong please.

 

It will limit performance, but I'm assuming you already have this hardware so would say try it out and see.  My guess is that you'll be saving for a 1gb NIC, or better yet a new motherboard with more SATA ports + a built in gb NIC.

 

Most likely a P4 or even a Celeron D is what I am thinking as its really not doing anything CPU heavy. My current services AND my mythtv backed (3 tuners) all run now fine on a P4.

 

Try it and see.  Should work fine.  If you find it sluggish, you might opt for something newer.  Problem with P4 is not so much they are too slow, but the motherboards tend to not support PCIe slots necessary for lots of fast drives.  But it is good to use an existing MB and setup to try out unRAID.  I started with a very similar motherboard to what you are describing about 3 years ago.  512mb memory.  Addon gigabit NIC.

 

Can a hard drive be used by unRAID if its hooked up as an external drive via USB 2.0?

 

You can mount and access the drive and access the files, but can't have it as part of your array.

 

Any response here would be much appreciated. Thank u

 

yw

[ubuntuaddicted]

I'm already loving this community!!! Thank you so much for damn quick response! I will take note of all your feedback as it appears very vaulable to a n00b like myself. THANKS AGAIN!!

[SSD]

I'm already loving this community!!! Thank you so much for damn quick response! I will take note of all your feedback as it appears very vaulable to a n00b like myself. THANKS AGAIN!!

 

You're welcome!

 

On rereading I think I may have told you something incorrect.

 

I do not believe that IDE ports on the motherboard are on the PCI bus.  The disks may not be hugely fast, but keeping them off the PCI bus would allow you to add more disks to the array before hitting serious performance issues on parity checks.

[ubuntuaddicted]

I'm already loving this community!!! Thank you so much for damn quick response! I will take note of all your feedback as it appears very vaulable to a n00b like myself. THANKS AGAIN!!

 

You're welcome!

 

On rereading I think I may have told you something incorrect.

 

I do not believe that IDE ports on the motherboard are on the PCI bus.  The disks may not be hugely fast, but keeping them off the PCI bus would allow you to add more disks to the array before hitting serious performance issues on parity checks.

ok, well as it turns out I looked further into the Promise SATA PCI addin card I have. It's the SATA300 TX2 plus. I think it has some SATA ports as well as maybe 1 IDE I forget. If unRAID is based on the linux kernel then I am not worried as it's already being used in an Ubuntu box BUT you're now pointing out that if I have SATA drives connected to that card which is plugged into a pci slot, there may be performance problems? I keep a lot about performance problems with using so many drives in 1 box or what have you, I am not sure I understand the reason, is it because how unRAID groups all the discs together and they are more or less ALL accessed or written to at the same time or what? Thank you for anymore help you can provide.

[dgaschk]

UnRAID requires concurrent access to all array drives for certain operations: parity build, parity check, failed disk emulation, and disk rebuild. During normal operations only single disk is accessed per read and two are accessed per write. For optimal performance on the concurrent operations the following limits apply to the number of HDD per slot:

• PCI - 1 HDD on all PCI slots
  
• PCIeX1 - 2 HDD
  
• PCIeX4 - 8 HDD
  
• PCIeX8 - 16 HDD
  
• PCIeX16 - 32 HDD
  

 

Double the number for PCIe 2.0

 

[ubuntuaddicted]

Thank you for your informative response. I have now learned that FREE version is limited to only 3 drives. I did check out the FAQ and Wiki and didn't see anywhere how much it costs to be able to run 4+ hard drives? I also understand I can use a cache drive but I don't believe I will require that.

 

Side note, at 1 time there could be 3 different analog tuners trying to save .mpeg files to the NFS shared unRAID server. I am told by a friend that I should assume only about 25% of my current write speed with be possible with unRAID due to the fact that unRAID does checks on written data immediately after being written, then also writes that info to the parity drive etc etc. I am mentioning that because like I said as I asee it now, the current load the unRAID will take is the following

 

1. 3 analog tuners writing .mpeg files at the same time

2. up to 12 torrents being downloaded/written to the unRAID

 

 

Thats pretty much it as far as write, of course reading will occur when videos/music/pictures get played back but that's generally not very constant reads etc.

 

Thank you for everyones help thus far. Very cool and am really excited about using unRAID

[dgaschk]

Parity is updated concurrent with data writes. Writes to the array are limited by HDD rotational latency. A cache drive does not have this penalty. Look under Products on the Lime Tech home page.

[ubuntuaddicted]

Parity is updated concurrent with data writes. Writes to the array are limited by HDD rotational latency. A cache drive does not have this penalty. Look under Products on the Lime Tech home page.

i recently learned how much is costs for using more then 3 hdd's. at this time i will have to stick with (2) 1TB drives and 1 1TB parity drive and use the free version. Thanks for everyones response.