1st build: I3-2100 nexus prominent 9 case and Asus p8h67 M LE

[Takkie1970]

After lurking for some time and asking a few questions here and there I have started building my own first unraid server. Untill now I have everything except drives which seems to be quite essential for servers.

Right now I have the following items:

 

Case: Nexus prominent 9

PSU: Corsair 650HX

MB: Asus P8H67-M-LE with realtec 8112L NIC

Proc: Intel I3 2100

Mem: 1x 4 Gb trancend 1333 bank (came with the processor)

2x coolermaster stacker 4 in 3 modules

1x supermicro aoc saslp mv8 card for near future expansion

1x kingston mobile lite g2 cardreader wit 16Gb memory.

 

Put everything together whilst waiting for my drives to arrive, for a start 2 wd 2 Tb earx drives, hope that they will arrive soon.

 

Got a small gigabit network untested with wallmounts connected via a 8 port gigabit switch connected to my cable modem/router. Have not been able to test speds as the laptop I am typing on is an old Dell 6400 with 10/100Mbit network capabilities.

Does anyone have any tips towards testing my network?

 

I hooked my new build up with no network cables attached to try and get the machine to boot from USB straight away and it did straight away (because no other drives being attached I guess) ending up with a tower prompt so all fine untill now.

 

The first couple of drives will be attached to the sata ports of the motherboard (unless there is a better way) and the supermicro aoc saslp mv8 card is in the pci e 16x slot just sitting there waiting for drives.

 

My questions for now  are:

 

What version of Unraid should I start with? supermicro aoc saslp mv8 card has .21 version. What version of unraid works out of the box with this. I do not mind starting with a (stable) beta version if that is the bettter solution for my upgrade path.

I am planning on working with the three 4 in 3 cages I just mentioned, they will blow air from 3 12 cm fans from the front side of the case, over the drives towards the MB, PSU area. Cpu will be cooled by the stock cooler at the moment and there's one 14 cm. case fan in the upper back of the case pulling air out of the case. Is this enough cooling?

This way I will have 12 drive capability and an esata slot for preclearing drives if I understand correctly.

 

When I have my drives I have to preclear them, is this an add on to unraid or is this a script that is readily availiable in Unraid, tried to search the forums but could not find anything that I could use, want to preclear both drives at the same time as the server is not doing anything untill that is done. Can anyone tell me how I do that, or does this depend on what version of unraid I choose?

 

When I have precleared the drives, I have to start filling them, want to use the server for streaming music, DVD/Blueray images, storing photos, storing images of OS which are installed on several computers that I have (my laptop and a HTPC) Is there a thread towards how to make a systematic way of naming the files so I can find everything after filling the array, might be bettter to start properly straight away.

 

Will the system be fast enough with one bank of 4 Gb memory I should I try and find another one?

 

Anyone with the same case here that can share some pica's of the cablemanagment as I do not have a clue how to do this. This being the first build ever.

 

If you like I can post some pics of the caseand what I did untill now or is that in a different part of the forum?

 

 

 

[tritron]

I belive the most important choice of any unraid build is the case. It is a personal preference but also what is best for drives and future expansion. Rack mounted cases are the best choice, they offer optimal cooling. Air is drawn in ad then  pushed over hard drives and hot air is sucked out of case and some rack cases have additional sets of fas right behing hard drives and push the hot air away. Cooler hard drives live longer. So I personaly would get one of rosewill cases. So for 49.99 to 100 you can have rackmounted case that will hold 8 to 12 drives. That could give you 36tb of space.

Rosewill rackmount cases are nice choice. People make an error of buying case and adding hot swapable bays. Each hotswapable trays are around 100 so 3 of those 300 that allows for 12 hard drives at cost of 400 but 24 hotswapable rack mounted case is 250 to 350. 

 

I bet for the amount of money you spend on your case and 3x4 bays you could get two rack mounting cases.

There are many builds that will give you great ideas for cable managment. Power wires that goe to motherboard block the most air flow so routing under motherboard plate is good idea, extensions can be used to rerout power wires. Modular power supply is nice and makes easier to run wires and replace it if it dies.

 

The unraid version that you want to run depends on sixze of drives you want to run. 2tb+ will require beta version Just check proper section for any issues and recomendations.

4gb of memory will be good  but  you could get more for 25 or so.

If ou want to run more addons . d

I use xbmc amd mysql server and samba. xbmc has tools that will download images and info about all moviesand music files  and store tham in database making all info avaiable to all clients  . 

 

[batt01]

I just built a server in the same case, and I think the same PSU. If you are going to use 5 in2 racks, you will need to get the metal tabs out of the way. They usually hold your optical drives. It probably would have been better to have done it prior to installing the MB. I used a deep throat C-Clamp. I dont know about the Coolermaster racks. Most recommend the Norco 5 in 3. Did you have to get rid of the tabs?

[/img]http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_16867.jpg

You can bend the tabs flat to get them out of the way, so the rack can slide in.

 

As for what version, I am a noob, but If you want to use drives larger than 2tb. One of the 5x betas. I am running beta 14. But I just has so junk drives in it. A 500g sata and 2x 250g Ide. I like the case. very almost silent and good air flow.

 

Any modern dual core processor should be plenty fast for what you want to do.

 

You can find the Preclear script here. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=13054.msg152668#msg152668

 

You probably could have saved quite a bit of money by getting a cheaper MB and case. I really like Asus boards and the Quick Connect feature.  I decided to use a 54.00 board Asrock 880GLE. I spent more on the case,  which If I was to do it over again, I would not, since all the facny driive racks are going to be disgarded to make way for the Norco racks.

[Johnm]

Nice build.

 

The only thing I would change is the coolermaster 4in3's the prom 9 has a very clean look to it and i feel the CM stackers ruin that.. but that is my opinion..

 

for the parts you listed, beta 14 will be fine.

 

the single memory chip is fine too ..

 

the prom9 has 2 built in 4in3's.. i would try to get a 3rd and keep it clean.. plus the extra fans.

[Takkie1970]

Johnm,

 

This 4 in 3 I use are the old ones. You cannot see them from the outside of the case. Looks completely original. For the time being the best solution for me with space for twelve drives. Looks great if you ask me. Will make some pics soon.

Thanks for the info, will probably be back with more questions.

 

Thanks all.

[Johnm]

Ahh..

nice then..

 

I like!

 

For others that are not familiar with the case, it does come with 2x 4in3 cage's already inside the case.

You do however need  to buy a 120mm fan for the second cage.

 

 

To answer your drive questions. The Parity and Cache (if you have one) should be on the motherboard SATA ports.

The rest can go on any port you have available. Once you put all 12 drives in your case, the best configuration for performance would be to use the 6 motherboard ports and then 6 ports off the SASLP-MV8.

 

The SASLP-MV8 can go into the 16x or the 4X Slot. As I have never used this combo, there is always a chance for something to not work right out of the box. I would however hook at least  one drive up to the SASLP-MV8 just to make sure it works.

 

Pictures are always welcome...

 

 

[Takkie1970]

Attached are some pics of my case in the closet where it will sit during his working hours. WAF is higher that way, what she does not see, is not there ;-)

As you can see there is nothing to see about the 4 in 3 with everything in place.

When will my drives arrive? Hopefully soon.

[Takkie1970]

Is asking a question in your own topic considered crossposting?

 

Question:

 

I have a kingston Mobilelite G2 Cardreader with a 16GB SDHC card wit unraid on it. Flash GUID:  090C-6301-5678-901234567890 Guess this will not work for optaining a plus or pro license?

 

Am I correct inassuming that there are kingston Mobilelite G2 Cardreaders with a fixed flash guid and ones with a unique guid? If so, just my luck then.

 

Can anyone shed a light on this one, I have not mastered enough English to figure it out from the info in this topic.