New build for Unraid 4.7

[luca2]

Hi, I am not an expert IT guy, but i am planning setting up a new storage case for my unraid 4.7 only used as media center. Actually I have the following setup: asus e35m1-I deluxe (integrated dual core amd zacate 18w+6 sataIII), 1 adaptec 1430sa (sata only), and  8 HDDs (all 2TB Seagate 3,5" 7200rpm).

 

I want a new case with up to 20 HDDs, either norco 4220 or x-case rm420.

 

option 1) mantain my MB and buy the following:

- 1 cheap raid card (LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0)+

- expander (I think Intel SAS expander RES2SV240 would work since I can power it using the 4-pin header instead the pci express)

My MB has only 1 pci express port, I think this option would save me some money (i would re-use my actual hardware).

 

option 2) buy new: X9SCM-F (4 sata II+2sata III) + core i3 + (2)AOC-SAS2LP-MV8>16 sataIII (I will not need the raid function of a raid card at the moment).

 

My doubts:

 

What is the cheapest option?

 

Option 1): Will the described items work? Or which card+expander could you recommend?

 

What are the pro´s of having an core i3 running unraid in option 2?

 

Will option 2 run without issues: I mean the 2 AOC´s together with the x9scm-f?

 

I think both case options do have a 6gbs backplane, therefore in what situation will I benefit from using SAS2L cards instead of SASL (only 3gbs)? Is it really worth for my unraid build purpose or can I go just with sata 3gbps? Maybe running 1 ssd for caching is the reason for having some 6gps ports?

 

Rgds.

 

[Joe L.]

Hi, I am not an expert IT guy, but i am planning setting up a new storage case for my unraid 4.7 only used as media center. Actually I have the following setup: asus e35m1-I deluxe (integrated dual core amd zacate 18w+6 sataIII), 1 adaptec 1430sa (sata only), and  8 HDDs (all 2TB Seagate 3,5" 7200rpm).

 

I want a new case with up to 20 HDDs, either norco 4220 or x-case rm420.

 

option 1) mantain my MB and buy the following:

- 1 cheap raid card (LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0)+

- expander (I think Intel SAS expander RES2SV240 would work since I can power it using the 4-pin header instead the pci express)

My MB has only 1 pci express port, I think this option would save me some money (i would re-use my actual hardware).

 

option 2) buy new: X9SCM-F (4 sata II+2sata III) + core i3 + (2)AOC-SAS2LP-MV8>16 sataIII (I will not need the raid function of a raid card at the moment).

 

My doubts:

 

What is the cheapest option?

 

Option 1): Will the described items work? Or which card+expander could you recommend?

 

What are the pro´s of having an core i3 running unraid in option 2?

 

Will option 2 run without issues: I mean the 2 AOC´s together with the x9scm-f?

 

I think both case options do have a 6gbs backplane, therefore in what situation will I benefit from using SAS2L cards instead of SASL (only 3gbs)? Is it really worth for my unraid build purpose or can I go just with sata 3gbps? Maybe running 1 ssd for caching is the reason for having some 6gps ports?

 

Rgds.

No disk will be read a much more than 100MB/s speed, regardless of how fast the SATA cables could carry data if there was a source fast enough, and something fast enough to read them.  (Translation... you've fallen for the 6Gb/s marketing)

 

Since unRAID uses individual disks, not hardware RAID, you'll need to investigate if those disk controller/expander cards you mentioned are supported in JBOD mode.  (I've no idea, but search the threads to see if anyone else has tried)

 

Joe L.

[luca2]

Hi, in my actual setup I only get 30MB/s copy speeds from my desktop to unraid. I have read in the forum some members (like John: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12822.0) achieving up to 90MB.

This is what I want to achieve. But I am still confused, since I am not sure where does John get his actual performance in comparison to mine. We both have gigabit lan. He is using:

- 3Gbs SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8

- 6gbs IBM M1015 (LSI 9220-8i)

- norco 4224 with 6gbs backplane

I do not run a cache drive. Maybe is this the reason?

 

Another doubt is if I can plug in my actual setup (in my pci express single slot) a sas expander (Intel® RAID Expander Card RES2SV240) which would provide me up to 24 ports, but without having any raid card installed and therefore connected to the sas expander. Will it work?

 

I only need to clarify this to decide which way to go.

Thx for help.

 

 

[Joe L.]

I do not run a cache drive. Maybe is this the reason?

That is exactly the reason.  You are currently at the limit of speed for writing to a parity protected unRAID array without a cache drive.

[Johnm]

option 2) buy new: X9SCM-F (4 sata II+2sata III) + core i3 + (2)AOC-SAS2LP-MV8>16 sataIII (I will not need the raid function of a raid card at the moment).

 

Careful, the SAS2LP-MV8 only works with the latest betas.

 

Hi, in my actual setup I only get 30MB/s copy speeds from my desktop to unraid. I have read in the forum some members (like John: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12822.0) achieving up to 90MB.

 

That speed is all cache drive.. I have since switched to SATAIII SSD's and  gotten even better benchmarks.

 

To answer Your next Question, I do not believe that your adaptec 1430sa will work with an expander.

the next problem is, Your existing board has a PCIe 4X in a 16x connector, If you board would support an LSI card, that would work with an expander, but it might be  slow during parity checks as you start loading it up past 6-9 drives. one migration path might be  go ahead and  upgrade the HBA and expander then upgrade the board later if you find the parity becoming slow after you add lots of drives.

That was how i built my first unraid. i used a single  PCIe slot atom board and upgraded once i found a board on sale once I out-grew it.

 

[luca2]

Hi, thx again for clarification on what I should take into account.

I missed it is an x4 in an x16 slot. Also, that sas2 is only working in beta versions.

Now I know which way to go. Rgds.

[luca2]

Hi again! Just some more doubts...I will buy a new board, but I am trying to save some money. So X9SCM-F will be my last option.

I own a core 2 duo E6600, and I have been doing some research on internet, but the chipsets that will work with it only offer pci-express v1.1 (X38/48 and G45/43) or very limited v2.0 (gen 2) support. Basically I can find mb with: (1) x16 pci-e gen 2.0, (1) x4pci-e gen 2.0 and (1) x1pci-e  v1.1 or maybe with (2) x16 pci-e gen 2.0 (sometimes one of them working as x8).

My question is if it is important to have an "x16 pci-e gen 2.0" slot in terms of performance. I recently bought (1) ibm M1015 raid card (which works at x8 pci-e v2.0).

If the performance increase is not important, then there are plenty of mb with pci-e v1.1.

Does ddr3 vs ddr2 also increase performance in unraid too?

Rgds.

[prostuff1]

Hi again! Just some more doubts...I will buy a new board, but I am trying to save some money. So X9SCM-F will be my last option.

I own a core 2 duo E6600, and I have been doing some research on internet, but the chipsets that will work with it only offer pci-express v1.1 (X38/48 and G45/43) or very limited v2.0 (gen 2) support. Basically I can find mb with: (1) x16 pci-e gen 2.0, (1) x4pci-e gen 2.0 and (1) x1pci-e  v1.1 or maybe with (2) x16 pci-e gen 2.0 (sometimes one of them working as x8).

My question is if it is important to have an "x16 pci-e gen 2.0" slot in terms of performance. I recently bought (1) ibm M1015 raid card (which works at x8 pci-e v2.0).

Gen 2 vs. gen 1 will not make that much difference.

 

If the performance increase is not important, then there are plenty of mb with pci-e v1.1.

Does ddr3 vs ddr2 also increase performance in unraid too?

Again, you will not be able to tell a difference.

[luca2]

Hi, imagine i have 21 disks and do a parity check (1 parity and 1 cache)....what would be the consumption in terms of pci-express line saturation (assume i have a gen 2 pci-express line running at x4)?

rgds.

[luca2]

Hi, imagine i have 21 disks and do a parity check (1 parity and 1 cache)....what would be the consumption in terms of pci-express line saturation (assume i have a gen 2 pci-express line running at x4)?

rgds.

Ok , i will re-phrase my question: if I only have 1 pci-express (2.0) slot running at x4, is it enough for running unraid with 21 hdd´s at full load or it will become a bottleneck?

Rgds.

[marcusone]

Hi, imagine i have 21 disks and do a parity check (1 parity and 1 cache)....what would be the consumption in terms of pci-express line saturation (assume i have a gen 2 pci-express line running at x4)?

rgds.

Ok , i will re-phrase my question: if I only have 1 pci-express (2.0) slot running at x4, is it enough for running unraid with 21 hdd´s at full load or it will become a bottleneck?

Rgds.

It would likely bottleneck with that many drives. But upgrade at that time.

 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk

[aaronwt]

Hi, imagine i have 21 disks and do a parity check (1 parity and 1 cache)....what would be the consumption in terms of pci-express line saturation (assume i have a gen 2 pci-express line running at x4)?

rgds.

Ok , i will re-phrase my question: if I only have 1 pci-express (2.0) slot running at x4, is it enough for running unraid with 21 hdd´s at full load or it will become a bottleneck?

Rgds.

 

I am doing this with port multiplier rosewill card in a PCI express 2.0 slot at x4. The four ports go to four external enclosures with each one having four drives. I also have a fifth enclosure with four drives connected to a x1 slot.

Then my cache and parity drive are connected to the MB sata ports.

 

When I do a parity check I get 25MB/s(200mb/s) speeds from this.  Which is not super fast, but it also is not super slow either. I use a cache drive and have the data moved three times a day. So I'm not too worried about the 25MB/s speeds since I'm using a cache drive.

 

Based on what I've seen with my first unRAID build, I don't want to put more than four drives on a x1 slot or sixteen drives on a x4 slot. I'm putting together a second unRAID build soon and plan to start off with two, four drive, external enclosures, each connected to a x1 slot with a port multiplier controller.