Hi

 

First time post

 

I am about to construct my first unRAID server and have been pondering best practices for prolonging the life of the unit. Some seem obvious:

 

a) Keep cool. I have an unfinished basement that is always cool so now worries there

b) Stabilize the power - so protect with a good UPS/surge protector

 

But some things are not so obvious, especially

 

a) Power on/power off - should the server be left on, or powered off when not in use for a few hours? So should I shut it down each night, since we expect to only use it say in our leisure hours in the evenings?

b) Our house is in a dusty area - should we use air filters on the case fans? I've read they clog quickly and substantially reduce airflow

 

Any other tips?

Thanks

mmsood99

 

 

I would suggest getting a supermicro mobo.  They are made for server purposes and probably last longer.  I don't use air filters.  However, I do open up my server's case and blow the dust out at least once a week.  I've got 2 kids and they keep living the living room sliding open.  I've got 2 dogs and 1 cat and the living room is pretty much pretty dusty.  That's the reason I clean it at least once a week.

 

I'm working on getting a UPS.  I've had two different occasions my server lost power.  1st one my wife just unplugged the surge protector.  2nd power went out.  I was lucky I didn't get any errors from this.

 

I am in the process of may be building another server, and i will be using a supermicro mobo .

Hi

 

First time post

 

I am about to construct my first unRAID server and have been pondering best practices for prolonging the life of the unit. Some seem obvious:

 

a) Keep cool. I have an unfinished basement that is always cool so now worries there

Yes, and controlled humidity can help..

b) Stabilize the power - so protect with a good UPS/surge protector

A UPS is a very good idea for any computer. but even more so with data storage systems where you are more likely to lose drives in a power spike or brownout.

 

But some things are not so obvious, especially

 

a) Power on/power off - should the server be left on, or powered off when not in use for a few hours? So should I shut it down each night, since we expect to only use it say in our leisure hours in the evenings?

There is no definitive answer to this. Everyone has an opinion on this. People will argue the stress of booting vs the 24/7 Strain.

In my opinion, get all high quality parts, don't skimp and you can have a machine that can be on 24/7 for years. just make sure to set all the power management to reduce power usage and spin down drives that are not in use. and just go with the 24/7 scenario. power it off for maintenance or when you say go on vacation for an extended period of time.

b) Our house is in a dusty area - should we use air filters on the case fans? I've read they clog quickly and substantially reduce airflow

This depends on your house. dust can kill your PC/Server. filters can clog and lead to overheating from poor airflow. dust inside a server can also cause overheating by acting as insulation or fouling fans and heatsinks. especially bad on the coils in a PSU.

I run filter-less and do regular cleaning. I tend to blow out my PC every 3-6 months or so. sooner if i see dust building up on the intake vents. I intentionally bought a seasonic PSU because the fan only spins if it is overheating. this reduces the crap that gets stuck in my PSU. I used lower RPM fans for my build to reduce the noise, this also reduced how much gets sucked in.. I also have my drives in hot swap cages so I can lighten the weight and take the servers out of the rack and bring them outside once or twice a year for a massive cleaning. to blow them out with my air compressor (low PSI out with a moisture filter). that way the dust is not just sucked right back in.

it really depends on your environment. i have even see people put air purifiers in their server room to try and suck some of the nasty out of the air it the air quality is really bad from dust and pet hair..

 

on the other side of the coin.. I have seen people make boxes or racks for their servers and use furnace filters to stop dust from getting to their servers. for this to work, you usually need loud high RPM fans. perfect for a basement.

 

Obviously placement is key. if you put it next to your laundry drier. you will see more lint in it. If you put it next to your pet bed, you will see pet hair in it.

 

Any other tips?

Thanks

mmsood99

I'm fighting that myself right now. I don't have any spare room to put the server in, so the safest place is in the master bedroom with me. Only problem is my wifes darn cat just LOVES to sleep on top of the server. There is an exhaust fan on top so apparently she likes the warm breeze.

 

Its annoying the hell out of me, but if I kick the cat out I'd have to kick the wife out as well. I just keep an eye on temps and keep an eye on the inlets/exhausts and make sure there is no significant buildup.

 

On the plus side, the master bedroom is covered by shade all day long so it generally stays cooler than the rest of the house as well.

 

I think leaving the server on depends on the situation. Its like a car, if your running in the house to grab something you forgot, leaving the car running isn't a big deal, and probably saves some stress from starting/stopping the car. If your running in to watch a show and grab a bite to eat, it's best to cut it off.

 

My server is used all hours of the day, and is rather unpredictable when it will be in use, so I just let it run 24/7. If you know your server will not be used from 10pm until 5 pm the next day, being powered down will save you on your power bill and probably (in my opinion) save some on the life of your server. But as previously stated, everyone has their opinions on this.

 

To combat dust the only real way to win that fight is to stay on top of it. Filters will work fine, but they will clog and then hurt cooling more than help. If you don't mind cleaning them on a regular basis, it would work. If your in an extremely dusty area, I would go without filters and just clean the entire server every few months. I live in a dusty area as well, its dusty enough that its almost impossible to tell if anythings been dusted in the past hour or past year. I have one PC that has filters and 3 that don't. None of them overheat, but I have to clean the filters usually once or twice a month, and the other PC's once or twice a year.

 

Again, all opinions, but thats my experience. In a cool basement you should need less CFM's to keep your server cool, which would of course mean less dust getting sucked in as well. You could buy a filtered case and try it both ways, filters in and filters out and see which way works best for you.