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Here you go ... :)

 

ROFL!

 

My mid-tower case I had with three HD cages wasn't really any lighter. Just a smaller package. At least this case lays nicely on the little stand I had. Put a couple fake plants around it and you wouldn't even know it is there. I don't plan on moving it! I have an entire room dedicated to my bitcoin miners and didn't want to stick it in there because of the heat. Would of been the most practical place for it, but just too hot. Surprisingly very quiet.

 

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My backup UnRAID server is finally on it's way.  Will update with actual pics when everything arrives this week/weekend but for now I'll post a pic of the case I'm using and my build list :D.

 

Components:

 

SuperMicro A1SAi-2550F Mini-ITX board / Quad-core Avaton CPU SoC

4GB DDR3-1600 ECC RAM

6 x 3TB WD Reds (same as main UnRAID server)

Seasonic 350w 1U PSU

U-NAS NSC-800 Mini-ITX case

 

front_small_zpsqvbzwm68.jpg

 

Any Feedback on the Avaton SoC and this Board? Setup is really nice!  Also, what do you use to backup your main Unraid to this unas Unraid?  Script? Plugin? Docker?

 

I actually wound up swapping the Avaton board for a different SuperMicro board with a Celeron J1900 on it instead.  First because the celeron is more than enough for a backup server and secondly because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards don't fit the expansion adapter that goes with the U-NAS case because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards do not have an open end.

 

But all in all I absolutely love the case and the server has worked wonderfully as a backup.  I used the free utility Syncback (garycase recommended it) to do the full transfer of 11TB from my main server to this backup and it worked wonderfully.

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... I actually wound up swapping the Avaton board for a different SuperMicro board ... because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards don't fit the expansion adapter that goes with the U-NAS case because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards do not have an open end.

 

Just noticed this comment and am curious about exactly what the issue is.  I'm thinking of ordering the U-NAS case, but am not sure what adapter you're referring to.

 

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... I actually wound up swapping the Avaton board for a different SuperMicro board ... because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards don't fit the expansion adapter that goes with the U-NAS case because the PCI-E slot on the Avaton boards do not have an open end.

 

Just noticed this comment and am curious about exactly what the issue is.  I'm thinking of ordering the U-NAS case, but am not sure what adapter you're referring to.

 

There isn't one.  Just that the PCI-E expander cable they include with the case was x16 and the Avaton board I had only had a PCI-E x8 slot that wasn't open ended so I couldn't fit the expander cable into it for my M1015 HBA.  I could have just purchased a x8 expander cable but I decided I didn't need that much power for a backup server (or the quad NICs) so I decided to sell the board and get the cheaper J1900 board.

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There isn't one.  Just that the PCI-E expander cable they include with the case was x16 and the Avaton board I had only had a PCI-E x8 slot that wasn't open ended ...

 

... sounds like a CAREFUL job for a Dremel  :)

 

Or heat gun to avoid plastic shrapnel everywhere!

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  • 5 months later...

New to unraid wanted to share my specs. Seen it on Linus Tech Tips thought it was a good product

 

Mobo Supermicro X10sll-f

CPU Intel Xeon E3-1231

Ram 16GB of ECC DDR3

HDD 6 WD Red 4TB

SSD 4 Kingston V300 120GB

HBA LSI SAS 9300-16i

 

Why such an expensive controller? Could of grabbed two 4 port controllers for less then what one of those cost, unless you didn't have the slot for it. Seems to be a nice fast card. Hard to tell what case you are using, but keep on trucking!

 

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The mainboard does have 2 PCI-E slots, had the room for two controllers to handle 16 drives. It was just out of curiosity on why that card was chosen. I think switching over to a Norco style case was one of the best upgrades I did. Physical drive management is a breeze, no messing around with cables, drive identification is very easy and cooling is top notch. I have yet to put it in the closet, but it's quiet enough there is really no need. A couple fake plants from Walmart will help. :)

 

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If you wanted to save a little bit of money you could buy a 2 port HBA + SAS expander to connect 16 drives for about half the price.  That's what I've got in my server.

 

I picked up 3x Supermicro SAS2LP-MV8 cards for US$200 off eBay.  I see no difference in performance compared to my LSI card, and the Supermicros use less power.

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If you wanted to save a little bit of money you could buy a 2 port HBA + SAS expander to connect 16 drives for about half the price.  That's what I've got in my server.

 

I picked up 3x Supermicro SAS2LP-MV8 cards for US$200 off eBay.  I see no difference in performance compared to my LSI card, and the Supermicros use less power.

 

You shouldn't see any difference in performance, except maybe when doing a parity check. I know there has been progress in adding more fine-tune settings to disk settings but don't remember if it entirely has been resolved with those drivers.

I didn't realize your mainboard had three PCI-E slots.

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  • 3 months later...

After moving to 8TB drives I found myself with lots of leftover 4TB drives.  And having lots of spare enclosures/rackmount chassis/SAS cards/etc. I realized with just a few more 4TB drives I could build a 24-drive backup server that would accommodate two copies of my primary server data, including dual parity.

 

It all fits in six rack units.  Since my pictures are close to 192KB in size, I can only attach one per post, so I'll be making a couple more posts to get them all in.

 

First one shows the 12U rack it lives in, taking up the bottom half.

Asus-front-50.jpg.7b874a78e4dcabaab76ab0e0d7625a6f.jpg

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Other than a few more 4TB drives (all the same model, the Seagate Desktop model), this was built out of parts I had laying around:

 

2x Xtore 12-bay SAS enclosures: http://www.scsi4me.com/product_info.php?products_id=1637

Supermicro 2U chassis/PSU, unknown model numbers

2x LSI SAS9207-8e HBAs

 

Even though those enclosures are only SAS1 (3Gb/s X 4), it works to make a second connection, to the SAS daisy-chain output, to double the throughput.

 

EDIT: In searching for a better link to those enclosures, I see that the second connection I'm making is to a second SAS input (not the SAS output).  Although I think I've tried connecting to the SAS output also, with the same result (increased throughput).

 

http://www.rackmountnet.com/rackmount-storage-chassis-sassata-hotswap-bays-depth-single-module-with-expander-460w-hotswap-redundant-p-1649.html

Asus-rear.jpg.4b9fde2ed746db4c5395febe6bbcc876.jpg

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In that last picture you can see the smart power strip I use to automatically turn on/off the enclosures when the main server powers up/down.  Those enclosures are server grade, with redundant power supplies, heavy-duty fans, alarms, the works.

 

I started with the motherboard that came with the chassis (Supermicro H8SMi-2, Opteron 1385, 16GB RAM), but the PCIe bus was very slow.  Had an Asus motherboard laying around (P6T SE, i7-930, 6GB RAM) and am using that now, but it still can't quite keep up with all those drives during, for example, Parity Checks.  I have a Supermicro X10SLL-F on order; I really just wanted the simpler X10SLL-S, but I found the "better" board for less ($81 versus $90).

Asus-leds.jpg.177262b95001c8c6fb51f5d54cbe3dc3.jpg

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So yeah, I don't keep this one on 24x7, what with the loud fans and high power consumption.

 

On the Parity Check speed front, my last one took around 10.6 hours, which is still pretty good considering that's 88TB of dual-parity-protected data.

 

Once I get the motherboard throughput up to match the drives/enclosures, I'll probably switch to Turbo-Write mode, which should cut down on how long I need it turned on to do my backups.

Asus-drives-crop-half.jpg.7a92e683ae52e9fb9750c8d43b4c8ea8.jpg

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I found one of my first posts here, from about a year and a half ago, in the Show Me Your Builds thread, with this picture of my first unRAID server (64TB), in the same 12U rack as the new 88TB server above.

 

That one took up all twelve rack spaces, this one just six.  And that one took multiple days to check the parity.  And used probably twice the power this new one does.

 

 

Olympic-64TB-300x460-from-gif.png.2de66de014a8248d0e00a31b638d31cc.png

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Threw in some other pictures. Noctua makes some very quiet 80mm fans, which I may replace the ones in the back but to be honest they aren't very loud. I do like the fact that each of them is 3000rpm and having two of them is pretty much pulling all the air out of the case. If I put a piece of paper on the front of the case it will stick there. Great air flow ans pressure in there. If you have a lot of drives and will continue to have lots of drives coming from a mid tower case I do recommend this beast. I had the room and available area, so I was good there.

 

Thanks for moving into the hardware area.

 

 

 

unRaid 4224 Server Build

 

Images removed for mobile readers.

 

 

Awesome build. You can get a 120mm fan plane instead of using 80mm fans. I've used the 120mm for another build with the same case. Made things much quieter. But you really cant go wrong with Noctua fans.

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