New NAS cases by iStarUSA


aiden

Recommended Posts

Anyone see this?

got%20nas.jpg

 

There's very limited information other than dimensions of the different models here. I can't find any internal pics or any reviews, or even a place to source one yet. But the loss of that 5th or 6th drive in the new Gen 8 HP Microservers has made me want to look for an alternative. The S-915 pictured above looks to be my ideal mini-server, although the S35 more closely matched the Microserver in dimensions (10.5 x 8.3 x 10.2 in  vs  7.87 x 8.35 x 12.09in). With a 5-in-3 you can get that 5th drive back.

Link to comment

Those are indeed nice cases => you could put 15 drives in the S-919 using 5-in-3 cages.

 

However, my favorite "mini-server" case is still the Lian-Li PC-Q25B, which holds 7 drives, 5 of them in an internal hot-swap cage, and all with outstanding ventilation ... my drives in that system run notably cooler than those in my 5-in-3 cages in my larger system.

 

As for mini-ITX being a problem ... this little Asus board has 6 SATA ports AND a PCIe v3 x16 slot:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131841

 

Link to comment

...too bad that the bigger ones are still mITX and not mATX.

 

According to the specs at iStar's site, the S-919 WILL accommodate a MicroATX motherboard:  http://www.istarusa.com/mini-ITX/nasspec.php

(See the line towards the bottom of the chart labeled "Motherboard Size"

 

It IS still marketed as a "mini-ITX NAS Tower" ... but assuming the specifications here are correct, you could use it with a larger motherboard.

 

 

Link to comment

According to the specs at iStar's site, the S-919 WILL accommodate a MicroATX motherboard:  http://www.istarusa.com/mini-ITX/nasspec.php

(See the line towards the bottom of the chart labeled "Motherboard Size"

 

It IS still marketed as a "mini-ITX NAS Tower" ... but assuming the specifications here are correct, you could use it with a larger motherboard.

 

...cool, thanks for pointing that out...must have overlooked at first myself.

I am a new fan of using AM3+ CPUs (AMD FX or Opteron 3300 series, as they support ECC memory and AES-NI instructions').

Things you will only find combined in XEONs on the intel side of life...and you will need a server chipset mobo with it, while almost all ASUS (and some Gigabyte models) AM3+ desktop boards support ECC.

However, there are only mATX boards, no mITX (most likely because of the high TDP of the FX processors).

 

Link to comment

Those are indeed nice cases => you could put 15 drives in the S-919 using 5-in-3 cages.

 

However, my favorite "mini-server" case is still the Lian-Li PC-Q25B, which holds 7 drives, 5 of them in an internal hot-swap cage, and all with outstanding ventilation ... my drives in that system run notably cooler than those in my 5-in-3 cages in my larger system.

 

With the 3-in-2 cages modded with 80mm fans in my main server, I'm satisfied that I can keep the drives in the low 30s when building/checking parity. I like the flexibility of not having to open my case to swap drives. Call me lazy. :)

 

With the S-915, I could put 2x 3-in-2 cages, and then a 2-in-1 or 4-in-1 SSD cage. That would make a 1 parity + 5 data drive box, with a cache drive pool. With 4TB drives that's a 20TB box. That's the config I'm thinking.

 

Regardless, I'm loving the fact that the OEM manufacturers are coming up with so many good options for home NAS solutions!

Link to comment

I like the flexibility of not having to open my case to swap drives. Call me lazy. :)

 

I understand completely.  I like my 5-in-3 hot-swap cages as well.  But they're really NOT any more convenient than the Q25B => the side simply pulls off (4 pressure pins -- nothing to unhook, no screws, no nothing ... just pull and it pops off).  It IS true that only 5 drives are hot-swap;  the other 2 mount on a rack on the bottom.  I've got my parity drive on the bottom, and the 5 data drives in the hot-swap cage.  My parity check temps range between 31 & 34 ... the parity drive has never gone past 32.

 

 

With the S-915, I could put 2x 3-in-2 cages, and then a 2-in-1 or 4-in-1 SSD cage. That would make a 1 parity + 5 data drive box, with a cache drive pool. With 4TB drives that's a 20TB box. That's the config I'm thinking.

 

Regardless, I'm loving the fact that the OEM manufacturers are coming up with so many good options for home NAS solutions!

 

My system's got 15TB, with no cache -- but room for another 3.5" drive or 2 SSDs, so I COULD build a 2-drive cache pool if I wanted to.    If I replaced the 3TB drives with 4TB units I would have 20TB;  or even better I could use the forthcoming 5TB WD Reds and have 25TB ... all in that nifty little enclosure !!

 

I AM tempted, assuming it works as I expect, to build a RAID-1 cache pool with a pair of SSDs and pop those in the system  :)

Link to comment

With the S-915, I could put 2x 3-in-2 cages, and then a 2-in-1 or 4-in-1 SSD cage. That would make a 1 parity + 5 data drive box, with a cache drive pool. With 4TB drives that's a 20TB box. That's the config I'm thinking.

 

Regardless, I'm loving the fact that the OEM manufacturers are coming up with so many good options for home NAS solutions!

 

Yes, exactly the same config what comes to my mind  ;D

 

...and I am still on the wrong side of the pond, as with the new case from limetech which is also build-to-order from iStarUSA.  :'(

Link to comment

...cool, thanks for pointing that out...must have overlooked at first myself.

I am a new fan of using AM3+ CPUs (AMD FX or Opteron 3300 series, as they support ECC memory and AES-NI instructions').

Things you will only find combined in XEONs on the intel side of life...and you will need a server chipset mobo with it, while almost all ASUS (and some Gigabyte models) AM3+ desktop boards support ECC.

However, there are only mATX boards, no mITX (most likely because of the high TDP of the FX processors).

 

I tend to be an Intel Zealot, but that's ALMOST a good reason to use an AMD CPU  :)

 

Actually, it's a very good reason to do so.  I am a BIG fan of ECC RAM ... I've used it since my first builds in the 70's (when it was VERY expensive).    But in recent years it's virtually impossible to get on desktop systems unless, as you noted, you use server class boards and Xeons.    So I've built several systems for folks using just that  :)

 

But for a system where the big performance edge of Intel CPU's doesn't really matter, since UnRAID isn't very CPU-intensive, the 6 and 8 core AMD's certainly have ample "horsepower" ... and the advantage of ECC RAM is a real one.

 

It's a shame, however, that there aren't any mini-ITX boards that provide this support.

Link to comment

But for a system where the big performance edge of Intel CPU's doesn't really matter, since UnRAID isn't very CPU-intensive, the 6 and 8 core AMD's certainly have ample "horsepower" ... and the advantage of ECC RAM is a real one.

 

It's a shame, however, that there aren't any mini-ITX boards that provide this support.

 

...even a 4 core, comparably small Opteron 3300 is doing very well, see my post here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=27822.msg247349#msg247349

I can build a box with mobo, CPU and ECC RAM for the price of the smallest E3-XEON alone.

It's a shame that unRAID does not support the use of the LUKS/dm-crypt module....this lack of the feature ultimately made me retire my unRAID licenses.

Link to comment

By the way, as near as I can tell, there's only one mini-ITX board on the Intel side of things that supports the v2 Socket 1155 Xeons and ECC ... the Intel DBS1200KPR.

 

It's a nice board ... but only has 4 SATA connectors.  But it does have a PCIe v2 x16 slot, so it would support virtually any add-in board, so with a 24-port board there's be virtually no limit to the size of the UnRAID array you could build; and all the drives would get full bandwidth (8GB of bandwidth = 333MB/drive available).

 

But I must confess, you have me thinking about a potential AMD system !!

 

Link to comment

It's a shame that unRAID does not support the use of the LUKS/dm-crypt module....this lack of the feature ultimately made me retire my unRAID licenses.

 

Was encryption a legal requirement for your business, or just something you considered necessary for your personal system?

 

I'm definitely impressed by the read/write speeds you're getting in your array ... I may PM you for some additional details on that system  :)

Link to comment

By the way, as near as I can tell, there's only one mini-ITX board on the Intel side of things that supports the v2 Socket 1155 Xeons and ECC ... the Intel DBS1200KPR.

AFAIR this board does not support vt-d ...some suppliers list it with that info/warning.

 

Was encryption a legal requirement for your business, or just something you considered necessary for your personal system?

 

Yes, I am required to work with sensitive personal information or confidential data and companies I work for require me to be compliant with their security standards.

As it is today, the only accepted technology is either PGP on windoze, LUKS/dm-crypt for Linux or Oracle Solaris with native ZFS.

 

I'm definitely impressed by the read/write speeds you're getting in your array ... I may PM you for some additional details on that system  :)

 

...feel free to do so.

Sorry aiden for highjacking that thread ...got carried away :-)

Next on my list is that I need to contact some relatives in the US to forward me one of these cases  ::)

Link to comment

I'm using a Supermicro X7SPE-HF-525 Atom board and while it's advertised as a Flex-ATX board it's only ~2cm wider (with additional mounting holes) than a mini-ITX for which these cases are designed. I'm interested to see some interior pix to gauge whether or not my board might fit. This case series looks pretty good!

Link to comment

Sorry aiden for highjacking that thread ...got carried away :-)

 

No worries Ford. :) It's a fruitful discussion, because frankly I hadn't considered AMD as a viable option either. But the fact that the Microservers to this point have been using AMD procs with ECC memory should be enough validation that AMD can be a great alternative. Just have to find that magic bullet - ie, a mini-ITX AMD board with 6 SATA ports, 1 PCIe x16, and IPMI. :)

Link to comment

Sorry aiden for highjacking that thread ...got carried away :-)

 

No worries Ford. :) It's a fruitful discussion, because frankly I hadn't considered AMD as a viable option either. But the fact that the Microservers to this point have been using AMD procs with ECC memory should be enough validation that AMD can be a great alternative. Just have to find that magic bullet - ie, a mini-ITX AMD board with 6 SATA ports, 1 PCIe x16, and IPMI. :)

 

It IS nice that relatively low-cost AMD boards support ECC memory.  Now if someone would just make a relatively low-cost board that supported BUFFERED modules (with ECC of course) ... and while I'm dreaming, I suppose it could be in the mini-ITX form factor and have about 8 SATA ports !!

 

Link to comment

Based on the specs, there's actually another internal drive bay for a 2.5 drive in there. Can't see it from the pictures though.

Can anybody help design the best budget build for this? Starting with the free license and maxing out with the plus license.

 

2wfldfa.jpg

 

I'd use exactly what I have in my Lian-Li PC-Q25B case:

 

A SuperMicro X7SPA-H-D525-O mini-ATX board  ($175 at SuperBiiz)

 

If you want a bit more CPU "horsepower", use an Asus P8H77-I ($110) plus an Ivy Bridge CPU of your choice.

 

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I'll echo the thanks for posting the update.

 

This is a nice looking case for systems that require an externally accessible 5.25" drive (e.g. an optical drive) ... but for an all-storage setup I'd still favor the Lian-Li PC-Q25B, which has 5 hot-swap bays plus a bottom tray that holds 2 more drives (or 3 2.5" drive).    I've built 4 systems with that case, and it's really "perfect" for an UnRAID "Plus" system.

 

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.