First build.

[magnumdoomguy]

Going to make my first Unraid server.  Moving over from Openmediavault.  Here's what I'm considering for my first Unraid build:

 

        CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular

 

        Intel Core i3-3240 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ...

 

        SanDisk Cruzer Blade 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model SDCZ50-008G-B35

 

        SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard

 

        SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card

 

        SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card

 

        SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card

 

        NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays

 

        Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Intel Model KVR13E9/8I

 

        StarTech S25SLOTR 2.5in SATA Removable Hard Drive Bay for PC Expansion Slot

 

        StarTech USBMBADAPT 6" USB A Female to USB Motherboard 4 Pin Header F/F F-F

 

 

What I already have:

 

4 x 1TB drives

2 x 1.5TB drives

5 x 2TB drives

7 x 3TB drives

1 x 4TB drive

 

1 x 500GB 2.5" drive (will be the cache drive using the Startech adapter above).

 

Some questions I have:

 

Would 4GB of ECC memory be better than the 8?  Since Unraid is 32-bit can I even use 8GB?

 

I chose a motherboard with 4 PCIE slots because I'd like to have esata as well (I own two 4-bay Mediasonic RAID enclosures and 3 JBOD enclosures).  Would like to eventually (after filling the Norco) use those with the SNAP addon.  What's a solid reliable esata card known to work with Unraid?

 

While I'll probably be buying green drives from now on, most of the ones above aren't.  I'm wondering if I should go to the next tier of Corsair powersupply in that line or not.

 

With the Norco case and the Supermicro SAS cards -- are they including the necessary cables, or do I need to shop for those as well?

 

How noisy is the Norco?  Should I be purchasing the 120mm fan plate and quiet fans?  This puppy will be going into my bedroom.

 

Any glaring issues with the above build?  I did a fair bit of research, and think I got everything right, but thought I'd run it by the experienced and knowledgeable users here first.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[garycase]

You've listed 3 SAS2LP-MV8's, but the motherboard only has 2 PCIe x8 slots.    The 3rd card will work in one of the remaining 2 x4 slots (which have x8 connectors); but that card will be bottlenecked by the slower interface.

 

However, with 6 ports on the motherboard; and 16 more provided by 2 of the MV8's, you really don't need the 3rd card    [Or, if you install it, simply limit yourself to no more than 4 drives on that card, and the x4 bandwidth will be plenty.]

 

Everything else looks okay; although I suspect you'll be replacing the fans in that Norco case 

[There are several threads here that discuss the best way to quiet the Norco down some]

 

[magnumdoomguy]

Thanks.  Looking for a board with 3 x8 slots now.  The previous total was $1400, but while looking for a new motherboard there appears to be a new Newegg promo for $150 off a $1500 total (or more), so if I wiggle it right I might be able to manage $150 more worth or stuff but pay $50 less.

 

Oh, and three cards is necessary to get the full 24 drives of the Norco.  I want to set it up to be ready to take more drives at any time, since moving it around and opening it to upgrade won't easy when it's finished.  I'll use one of the onboard sata ports for the cache drive (mounted with the expansion slot bracket in the back).

[garycase]

I don't think you'll find 3 x8 slots, due to limitations on the number of PCIe "lanes" that the chipsets support.

 

If 22 drives is enough for your needs, I'd use the 6 onboard SATA ports (you'll need an adapter cable to use them); and 2 of the 8-port cards in the x8 slots.    If you want to maximize the drives, then add a 4-port PCIe x4 card to one of the x4 slots.

 

[garycase]

... or the x4 version of the Supermicro 8-port card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358

 

[magnumdoomguy]

This one appears to have three x8 slots.  And with the promo code won't cost me any extra from the original plan: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182235

 

Would that work? 

 

I'll look at your card suggestions now. 

 

I'd really prefer to get it to the full 25 though.

[garycase]

That does indeed have 3 x8 slots (accomplished by NOT having any x16 slots).

 

HOWEVER ... it's a Socket 1156 board, so you'd have to use an older CPU -- it won't work with the Ivy Bridge chip you had selected.

 

[garycase]

I'd really prefer to get it to the full 25 though.

 

Your original board will do that if you use 2 of the x8 cards;  one of the x4 cards; and a single motherboard port.

 

... or you could use a 4-port x4 card 5 of the motherboard ports.

 

[magnumdoomguy]

Yeah, couldn't find a 1156 on Newegg at all.  Will go with the 2 x8 and 1 x4 suggestion. 

 

I appreciate the help, btw.  Thanks.

 

Still under the $1500 for the $150 discount, going to fiddle a bit more.

 

[garycase]

Still under the $1500 for the $150 discount, going to fiddle a bit more.

 

Do you have a desktop system at home that's still using a "real" hard drive?  You could always buy a nice SSD for it       

 

The Intel 240GB 335 is an excellent choice ==>  $180 ... but you can effectively get it for $30 

[magnumdoomguy]

Yeah, I have SSDs (either straight or the cache variety) on my non-server machines. 

 

This card looks suitable for the esata part.  http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158088CVF

 

Has port multiplier, which is the key part I need.  Going to keep looking to see if I can find one that is x4.

 

Since my current NAS is a spidery beast with multiple enclosures I'd like to have esata at the beginning to quicken the migration process.  Eventually would be nice to use the two RAID enclosures as backup.

 

 

[garycase]

You may not care, since it's just for a backup array => but that card is only SATA-II

 

If you're going to use it with a port multiplier and split the bandwidth, you probably want to find a SATA-III card.

 

Something like this:  http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/HDD-Controllers/SATA-Cards/4-Port-PCI-Express-SATA-III-6Gbps-Controller-Card-with-eSATA-PCIe-4-Line~PEXSAT34

 

Note that you can always convert internal SATA ports to eSATA with a simple bracket:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?seq=1&format=2&p_id=7638&CAWELAID=1329454712&catargetid=320013720000010833&cadevice=c&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CJP8oZKt0boCFTJp7Aodsz4AAA

 

[dirtysanchez]

Everything else looks okay; although I suspect you'll be replacing the fans in that Norco case 

[There are several threads here that discuss the best way to quiet the Norco down some]

 

Yes, if you want to actually sleep in your bedroom, you'll be replacing the fans. Imagine a small jet taking off kind of loud. 

 

[magnumdoomguy]

How about this card instead of the supermicro x4:  http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158090CVF

 

Has four internal Sata connectors and 2 esata and has port multiplier.

 

With the 16 connectors of the two supermicros, 6 internal, and 4 from this one, I'd have 26 internal connectors -- enough for the backplane and a separate cache drive with a single connector to spare. 

 

I've never worked with SAS backplanes before.  I assume I'd need special cables to get from the motherboard to the SAS backplane. 

 

I imagine power splitters won't be necessary.

 

I imagine the port multiplier on the esata would make the internal drives suffer.  Perhaps this card in addition to your suggested supermicro x4, or is that just excessive?

 

Also, regarding the SATAII -- I was under the impression that eSATA was by definition SATAII only, or has that finally been upgraded to match the internal stuff?

[garycase]

That card will work ==> HOWEVER, the 2 eSATA connectors are SHARED with the internal connections.

 

i.e. you can use the 4 internal connectors;  or you can use 2 of the internal connections and the 2 external ones;  or 3 of the internal connectors and one of the external ones.

 

So if you want 25 internal connections, this card, plus the 6 motherboard ports, and 2 8-port cards, will leave you with ONE useable eSATA connection.

 

[magnumdoomguy]

I just noticed -- silly me -- that one was also SATA II.

 

This one looks good (in addition to your suggestion).  SATA III and keeps the external drives separate.  http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158210CVF

[dirtysanchez]

I've never worked with SAS backplanes before.  I assume I'd need special cables to get from the motherboard to the SAS backplane. 

 

Yes you'll need special cables. There's a good write up of the different kinds of SAS cables here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7003.msg67861#msg67861

[magnumdoomguy]

Thanks for the link. 

 

So, going with the 2 Supermicro x8s and 1 Supermicro x4 and a Norco 4224, I'd only need 6 SAS to SAS cables?  Is that correct?  Do these Supermicro cards typically come with such cables?  (I know the Supermicro motherboard in my list does).

 

From what I've read on the Norco and Supermicro sites, I think 6 of these is what I need: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133034

 

Thanks for all the help guys. 

[garycase]

I just noticed -- silly me -- that one was also SATA II.

 

This one looks good (in addition to your suggestion).  SATA III and keeps the external drives separate.  http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158210CVF

 

Yes, using this for the eSATA, and the 3 SuperMicro cards (2 x8 and 1 x4) with 6 multilane cables will work nicely.

 

[magnumdoomguy]

Awesome.  I'll pull the trigger and order it tomorrow.  It's going to be fun.  Can't wait.

 

 

[garycase]

Post a note when you get it all together and working.

 

I assume you already know this ... but just in case => you do know what all of the data on your current drives is going to be lost when you format them for UnRAID ... right?

 

[BobPhoenix]

You could also get a SAS expander like the Intel RES2SV240 or Intel RES2CV240 or to go past 24 drives on one controller with the Intel RES2CV360 which allow 36 drives (32 off RES2CV360 and 4 off controller).  Then you would need only one SAS capable controller.  With my RES2SV240 I can get 24 drives (20 off RES2SV240 and 4 on M1015).  Also when I purchased my RES2SV240 it came with all the cables I needed to connect to Norco back planes.  Don't know about the CV models but assume the same.

[magnumdoomguy]

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

I went with the 2 x8 and 1 x4 Supermicros.  Used the promo code to upgrade to a Xeon X3 Quadcore for peanuts. 

 

Regarding the data migration -- yeah, it's cool, I know.  One of my 2TBs is completely empty (had to resilver a RAID5 array, but the old one is fine, just went cattywumpus in the array), I'll start with that and then move the data from the 1TBs (not a ton of data on them compared to the others) and move over one at a time.  If I'm careful, it should be doable.  The parity drive (the single 4TB drive) will be near the very end (since that drive is *packed* full) and once it's data is dumped to the array it'll become the parity.  Will add the 500GB cache at the very end (it's the system drive of the current NAS).

 

Will post pictures of the finished beast.  Yay!  Can't wait. 

 

 

[garycase]

You do, of course realize that doing it as you described means you'll be adding all of your data "at risk" => there will be no fault tolerance for the data you've added until you (finally) add the 4TB as the parity drive.

 

Since you're going to be wiping drives as you go [and I gather from the way you outlined this you likely don't have backups !!]; you may want to reconsider that plan.

 

Buying one additional 4TB drive for parity -- and adding it at the start of this process will ensure that everything is protected as you add it;  and you'll end up with an additional 4TB of storage space at the end.

 

Certainly sounds like good insurance to me 

[magnumdoomguy]

Actually backups are included in the data already.    No backups of the tv shows or movies currently, other than that they currently sit in RAID5 arrays.  You make a good point though.  I'll pick up a 4TB from my local favourite shop while I wait for the goodies to arrive.  (Was planning to get quiet fans and a UPS from there anyways).

 

Currently thinking of this puppy as the UPS:  http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=32_438&item_id=034156

Some nice quiet fans (I did go ahead and get the 120mm fan plate), and an additional 4TB drive and she'll be done.  (And my entertainment budget is blown until New Years ).