new to server, please advice :)

[kanichkhun]

Hi folks,

 

new to the community and first time building my very own server.

 

I just ordered NORCO - 4220 case, Supermicro Marvell 9480 8 Channel SAS/SATA PCIE as raid card and NORCO mini sas to mini sas cables.

 

few questions,

 

the raid card can be used on any motherboard or only compatible with supermicro boards?

 

what board should I get if i just want 1 socket and pci-e supported? usb 3.0 preferred if it is under "not too expensive board" say below 200 usd.

 

cpu? dual to quad cores.

 

RAM? is ecc ram necessary?

 

Cheers

[Ford Prefect]

...what controller card is that exactly? With unRAID you'll want a HBA, not a raid-card.

 

A good mobo below 200USD ist the SM X9SCM-F: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

 

...you *need* ECC with that ...otherwise get a desktop mobo ... ECC is technically not required with unRAID..it is an architectural decision to go with ECC or not.

 

If you would not have ordered the card already, I'd opt for this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821&Tpk=x10sl7-f as it has the HBA on-board.

My bet is that this X10 is cheaper than the X9 + your SAS card.

[kanichkhun]

hmm..

 

i followed murlocke's setup from overclock.net .

 

he's using

 

SAS Cards: 6x Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8

CPUs: 2x Intel i3-2120 (3.3GHz)

Motherboards: 2x Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

Memory: 2x 8GB Kingston (DDR3 1333)

 

HBA? Host Bus Adapter? what does HBA does?

 

no budget for motherboard as long as it is good. but not too overly expensive too.

 

the x-10 only has 2 pci-e slots.. don't think is a good idea for expansion?

[kanichkhun]

X-9 is fine for me but is usb 2.0.

 

is there supermicro that has usb 3.0?

[kanichkhun]

@ ford perfect,

 

which card are you suggesting?

[Ford Prefect]

...yes, the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 is indeed a HBA, not a raid controller card.

It will do fine with unRAID.

 

I'd prefer an LSI-2008 based card/HBA though....IMHO it offers a better sustainable bandwidth with the PCIe-x8 interface.

The IBM Serveraid M1015 is famous, because it can be cross-flashed from a raid-card to a HBA.

 

The X10SL7-F already has one LSI controler/HBA on-board....hence the reduced no. of PCIe slots.

Such a mobo, compared to separate sourcing of the individual parts, is usually cheaper.

You can easily add more cards...there are even some with 16+ ports....you can as well add an expander, like the IBM RES2SC240 (which can be powered from a molex, no PCIe slot needed).

Only if you intend to use an ESXi build with some more VMs and passthrough of more hardware, like TV-Tuners and such, the no. of slots is somewhat limiting.

But that is the case with every 1150 or 1155 based board...if you need slots, go for a 2011 socket board (but his does not come that cheap).

[kanichkhun]

more importantly is my data, i don't do something that complicated as of now, i supposed the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 could fit the criteria, right?

 

is purely just for storing data of my blu-rays and songs.

[kanichkhun]

@Ford,

 

oh oh! i noticed 8x SAS2 (6Gbps) ports via LSI 2308 from X10 board.

 

but how does this board supports 20 drives? the back plane uses mini-sas 8087 connector.

 

so what should I do?

[Ford Prefect]

@Ford,

 

oh oh! i noticed 8x SAS2 (6Gbps) ports via LSI 2308 from X10 board.

 

but how does this board supports 20 drives? the back plane uses mini-sas 8087 connector.

 

so what should I do?

 

The X10SL7-F does support 14 disks right away (6x from chipset + 8x from LSI).

In order to support more, add one more/another PCIe based card, like the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8.

All port-connectors on the mobo itself are standad s-ata...in order to connect these to the backplanes, you'll need reverse-breakout cables, like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133033.

You will connect them in sets of four each (one cable per backplane, 4 disks).

With one additional card (8 ports and 2x straight 8087 cable) + 12 ports from the mobo (2x4 ports and 4 ports from chipset == 3x reverse breakout cables) gives 5 backplanes, 4 disks each == 20 disks.

...and 2 ports on  mobo go unused.

 

Edit: if you want to save PCIe slots, add an expander like the Intel RES2CV240 (RES2SV240)..connect 8 ports from the LSI as input and 4 backplanes as output == 16 disks. ...add another 4 ports from the mobo.

 

Edit2: as you already have the two AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 cards, the x9scm-f is maybe the prefered solution.

[lionelhutz]

You have good parts already, so you can buy the X9 Supermicro or I suggest you go to the motherboard section and find something else suitable reported to work.

 

Because of the number of motherboard models out there and varied availability depending on location, many people won't bother suggesting motherboards. If you search for a suitable one available where you are and then post it someone may give it the thumbs up or thumbs down.

 

You'll need a motherboard with 2 x PCIe X16 slots which are operating at X8 or X16 speeds for the SATA cards. A motherboard with 4+ SATA on board will fill out the case. You need a reverse breakout SAS cable as already noted for the motherboard.

 

Hopefully this link works. Should be the boards that have 2 x PCIe x16 slots. Just make sure it supports at least x8 on each slot. The hardware slot may be a x16 but only connected as a x8 or x4.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600176035&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

 

 

 

[kanichkhun]

would it be fine if i were to use asus/asrock motherboards to pair with AOC-SAS2LP-MV8?

[kanichkhun]

anyway, i have close relation with Asus/asrock.

 

they're going to let me try out the board for compatibility. problem solve for now.

 

 

[kanichkhun]

is ECC necessary for us like casual user?

[Ford Prefect]

Asrock does not offer support for ECC memory in any of their desktop line boards....even if you go for a CPU that supports it....being it Intel or AMD.

[kanichkhun]

ohoh if it's better to have ecc, i will go with server board, if using asus/asrock board, i will use normal ram...

 

just weighing whether that it is necessary for ECC. if we're storing our data securely and to ensure that our data does not get corrupted.

 

ECC would definitely be important but again, casual user requires ECC too?

[kanichkhun]

thanks ford and the rest for have been contributing advices for newbies and will definitely help others like me to learn more..

[Ford Prefect]

...as said earlier, ECC is technically not required with unRAID...it is an architectural decision to go with ECC or not.

My personal choice would be to go with ECC.

 

...you basically have two paths to go with that:

 

- in Intel world, youl'll need a server board and CPU (mostly all modern CPUs of socket type 1150, 1155 do support ECC *except* i5/i7 CPUs)

- in AMD world, you have - besides the server mobo+CPU option - as well the option to go with Socket AM3+ desktop mobos from ASUS and any CPU that will fit in there.

 

The Intel based solutions will be more expensive but have more headroom in computing performance and lower power draw when idle (important for 24/7 operations).

[kanichkhun]

well, guess i'm still fall back to supermicro boards.

 

probably an i3 should be suffice for me. Will be doing plex and computing of data storage.

 

shouldn't be so hard to implement plex into unraid right? is it intuitive like install and configuration?

 

would the future of unraid be implementing double parity?

[Ford Prefect]

A supermicro board with an i3 is an excellent choice.

 

AFAIR there is already a plex plugin that can be integrated via the unmenu tool/plugin into unRAID....just search the forum.

 

As to your question regarding the future of double parity with unRAID...well, my southern oracle has left for holidays already 

 

[lionelhutz]

is ECC necessary for us like casual user?

 

Not really, just give the memory a good test before you start using the server. I bet if you did a survey you'd find way more unRAID servers run without it then with it.

[kanichkhun]

if my thumbdrive happens to be dead and have it replaces with a new thumbdrive, will the data still be intact and basically stay almost the same except for setting which may be different. is it right?

[lionelhutz]

Yes, correct.

[wolferl99]

if my thumbdrive happens to be dead and have it replaces with a new thumbdrive, will the data still be intact and basically stay almost the same except for setting which may be different. is it right?

 

Just remember that your license key is tied to your thumb drive.  You will need a new key for a replacement drive. Unless you only use the free version of course.

[kanichkhun]

well, i will be getting the pro version.

 

my norco  4220 is here .. now waiting for other parts....

 

i still deciding which hdd should i get, have been reading seagate nas hdd which has 4TB whereas wd red has only 3TB now. I know wd se and re have 4TB. se mtbf is 800,000 hours only..

 

at least seagate nas is 1 mil. further more i don't require 7k class enterprise speed. 5k class would be preferred for my case because of the initial start-up ampere, lower heat, cost lesser, 9 major nas brand supporters (well unraid isn't part of the testing but i bet it will be fine), capacity advantage over red.

 

currently inclining towards seagate nas but i've been a supporter of wd for donkey years but currently the critiques don't favor them.

 

what do you guys say?

[kanichkhun]

i ordered one stick of DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz 8GB PC3-12800 240-pin ECC Memory RAM KVR16E11/8

 

should be compatible with supermicro x9scm-f-o.

 

hope i am not wrong.