First unRAID build (H87I-PLUS / Lian Li PC-Q25)

[roland]

Thanks!

 

It will still be a headless server, so not GPU required for the VMs.

I will give it a spin.

 

Looks like I need a bigger cache disk soon ...

[roland]

So I had a file-system problem on my cache drive.

A great opportunity to upgrade to 250GB and unRAID 6.2b23

[roland]

The front fan started to get noisy again, after it settled down for a while. I think it has to go...

Any good recommandation?

It doesn't have to be super quiet, I was actually happy with the stock fan, but it started to "tick".

 

 

 

[roland]

I had a little power outage just the other day and then this special landed in my inbox. Maybe a sign to finally get that UPS.

 

I know there are lots of threads about UPS and I think these ones are supported,  but how much do I need?

Just to cover my Q25 build with enough headroom to fill all the disk slots and maybe upgrade to 8TB disks in the very long run?

 

http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/CyberPower-UPS-Double-Protection-Sale?sc_src=email_522086&sc_lid=16481211&sc_uid=cxGtCs4ymr&sc_llid=9291&sc_eh=991de2c4853ffe7e1

 

Any recommendations?

 

[garycase]

Don't buy a UPS without AVR (automatic voltage regulation).    The CyberPower Value SOHO units at the link you gave DO have this feature, so they'd be fine.    The 360w unit should be fine for your build; but I'd recommend going a bit higher to provide a bit more headroom (the 480w unit is fine).

 

[roland]

Thanks Gary, since the 550 was only slightly more expensive I went with that.

Maybe that will allow me to protect the modem/router as well.

 

CyberPower Value SOHO UPS 1000VA/550W

http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/cyberpower-value-soho-ups-1000va-550w/VALUE1000EI

 

will keep you posted once it arrives.

[roland]

I received and connected the UPS today.

 

CyberPower Value SOHO UPS 1000VA/550W

 

So far all looks good and a test shutdown went well (I only connected USB, not actually the power, just in case)

Now here is hoping I will never need it.

 

[garycase]

Don't forget to actually plug the server into the UPS  :)

 

Also, note the UPS has both battery backed up outputs and "surge only" outputs => be sure everything you want to run on the inverter is plugged into the battery backed up outputs.

 

 

[roland]

You got me doubting myself ...

But this model does not have different outputs, both are battery backed up outputs.

[garycase]

You got me doubting myself ...

But this model does not have different outputs, both are battery backed up outputs.

 

Yes, I see that (just looked at their pictures).    Most of the CyberPower units I've seen (in the US) have two sets of outputs -- one set is battery backed up;  the other set are surge only.

 

[mr-hexen]

You got me doubting myself ...

But this model does not have different outputs, both are battery backed up outputs.

 

Yes, I see that (just looked at their pictures).    Most of the CyberPower units I've seen (in the US) have two sets of outputs -- one set is battery backed up;  the other set are surge only.

 

Quite common as my APC unit in Canada has the same.

[HellDiverUK]

The front fan started to get noisy again, after it settled down for a while. I think it has to go...

Any good recommandation?

It doesn't have to be super quiet, I was actually happy with the stock fan, but it started to "tick".

 

I've been using Noctua 140mm fans for years in my various PC-Q25 cases.  Never had a problem with them as far as cooling or reliability goes.  I only use the front fan, leaving the top fan hole open.

[JonathanM]

  I only use the front fan, leaving the top fan hole open.

Do you cover the opening with something to prevent air from leaking? If not, then you could probably drop several degrees on your hard drives by forcing all the air to flow over the drives instead of bypassing them.

 

Typically you want all fans on one side of the drives to exhaust, and all fans on the other side to intake, and no air leakage bypassing them if you can help it. Some people even set up cardboard baffles to force the air to flow directly over the drives.

[roland]

It has been a good 8 years !

But last week the tower stopped. It won't start anymore. 

The fan in the PSU and the CPU fan both spin up for a second or two, then spin down and start again.
I unplugged the drives but that made no difference.

There was no change to the hardware in a long long time and it has been running flawless for all these years.

Maybe it is just time to refresh.

 

I don't have any spare parts around.

Does anyone have a good idea on how I could troubleshoot what component gave up?

 

my hardware is:

Case: Lian Li PC-Q25 Black Hot Swap Mini Tower Case

Board: ASUS H87I-PLUS Motherboard

CPU:  Intel Core i3 4130

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM (2x4GB) DDR3

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF 450W SFX

Disk: 4x 4TB WD Red 

Cache Pool: 2x 500 GB Samsung SSD 860 EVO (added 1/12/2018)

USB:  Cruzer Fit (8GB)

 

Any input is greatly appreciated!

[Jorgen]

Sounds like the morhterboard, but it's defenitly not for certain.

 

First step would be to hook up a monitor and keybord directlly to the server, power up and see if it gets past the POST stage. if it doesn't you'll need to dig into the beep codes to identify which component is faulty. This will be your first hurdle, I have the same mobo and it doesn't have a built-in speaker, so you'll need to rig somehting up yourself....

[Hoopster]

3 hours ago, roland said:

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF 450W SFX

I would suspect the PSU has gone bad.  Twice I have had similar issues that turned out to be a bad or failing PSU.  Fans spin up briefly then system shuts off or system starts completely and then shuts down after running a few minutes.

[roland]

1 hour ago, Jorgen said:

First step would be to hook up a monitor and keybord directlly to the server, power up and see if it gets past the POST stage.

Thanks, I plugged in a screen and I have a little speaker (must have come with the case maybe) but nothing on either of them. 
I will spend some time taking everything out of the case and resetting the connections....

[roland]

Thanks, I have reset all the power cables and now it is all running again. 

 

But it gave me a good wakeup call to get started with some replacement hardware. 

I want to keep the case but replace everything else (except the disks). 

The motherboard needs to be able to handle at least one more disk. More ram and better CPU would also be nice. Maybe an extra NIC to use one for firewall or similar would also be good. 

Better start looking around soon... 

[Hoopster]

20 hours ago, roland said:

The motherboard needs to be able to handle at least one more disk.

This is the motherboard I currently have in my Lian-Li PC-Q25 case.  I bought it at this online retailer last year.
 
Supports up to 8 SATA ports (4 onboard, 4 via OCuLink cable), 64GB RAM, 2 NICs + 3rd for IPMI,  2242 M.2 NVMe SSD and Intel socket 1151 CPUs.  I have the Xeon E-2246G (six cores/12 threads and iGPU) in mine but it also accepts up to the E-2288G with 8 cores/16 threads.
 
No, it is not the most modern MB available but is a lot less expensive than socket 1200/1700 MBs and CPUs; at least they were at the time I bought them.

Edited February 13 by Hoopster

[trurl]

On 2/5/2023 at 6:32 PM, roland said:

my hardware is:

Similar to where I started in that case. I still love the case more than anything else I have seen for small form factor NAS build.

 

11 hours ago, Hoopster said:

This is the motherboard I currently have in my Lian-Li PC-Q25 case.

 

And here is my (not so) recent thread about my rebuild in my PC-Q25

 

 

[Hoopster]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:06 AM, trurl said:

I still love the case more than anything else I have seen for small form factor NAS build.

Agreed.  Too bad it is no longer in production or I would pick up another one.

[roland]

thanks for your suggestions on the motherboards. 

Some seem to be out of stock and also rather expensive here in Australia.

 

IPMI is not much of a requirement here as the box is standing next to the TV that still has the VGA input and a keyboard can be added in no time. But 7+ sata certainly is a requirement.