m3ki Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Hi, I am thinking of moving away from my trusty Synology 8 Bay NAS to unraid. After long consideration i think unraid is a good fit for what I need. I want a bulk storage redundant platform that is also as low power and as quiet as possible at idle. Currently my Synology 1812+ is eating ~50-55watts all the time and never spins down the drives, and I think I can do better with unraid. What I want to build is 24-Bay/hotswap rackmount appliance 2 SSD inside of the case to use as a cachepool. (I know that unraid currently only supports 22 Drives total but I am hoping that in the near future this limitation will be removed) 24 HDD Hotswap Low power at idle Near silent Drives spin down when not in use I would like some cpu power in case I decide to virtualize syncthing and plex server later. Here are the parts I am thinking about: Motherboard - SMX10SL7-F with onboard 8 port SAS controller will let you do away with one of your IBM 1015's CPU - E3-1226 v3 is there anything better low power at idle CPU Heatsink - Noctua NH-U9S RAM Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G PSU - Seasonic SS-660XP2 HDD - Will be using WD RED SSD - 2x Crucial BX100 2.5" 500GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) CT500BX100SSD1 SAS Controllers - IBM ServeRAID M1015 x 2 (internal sata ports will be dedicated to cachepool) Case NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays 120mm Fan Bracket HDD Fans - 3 x Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fans Back Fans - 2x Noctua NF-A8 PWM Premium 80mm Fan Please give me your critique and suggestions! Gallery https://imgur.com/a/42czi Edit: Updated configuration to reflect current build status Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I'd check again because I don't think Intel I5's support ECC ram. If you're going to get a server board you might as well get a low end xeon e3 haswell instead of the i5. SMX10SL7-F with onboard 8 port SAS controller will let you do away with one of your IBM 1015's. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G36F9435&cm_re=x10sl7-f-_-13-182-821-_-Product I'd go with crucial ram instead of kingston. CT2KIT102472BD160B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148770 Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 I'd check again because I don't think Intel I5's support ECC ram. If you're going to get a server board you might as well get a low end xeon e3 haswell instead of the i5. SMX10SL7-F with onboard 8 port SAS controller will let you do away with one of your IBM 1015's. So with this board it means I will need 2 reverse breakout cables to connect to the backplane of the case? Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I'd check again because I don't think Intel I5's support ECC ram. If you're going to get a server board you might as well get a low end xeon e3 haswell instead of the i5. SMX10SL7-F with onboard 8 port SAS controller will let you do away with one of your IBM 1015's. So with this board it means I will need 2 reverse breakout cables to connect to the backplane of the case? Correct. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 I updated the first post with Xeon E3-1226 v3, I am trying to look online about its idle power consumption but I cant find any info. Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 You're looking at something like 20-25 watts idle power draw for the xeon. Quote Link to comment
tr0910 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 But the entire draw of the entire server will be higher. I can't remember the wattage draw of a 1015 controller, but doubt you will get everything running at that low a level. Your 50 watts is not bad. If you have 24 bay server idling less than that you will be doing exceptional. Mine with an Areca controller is well over that. Areca takes about 20 watts by itself. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 I have outgrown my 8bay syno, so I am hoping to step up to something 24 bay. I am really hoping to build something as power efficient as possible.(at idle) Maybe I should get a better PSU, there is probably not much I can do about the raid controller, but what about cpu, will I3 be more efficient? I doubt it, i thought haswell were pretty damn good. Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 If you're going for absolute lowest power I don't know, someone else is going to have to jump in here. The I3 and xeon will idle about the same. If you want to save power probably the best thing you can do is use the largest capacity WD Red drives you can so you won't need as many of them and obviously keep them spun down whenever not in use. Here's a good thread that might help you make up your mind on which processor to choose. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40518.0 Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 I am about to pull the trigger, I will be going with this setup(Xeon etc...), Ill get an efficient PSU and I think i should be ok. Is there a way to find out when the pro license limitation of 25HDD will be lifted? I would really like to have 24Data + 2 Parity + 2 SSD cache drives. I am willing to be a guinea pig if needed to test. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 So I ordered all the parts except the PSU. I will be using all WD reds x24 for the hot-swap bays and 2 ssd for cache pool. Can someone help me out on choosing the most efficient psu? Is 650 Watts enough? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 You're looking at something like 20-25 watts idle power draw for the xeon. NO ... FAR less than that. A complete system (motherboard, memory, and Xeon) will draw 20-25 watts when the CPU is idle [not counting whatever your hard drives and additional controllers are drawing]. Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 You're looking at something like 20-25 watts idle power draw for the xeon. NO ... FAR less than that. A complete system (motherboard, memory, and Xeon) will draw 20-25 watts when the CPU is idle [not counting whatever your hard drives are drawing]. Yes I know. I'm running one. I should have been more clear but I figured it was obvious... I mean how often are you running a CPU without motherboard or ram? As to OP's question. 650 watt is plenty for a 24 bay server. Get a good seasonic or corsair *single rail* gold rated or higher. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 I was thinking of a seasonic platinum, can anyone suggest one? Also how are you hooking up power to the backplanes? I heard some horror stories about 4224 backplanes also stuff getting damaged etc... Quote Link to comment
tr0910 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 You're looking at something like 20-25 watts idle power draw for the xeon. NO ... FAR less than that. A complete system (motherboard, memory, and Xeon) will draw 20-25 watts when the CPU is idle [not counting whatever your hard drives are drawing]. Gary don't forget the load from the additional driver controllers. I would love to see a sub 25 watt, 24 data+2 parity+2 cache=28 drive server. Do you think you can do it? Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I was thinking of a seasonic platinum, can anyone suggest one? Also how are you hooking up power to the backplanes? I heard some horror stories about 4224 backplanes also stuff getting damaged etc... This will do nicely. Single 12 volt rail, full modular, platinum. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151121&cm_re=seasonic_660-_-17-151-121-_-Product They've pretty much fixed the backplane issue in the norco cases. If you end up having issues just contact norco directly and they will switch them out for you. Just hook a single molex to each backplane. I run 2 backplanes off each lead for a total of 3 leads from the power supply. Quote Link to comment
TUMS Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 You're looking at something like 20-25 watts idle power draw for the xeon. NO ... FAR less than that. A complete system (motherboard, memory, and Xeon) will draw 20-25 watts when the CPU is idle [not counting whatever your hard drives are drawing]. Gary don't forget the load from the additional driver controllers. I would love to see a sub 25 watt, 24 data+2 parity+2 cache=28 drive server. Do you think you can do it? I'll answer what I think and that's no way. Once you start adding a bunch of drives, even low power WD reds, all bets are off. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Sweet! I am so excited about this new build I will be purchasing the pro license this week once I get all my components. I have been reading somewhere on this forum i need to take 12V 660W - 125W 5v = 535 to be available for drive spinup, 2x raid controllers, ssds and fans? Now the question is will we ever see the following? 24x drive array (22 array + 2 parity) 2x SSD cache I have been looking around the forums but I can't find any roadmap, I know that someone mentioned that dual parity is coming soon but currently we only have 22 drive limit Quote Link to comment
tr0910 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 No, with a pro licence you are no longer limited to off array drives such as cache. You can now go to more than 24 total. And Tom tells me that dual parity is in internal beta presently. It's only the dual parity you need to wait on today. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 No, with a pro licence you are no longer limited to off array drives such as cache. You can now go to more than 24 total. And Tom tells me that dual parity is in internal beta presently. It's only the dual parity you need to wait on today. Sorry, I have been trying to understand the limits: here http://lime-technology.com/registrationkeys/ it says that the device limit is 25, what does this mean? 25 = Array only? or 24 in array + 1 parity + cache array is extra? or is it 25 total total? What does the 25 disk array apply to? Quote Link to comment
tr0910 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 In 6.1 the device limits were pulled from pro. The max array is still 24 but there is no limit on cache drives or other drives not in the array, (such as additional drives being pre-cleared. ) Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Oh, I see so this means 24 actual storage + 1 (parity) ? It probably wont matter to me much since I will have only 24 hot swap bays which I will use for actual array and parity. I will hide my cache ssds inside of the case. Quote Link to comment
m3ki Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Really excited I have finally received the case Very nicely packaged, double box. http://i.imgur.com/MOKrD9f.jpg[/img] Pretty! http://i.imgur.com/NCOhJKH.jpg[/img] http://i.imgur.com/DDJiFtb.jpg[/img] Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 In 6.1 the device limits were pulled from pro. The max array is still 24 but there is no limit on cache drives or other drives not in the array, (such as additional drives being pre-cleared. ) Actually that's not correct. v6 supports a total of 25 drives => by default 24 are designated for the array (Parity plus up to 23 data drives) and 1 is designated as cache. That 25-drive limit is fixed -- if you want more than one drive assigned as cache, you have to reduce the number of drives in the array. The limit on total devices in the system has, indeed, been removed for Pro ... i.e. you can have more than 25 drives in the system and UnRAID will still run just fine => but they can't be assigned to the array (i.e. as additional cache drives). They CAN be used via the Unassigned Devices plugin; for pre-clears; etc. with no problem. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Oh, I see so this means 24 actual storage + 1 (parity) ? No -- 23 actual storage plus 1 parity and 1 cache. Quote Link to comment
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