Hi Guys n Girls...

 

So i have decided i need to build a home server (currently rocking a Synology DS411) i have done so much reading on unRAID my brain is frazzled but im currently putting together a list of parts and wondered if you guys could give it a going over.

 

Case - Fractal Design Node 804

Motherboard - Supermicro X11SSH-F

CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1240 v5

Memory - some ECC 16GB Memory (i know ECC isnt required but i can find some for not much more than normal)

Power Supply - Corsair RM550x

Cache Drive - Samsung 850 Evo 256gb

HDD - WD Red 4TB's - a 6TB for parity as i already own 4x 4TB and will be adding 6TB disk later

 

The motherboard only has 8 Sata ports so in the future i was looking at a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which will give me another 8 sata drives (obviously the case at the same time)

 

Thanks guys.

Hi Guys n Girls...

 

So i have decided i need to build a home server (currently rocking a Synology DS411) i have done so much reading on unRAID my brain is frazzled but im currently putting together a list of parts and wondered if you guys could give it a going over.

 

Case - Fractal Design Node 804

 

Nice case with good cooling. They say they support 8 disks officially BUT you can squeeze up to 16 in that cavity IF your are going to use some drives cages (like the ones from Caselabs I use). You might have to play around with cooling though if you did this.

 

Personally I don't like the squeezes and prefer the Fractal Design Define R5 but that is just my preference. Going a little bigger also gives you more room to expand and use a high end video card if you choose.

 

Motherboard - Supermicro X11SSH-F

 

Nice board. The X11SSH-F is the high-end Xeon E3 v5 board from Supermicro. 64GB RAM, IPMI, USB 3.0, Internal USB Header. Importantly it is a C236 board so it provides 8 SATA ports. In practice however from a feature perspective it’s very similar to the X11SSM-F. In fact, the only difference is that one PCI-e 3.0 x8 (x4 electrical) slot is exchanged for an M.2 connector (2x PCI-e 3.0). If you don't need those additional features you might want to consider the cheaper option.

 

CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1240 v5

 

Nothing much to say about the CPU. You can always "Go Bigger" BUT it's always a cost vs benefit. The only thing I would say is that AFAIK there is an issue with virtualisation with KVM and Skylake builds and I "thought" (TBC by others as I can't find the reference) that if you want to Virtualise with KVM you're still better off with a Haswell build.

 

Memory - some ECC 16GB Memory (i know ECC isnt required but i can find some for not much more than normal)

 

I think you have done the right thing here. Just make sure you check and double check and get the correct brand for the board as I know Supermicro boards CAN be finicky with their ECC RAM. Kingston was an issue with X10 boards if I remember correctly.

 

Power Supply - Corsair RM550x

 

You might want to consider a higher capacity PSU if you want to expand in the future. For what you have listed however it seems fine to me.

 

Cache Drive - Samsung 850 Evo 256gb

 

in unRAID v6.x you have the ability to have a Cache Pool. With once cache drive you will likely format it to xfs and in this configuration you are running unprotected in between execution of the mover function. Meaning if the drive fails in between mover functions you could potentially loose the data that has been put onto the Cache disk. By employing a multi disk setup (utilising a BTRFS RAID-1 Cache Pool) you give yourself protection against a disk failure. Also, this allows you to be able to scale your Cache capacity over time by adding more disks (of varying sizes) to the pool - this is increasingly a positive thing as the "supported" method of storing VM's and Dockers is to use the Cache Pool.

 

HDD - WD Red 4TB's - a 6TB for parity as i already own 4x 4TB and will be adding 6TB disk later

 

I don't get this setup. You are effectively "wasting" 2TB of potential space until you run out and put a 6TB in later. For me a better config would be:

 

6TB Parity + 6TB Data + 3x 4TB Data

 

That should only involve a "small" amount of extra money up front.

 

In addition, are you intended to utilise the new 6.2 Dual Parity feature? If so you will need 2 6TB disks anyway. If you are going to use this (either now or when it becomes STABLE) I would do this:

 

2 x 6TB Parity + 1 x 6TB Data + 2 x 4TB Disks

 

The motherboard only has 8 Sata ports so in the future i was looking at a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which will give me another 8 sata drives (obviously the case at the same time)

 

I refer back to my comments about scalability. I personally think a bigger case would be better.

 

For your consideration.

Wow great reply and some great info... thanks.

 

I was actually looking at the case last night and saw the Corsair 750D which holds 6 drives but could purchase 2 more drive cages for a total of 12 drives - i do quite like the define r5 though that is a very nice case.

 

The cheaper motherboard is also an option i was looking at this - i couldn't decide weather i needed the m.2 slot - i suppose if i wanted an m.2 drive i could always mount it in a pcie slot with an adapter card. some drives like the Samsung 951 Pro offer some crazy speeds which i guess would be great as a cache drive.

 

If i was to step up the CPU to say an intel Xeon E5 what chip would you recommend bearing in mind cost. i suppose i could get a slightly faster/ beefier setup if i went haswell instead of skylake.

 

The power supply i can easily swap for a more powerful unit the corsair RM650w is only another £5 so could go for that.

 

The disk setup i have at the moment is 4x 4TB - yesterday i overlooked that i would need a drive to actually copy my data to as im guessing i cant take my drives out of the synology and bung them into an unraid server. So in other words i think you right i will buy get 2x 6tb use one for parity and one for data - when dual parity is available i will be taking advantage of it i guess i can add another parity drive after i have created my array i dont have to start with a clean array do i?

 

Thanks your help its very much appreciated

Wow great reply and some great info... thanks.

 

No worries, welcome to unRAID and the forums

 

I was actually looking at the case last night and saw the Corsair 750D which holds 6 drives but could purchase 2 more drive cages for a total of 12 drives - i do quite like the define r5 though that is a very nice case.

 

I didn't mention in the original post but I have the R5. I have (very simply) modded the Fractal Design R5 to allow for up to 18 drives. There are also links in there to those Caseloads caddy's I mentioned in my above post too. See my build thread here:

 

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37567.msg458891#msg458891

 

The cheaper motherboard is also an option i was looking at this - i couldn't decide weather i needed the m.2 slot - i suppose if i wanted an m.2 drive i could always mount it in a pcie slot with an adapter card. some drives like the Samsung 951 Pro offer some crazy speeds which i guess would be great as a cache drive.

 

I guess this is a personal preference for you. I see no need for them personally.

 

If i was to step up the CPU to say an intel Xeon E5 what chip would you recommend bearing in mind cost. i suppose i could get a slightly faster/ beefier setup if i went haswell instead of skylake.

 

The "need" for an E5 IMHO is dependant on your needs. There were some limitations with the Haswell E3 Xeons with respect to Access Control Services (ACS) support needed for GPU passthrough to a VM.

 

EDIT: It is worth noting that I DONT know if the passthrough ACS issue affects skylake processors too!

 

This comes down to issues with IOMMU groups and device isolation.  There are apparently limitations on the Xeon E3 processor (if you're passing through a GPU to a VM) and it HAS been recommend that a Xeon E5 or higher processor is a better choice to provide the best case device isolation for those looking to build a virtualised unRAID system.  There are also of course some i7 processors with PCIe ACS support on the processor root ports which can be an option for you.

 

Again, depending on what you want to do / use your server for. If you don't plan on dropping into the virtualisation (with GPU passthrough world) then I think the processor you have selected is more than fine!

 

The power supply i can easily swap for a more powerful unit the corsair RM650w is only another £5 so could go for that.

 

Five quid extra, gets you a Gold Certified Fully Modular 650Watt PSU. Spend the extra no matter what!

 

The disk setup i have at the moment is 4x 4TB - yesterday i overlooked that i would need a drive to actually copy my data to as im guessing i cant take my drives out of the synology and bung them into an unraid server. So in other words i think you right i will buy get 2x 6tb use one for parity and one for data - when dual parity is available i will be taking advantage of it i guess i can add another parity drive after i have created my array i dont have to start with a clean array do i?

 

Nope. You don't have to start with a clean array! Got to love unRAID! 

 

Thanks your help its very much appreciated

 

You're welcome!

Ok so i have been rethinking my setup for a while now and stumbled across the cheap Intel Xeon E5-2670's on ebay.

 

Would you be able to cast you eye across this as an alternative setup

 

Case - Fractal Define R5

Motherboard - Asus-Z9PA-D8

CPU - 2x Intel Xeon E5 2670

CPU Coolers - Noctua NH-U9DXI4 (Will two of these work on the same board without any clearance issues)

Memory 64GB ECC Registered

 

I think all that works but i have a question RE the motherboard - can i use the 8 blue sata ports along the bottom of the mobo or are these controlled via the optional PIKE card.

 

Any other solution for the Mobo are welcome however i'm having difficulty find a dual socked board for within a reasonable price - i need 10 sata ports in minimum 2x Parity - 2x Cache and 6x data drives

 

I appreciate all the help.

 

Thanks 

The Node 804 has official room for 12drives.

8 in drive cages, 2*2.5 in the front panel, and 2 on the "floor" of the mainboard room if no cards are too deep or not a too long PSU is used.

i was looking at the Node 804 originally but then danioj suggested the Define R5 and i do really like that case. The define R5 can do 8x 3.5 inch and two dedicated ssd on the back on the mobo so this will be just fine as well.

 

Depends what deals i can get maybe because there both roughly the same price.

 

Thanks