Piecemealed and Now Building My Unraid Server

[mifronte]

In the most recent shipping Norco 4220 case, the floppy drive is gone and replacing it is another bracket for a 2.5" hard drive.  This makes the Norco 4220 supporting 22 drives, which happens to be the exact number for the SuperMicro X7SBE motherboard (6 SATA) with two SuperMicro SAT2-MV8 controllers (8 SATA each).

 

Now the only thing missing is for Norco to replace the 80mm fans with 120mm fans and replace the front panel flat buttons with real buttons.  I believe these are in the works for the Norco 4224 case, but I hope the 4220 case gets it too.

 

BTW, what has been the lowest price for the 4220 case?  Just need a baseline for my bargain hunting.

[starcat]

In the most recent shipping Norco 4220 case, the floppy drive is gone and replacing it is another bracket for a 2.5" hard drive. This makes the Norco 4220 supporting 22 drives, which happens to be the exact number for the SuperMicro X7SBE motherboard (6 SATA) with two SuperMicro SAT2-MV8 controllers (8 SATA each).

 

It is possible to mount more 2.5" drives on the sides of the case, I think at least 2 or even 3 or 4 depending on how much room you have around your mainboard and heatsinks, fans, etc.

 

Regarding those drivces on the top of the other 3.5", I am not sure how well they will be cooled as they are not exactly middle in the airflow.

 

Now the only thing missing is for Norco to replace the 80mm fans with 120mm fans and replace the front panel flat buttons with real buttons. I believe these are in the works for the Norco 4224 case, but I hope the 4220 case gets it too.

 

I think you have got the IPMI controller card :-)

 

[mifronte]

Buy.com has two item listed at two different prices:

 

• IPMI 2.0 SYSTEM MGMT CARD KIT SUPERMICRO - AOC-SIM1U for $64.24
  
• IPMI 2.0 SYSTEM MGMT CARD KIT SUPERMICRO - AOC-SIM1U+ for $82.74
  

 

Amazon has this item listed (fulfilled by Buy.com)

• Supermicro Add-on Card AOC-SIM1U+ - Remote management adapter low profile for $64.24
  

 

Since the SuperMicro web site says the AOC-SIM1U+ supports KVM-Over-LAN, I believe this is what I need instead of the AOC-SIM1U.

 

I am thinking of ordering from Amazon and hopefully get the correct one.  For owners of this card with the X7SBE, can you provide further clarification?

 

Urgency is requested because Amazon is showing only 1 left in inventory.

[starcat]

Yes, you definitely need the AOC-SIM1U+ and in case amazon sends you the old one, you can just return it. Have you checked prices on ebay?

[mifronte]

Yes, you definitely need the AOC-SIM1U+ and in case amazon sends you the old one, you can just return it. Have you checked prices on ebay?

 

I assume the AOC-SIM1U is the old one and that I will be able to tell the difference immediately?  It is not like the card looks identical, except one will have a different chip on the board that a lay person won't be able to distinguished?

 

I also checked eBay, and they do not have the lowest price.  I think I will order from Amazon.  Too bad my Prime trial ended yesterday

[starcat]

Not sure, but I think that only the + has the Mini USB with 8" Cable for Dedicated LAN othe than that the card itself might be identical but with the plus you get a cable that connects to a dedicated own RJ45 network port. This is the Supermicro page: http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/SIM.cfm

[starcat]

Page iii of the manual states that the RJ45 bracket SKT-0240L is included in the SIM1U+ shipping package only. So yes, the + and non + version of the SIM1U would be identical but the + has the extra bracket and cable to it.

 

[mifronte]

Page iii of the manual states that the RJ45 bracket SKT-0240L is included in the SIM1U+ shipping package only. So yes, the + and non + version of the SIM1U would be identical but the + has the extra bracket and cable to it.

 

Great!  That makes it easy to determine if I receive the correct item.  I suspected that is the difference between the two items, but the manual on page 2-1 has a note that indicates the SKT-0240L is included in the AOC-SIM1U/AOC-SIM1U+.  And then on page i, there is a note that says KVM-Over-LAN is only for the AOC-SIM1U+.  So I started to think that the KVM-Over-LAN feature might be an extra chip on the card or something.

 

Oh well, it is up to fate and Amazon via Buy.com now.  I placed the order with Amazon and just hope for the best

[starcat]

Good news, look here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5899

[starcat]

Have you posted your parity generate and check speeds anywhere?

I'm looking to get a benchmark to see if I'm in the ball park as I expand.

Right now with an Areca high end pcie x8 controller I started at 110,000kb/s and ended around 92,000 using a mixture of 7200 rpm drives.

 

Just as a quick update, I am running a parity check and speeds are between 55-85 MB/s.

4 drives are connected to the mainboard.

6 drives to the first Supermicro card and

4 drives to the 2nd Supermicro card. Both cards are on the *same* 133Mhz PCI-X bus.

 

 

 

[mifronte]

Just to confirm that the Kingston KVR800D2E5/2G works fine for the SuperMicro X7SBE.  The SuperMicro site does not list this particular module as being tested.  It only list the KVR800D2E5/1G and KVR800D2E5/512.

[starcat]

This is what I use, just read my sig.

[mifronte]

Since I do not have all the components to complete the build yet and some of the new drives will be arriving, I would like to fully test and clear the new drives to detect DOAs.  Normally I use the manufacturer's disk utility to fully SMART test and to zero out any new drives.

 

Is this equivalent to the preclear_disk.sh script? 

 

Will Unraid detect these drives as being pre-cleared?

 

If no, is there a way to mark these drives with the pre-clear signature without having to fully test and zero out the drives again using the preclear_disk.sh script in the future when the build is complete?

[starcat]

What I have done in the past is to put a demo version of unRAID on a stick, boot a PC from the stick and have the preclear script run over night (max about 20...24 hours depending on speed and drives) preclearing the drives completely. You can use those external SATA drive slide-in docks where you put in the bare drives. Those are available as two drive models so that you can do 2 drives per run.

 

I would in any case recommend preclearing your drives. Even two times if you've got the time.

 

Just run two SATA cables from inside the PC to the Quickport DUO and you've got a "preclearing station" if not in use otherwise:

http://www.hardwaregeeks.com/index.php/gadgetblog/comments/sharkoon_introduces_sata_quickport_duo/

[Joe L.]

Since I do not have all the components to complete the build yet and some of the new drives will be arriving, I would like to fully test and clear the new drives to detect DOAs.  Normally I use the manufacturer's disk utility to fully SMART test and to zero out any new drives.

 

Is this equivalent to the preclear_disk.sh script? 

No, it is not.  Writing zeros to the drive will not check to see if a sector is readable.  That will only occur when you subsequently attempt to read a sector preciously written.

Will Unraid detect these drives as being pre-cleared?

Most definitely not.

If no, is there a way to mark these drives with the pre-clear signature without having to fully test and zero out the drives again using the preclear_disk.sh script in the future when the build is complete?

It is "technically" possible to put a pre-clear signature on any disk, regardless of its contents, but it would then completely trash any parity calculation if it was not actually cleared and partitioned correctly.  For that reason, the pre-clear utility I wrote will not "just" write a signature.  It is basically protecting you from shooting yourself in your foot as best as it can.  It is not a trivial task to calculate the signature required since it depends on the specific geometry and size of the disk being cleared.

 

The preclear_disk.sh tool has an option to skip the pre and post read of the disk.  That leaves only the zeroing and writing of the pre-clear signature (it will only take about 1/3 of the time since the other two phases are skipped)  That option is the "-n" option.  I'd not do that actually, since again the pre-clear script will not be able to detect un-readable sectors.  (Your utility just writes to the disk, the -n option just writes to the disk, nothing read it)

 

About the only test you might run from the manufacturer that reads the entire disk is the SMART "long" test.  You need to disable any disk spin-down that wll cause it to abort.  On a large drive it typically takes 3 or 4 hours to run and is not going to save you that much time over the pre-clear script.

 

Joe L.

[Rob_Esc]

I have a question regarding the SIM1U+...

 

does the mini-USB cable block the on-board USB port?  I'd like to have the unRaid USB stick plugged directly into the MB for convenience, but it looks like the mini-USB cable on the SIM1U+ card would sit right over that port.

 

Can either starcat or mifronte confirm this?

[mifronte]

@Rob_Esc, I cannot confirm since I do not have a case yet and so have not even open the motherboard other to ensure it arrived in one piece.  The SuperMicro AOC-SIM1U+ I ordered at Amazon by Buy.com turned out to be the AOC-SIM1U and so it was missing the SKT-0240L kit.  Buy.com apologized for the listing mistake, but would not honor the mistake by sending me the more expensive AOC-SIM1U+.

[mifronte]

I think I will run the preclear_disk.sh by booting my Windows XP laptop from a distro like Knoppix or Ubuntu.  It's just that I want to quickly determine if the new drives are good and right now I am only familiar with using the respective manufacturer disk utilities.

 

Eventually I will have to familiarize myself with using preclear_disk.sh, I guess this would be good time with three 2TB drives.  Do I need to be running with root privileges?

 

This should be interesting...I will attempt to run 3 instances simultaneously.  Just hope I don't accidentally run it on my Windows XP system drive with all my critical data.

[WeeboTech]

@Rob_Esc, I cannot confirm since I do not have a case yet and so have not even open the motherboard other to ensure it arrived in one piece.  The SuperMicro AOC-SIM1U+ I ordered at Amazon by Buy.com turned out to be the AOC-SIM1U and so it was missing the SKT-0240L kit.  Buy.com apologized for the listing mistake, but would not honor the mistake by sending me the more expensive AOC-SIM1U+.

 

Ouch, does it work with the motherboard Ethernet ports?

[Joe L.]

I think I will run the preclear_disk.sh by booting my Windows XP laptop from a distro like Knoppix or Ubuntu.  It's just that I want to quickly determine if the new drives are good and right now I am only familiar with using the respective manufacturer disk utilities.

 

Eventually I will have to familiarize myself with using preclear_disk.sh, I guess this would be good time with three 2TB drives.  Do I need to be running with root privileges?

Yes

 

This should be interesting...I will attempt to run 3 instances simultaneously.  Just hope I don't accidentally run it on my Windows XP system drive with all my critical data.

It might work under Knoppix or Ubuntu, but it might not.  All depends on the utilities available on them.   One thing for sure, it will not be able to determine if the disk to be cleared is assigned to the un-raid array, since there is none.

 

Why not prepare a flash drive with unRAID (the free version) and use it to boot your XP laptop.  It will have the programs needed, and as long as you do not assign your XP disk to the unRAID array it will not touch it.  (Do not assign ANY drive to the unRAID array... none is needed to boot unRAID, none is needed for the pre-clear script to work, you will have the required permissions as root.  ) Just put a copy of preclear_disk.sh on the flash drive when you initially load it.  When you boot up it will be at /boot.  (The flash drive mounts at /boot)

 

When you start the preclear script it asks you verify that have the correct disk before continuing.  Just make sure the disk being cleared is not your laptop's disk.  (I would guess the laptop drive should be MUCH smaller than 2TB, unless you have an extraordinary laptop)

 

Joe L.

[starcat]

I have a question regarding the SIM1U+...

 

does the mini-USB cable block the on-board USB port?  I'd like to have the unRaid USB stick plugged directly into the MB for convenience, but it looks like the mini-USB cable on the SIM1U+ card would sit right over that port.

 

Can either starcat or mifronte confirm this?

 

Definitely not. It is used just for the connection between the dedicated SIM1U+ ethernet port on a bracket and the SIM1U+ card itself. It's just called mini-USB but doesn't have to do a thing with all onboard USB interfaces.

[starcat]

You Rock!!!

Have you posted your parity generate and check speeds anywhere?

I'm looking to get a benchmark to see if I'm in the ball park as I expand.

Right now with an Areca high end pcie x8 controller I started at 110,000kb/s and ended around 92,000 using a mixture of 7200 rpm drives.

 

Just did some tests using the "Disk Speed Test" button in unMenu 1.3 (running hdparm -tT). Will post more info next time when I pdte parity.

 

/dev/sda:

Timing cached reads:  8284 MB in  2.00 seconds = 4149.34 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  362 MB in  3.00 seconds = 120.66 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdb:

Timing cached reads:  8226 MB in  2.00 seconds = 4119.93 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  362 MB in  3.00 seconds = 120.60 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdc:

Timing cached reads:  7914 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3963.88 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  352 MB in  3.01 seconds = 116.99 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdd:

Timing cached reads:  7968 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3990.62 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  364 MB in  3.01 seconds = 121.09 MB/sec

 

/dev/sde:

Timing cached reads:  8036 MB in  2.00 seconds = 4024.72 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  378 MB in  3.00 seconds = 125.84 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdf:

Timing cached reads:  7936 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3974.79 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  374 MB in  3.00 seconds = 124.56 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdh:

Timing cached reads:  7554 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3783.18 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  354 MB in  3.01 seconds = 117.56 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdj:

Timing cached reads:  7612 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3812.30 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  372 MB in  3.02 seconds = 123.35 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdk:

Timing cached reads:  8072 MB in  2.00 seconds = 4042.64 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  346 MB in  3.01 seconds = 115.07 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdl:

Timing cached reads:  7602 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3807.52 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  368 MB in  3.00 seconds = 122.59 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdm:

Timing cached reads:  7940 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3976.68 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  358 MB in  3.02 seconds = 118.66 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdn:

Timing cached reads:  7808 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3910.80 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  352 MB in  3.01 seconds = 116.94 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdo:

Timing cached reads:  8024 MB in  2.00 seconds = 4018.95 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  370 MB in  3.01 seconds = 123.06 MB/sec

 

/dev/sdp:

Timing cached reads:  7176 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3592.99 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads:  366 MB in  3.01 seconds = 121.56 MB/sec

 

 

[mifronte]

I apologize if this has alreay been covered in another thread (I have not been able to find a way to search within a thread only like on AVS forum.), but for the EAR drives, do you need to install the jumper prior to running the preclear script?

 

[purko]

...but for the EAR drives, do you need to install the jumper prior to running the preclear script?

Yes. You need to install the jumper on pins 7-8 before putting the disk in the server.

If you don't do it, it will still work, but the read/write speeds will be considerably slower.

If you haven't done it, and decide to do it later, you will imediately lose all the stuff that you've written to that disk, so back it up first.

 

[Joe L.]

but for the EAR drives, do you need to install the jumper prior to running the preclear script?

 

if you pre-clear, and then add the jumper it will no longer be recognized as pre-cleared, as the old sector 0 (that contains the pre-clear signature and partition table) will no longer be visible.

 

You will still have exercised the disk.  It just will not be recognized as pre-cleared by unRAID since now what is returned when you read sector 0 will be sector 1, and sector 1 is all zeros.

 

Joe L.