Now that you have built an Unraid Server What would you do different?

[Tekviper]

Calling all veterans and seasoned users of unRaid :

 

As a new person to unraid I would like to hear from you and would like to hear "I wish I would of done .... after completing my Unraid Server"

 

I plan to build a nice brand new Unraid Server in my old Modded WoW Server it has 15 bays.

Here’s a photo link to the picture you can’t tell how big it is but I like to mod cases.

http://mpcon.org/gallery/mpcon_14/2004_03_05_mpcon_xiv_001

 

Here is the case unmodded but get to see the size of it.

 

I would like to avoid the pitfalls of building my first server so I am asking you experts for advice I plan to buy the right components to fit 20 drives in this case.

 

 

Thanks in advance guys  

 

 

-Tekviper

 

[WeeboTech]

I would have planned for 20 drives and purchased the Supermicro 5in3's earlier.

I would have planned for IPMI remote KVM from the get go.

I might have gone with the Antec 1200 before the Supermicro Stacker if it were available.

Although my 9 drive CM590 is pretty sweet.

 

If choosing a tower, Consider one with castors if adding allot of drives.

The machine gets quite heavy after you start adding drives.

[bubbaQ]

If choosing a tower, Consider one with casters if adding allot of drives.

The machine gets quite heavy after you start adding drives.

 

Ditto.

 

IPMI is nice, but it severely limits mobo choices.  I went with a $50 IP-based KVM off eBay instead.

 

At the time of my first build, every case with backplanes had vertical backplane pcboards, which I hated from an airflow perspective, so I went with 5in3 cages in a generic case.  I also had a number of IDE drives that I could not replace yet.

 

Now that the Norco has horozontal backplane pcboards, and I am all SATA, I would go with the Norco.

 

I am still happy with mobo, drives, and PSU choices.

[ilovejedd]

I would've gone all hotswap. It makes hard drive addition and replacement so much easier. In fact, that's what I'll be doing on my unRAID server refresh.

[neilt0]

Part of it comes down to what was available at the time.

 

I may have gone with (the UK equivalent of) the Norco 4220 if I could have actually bought one in the UK. They are available here now.

 

If unRAID had supported the AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-E cards, I would have used them instead of the Adaptec 1430SA.

[jimwhite]

I would have bought GOOD sata cables instead of scrimping on all those left over red cables from various sources.  BTW, does anyone HAVE a source for GOOD sata cables????

 

[Tekviper]

If choosing a tower, Consider one with castors if adding allot of drives.

The machine gets quite heavy after you start adding drives.

 

My modded Server Cage shown has rolling casters on the bottom one the reasons I wanted to ressurect the it. ( see below)

 

[Grizz1968]

I would have planned for 20 drivess now that I am a bigger digital horder than ever before.

 

I would have went with the Norco case 4220 as the cost of 5 in 3's cost the same as this whole case. Oh well live and learn.

 

Should have done a little more reading on pros and cons of parts that I was thinking of using.

[WeeboTech]

I went with a $50 IP-based KVM off eBay instead.

 

What brand/model?

[Rajahal]

I would've gone all hotswap. It makes hard drive addition and replacement so much easier. In fact, that's what I'll be doing on my unRAID server refresh.

 

Ditto.  If planning for 20 drives, the Norco 4220 is the best option.  If planning for 15 or fewer drives, I would have gone with the Cooler Master CM-590.

[ReneV]

I would have opted for more than one server earlier than I did.

 

* I'm seriously uncomfortable about the failure odds for high numbers of data disks against just one parity disk.

* I would have saved money on backplanes, money which is at least comparable to the HW price of an el-cheapo server.

* More than one server means that there are alternatives in case one of them needs attention, which lowers stress-levels.

* I would have felt less pressure to expand with newly-bought and large-capacity HDDs.

* Multiple servers can use identical configurations, add-ons, etc.

 

What I did right was to get an Antec 900 because the huge top-fan is enough to cool that particular system.

[boof]

I would've gone all hotswap. It makes hard drive addition and replacement so much easier. In fact, that's what I'll be doing on my unRAID server refresh.

 

Ditto.  If planning for 20 drives, the Norco 4220 is the best option.  If planning for 15 or fewer drives, I would have gone with the Cooler Master CM-590.

 

The big drawback to the 4220 is the noise and of course the size which for those of us wanting to put the server in their office is a problem.

 

It's the reason I've gone 5-in3's and a 'normal' case instead. The norco is better value for money but by the time I spend the time and money on fiddling it and trying to make it quiet, whilst retaining the cooling it becomes a false economy.

 

This is in the UK though, I think you chaps in the US get it for much much cheaper

[WeeboTech]

It's the reason I've gone 5-in3's and a 'normal' case instead. The norco is better value for money but by the time I spend the time and money on fiddling it and trying to make it quiet, whilst retaining the cooling it becomes a false economy.

 

This is one of the reasons I did not go with the Norco models. After all the work and fiddling what you save in money, you spend in time, effort and then concern about heat & noise.

[boof]

I'm about to splurge some £ on expanding my current case (locking SATA cables, some more 5-in-3s and a supermicro controller) but if anyone can fill me in on a way to make the norco quiet easily without having to custom fab your own fan backplane, buy a pre-fabbed one from someone on a forum in the states, or otherwise do jiggery pokery then I'd be *very* interested. As if it would be a trivial thing to do...

 

Very OT to this thread though, apologies to OP.

 

Although I guess to tie it up somehow my answer to your questions would be :

 

- Build for 15-20 bays off the bat. Looking to buy (infrastructure) piece by piece seemed like a good idea at the time, but circumstances change and what I'm planning now might not be the same 6 months down the line either in terms of methodology or in parts and pricing available on the market. I wish I'd spent the money upfront and sorted it all out. (drives not included!)

 

- as above sata cables, sata cables, sata cables. Ties in with doing the infrastructure in a oner. You can then figure out the exact number and lengths of cables required. Buy good locking ones. Otherwise you end up with a rats nest of loose fitting cables of different lengths that fall off whenever you open the case and prod about. *cough*

 

- Use a cache drive. If for no other reason than, if sensibly done, you can keep the rest of your disks spun down for 90% of the time (pending your usage patterns of course..)

 

- buy a fast USB stick. I thought mine was when I bought it, but it takes me about 5 minutes to boot up.

 

- Don't scrimp on the PSU. Enough power to power all your planned drive slots, efficient, quiet with one 12V rail. Quite easily done and most people (me included) do this by default. But it's important.

 

- Look at a UPS. Depending on what your powers like this will be more or less important, but even the best power feed goes down sometimes. And it's a pain when it happens.

 

- Fundamentally, make sure unraid is definately for you. There are lots of other options in this arena though none with quite the twist unraid has. But it's not perfect so be sure before you spend big $. Use the trial version as a test and see how you live with it.

 

- Buy the biggest drives you can afford. There is a large amount to say for buying at the gigs per $/£ sweet spot. But for me the premium on a bigger drive is worth the long term saving in terms of the cost of the infrastructure behind it for the storage (i.e power connector, sata port, physical drive bay). Your overall capacity is the one thing that's hardest to expand. So make the most of what you have.

 

- find a supported motherboard with the most SATA ports you can. No point hamstringing yourself in upgrade potential from the outset.

 

I didn't fall into most of these traps, but they were all things I was mindful of when sorting things out. The biggest choices you face, in my opinion, are :

 

- unraid or something else fundamentally.

 

- go large right from the off, or built incrementally.

 

Make sure you get your choices for those right!

 

Hope this helps and makes my initial witterings slightly less off topic

[bubbaQ]

- buy a fast USB stick. I thought mine was when I bought it, but it takes me about 5 minutes to boot up.

 

Speed of the USB stick is not really that much of an impact....mobo is though -- I took a stick that boots in 10 seconds and put it on another mobo and it took 2 minutes, as the other mobo was set to use USB1.

 

Sound's like yours is running USB1 and not USB2, or you formatted it with syslinux, using the compatible flag.

[bubbaQ]

I went with a $50 IP-based KVM off eBay instead.

 

What brand/model?

 

D-Link KVM-410.  Can't beat the price, even though it is a little kludgy to use ... I use it infrequently so it isn't a big deal.

[boof]

- buy a fast USB stick. I thought mine was when I bought it, but it takes me about 5 minutes to boot up.

 

Speed of the USB stick is not really that much of an impact....mobo is though -- I took a stick that boots in 10 seconds and put it on another mobo and it took 2 minutes, as the other mobo was set to use USB1.

 

Sound's like yours is running USB1 and not USB2, or you formatted it with syslinux, using the compatible flag.

 

Definitely not the former - but quite possibly the latter. I'll have a look, thanks!

[JustinAiken]

Things I'dve done different:

 

- Get a modular PSU... who needs 20 video card cables cluttering up airflow?

- Gone with a 15 drive desktop instead of the 20 drive rackmount Norco... By the time I actually make it past 15 drives, I'm sure 6TB drives will be out anyways, and I could go back and replace

 

[klipsch]

If you plan on using the unRAID box as a multi-tasker, brush up on your slackware knowledge and the various utility apps / packages that are readily available ... not just the unRAID ones ... it may change your mind on what CPU and how much memmory

 

other than that, just know that whatever you get and do will never be enough ... you probably alread know this since you are repurposing a server

[Chris Pollard]

Think I would have bought a Norco in retrospect,  cheaper than my case,  maybe wouldn't look as neat  without a rack however.