Hi everyone around.

 

I've tried to explain it a bit on my introduction, but i wanted to be more specific on the "needs" and what i want to "archieve" with it.

 

I bought a Foxconn 1U Cloud Server 4x LFF (3.5") with 2x 8 Cores Xeons (16 cores 32 Threads in total), 64Gb of RAM 1333mhz ECC, a 300Gb 10.000 rpm SAS disk just for test purposes, and with the SFP+ 10G included, time ago and used it to test for VMs with SPhere and so... This went fairly well and the server kep unused for some time.

 

With Unraid I dowloaded the trial and i wanted to do some tests before dropping inside some 8 or 10 TB drives. All of the small needs i tried (Shares, maybe a linux VM, 10G connecticity, etc) went so fine with all my tests with 1 disc, my plan "was" to make a plain file server/nas.

 

My "intentions":

- have a 20+ TB NAS/file server for home

- 10Gb lan speed

- maybe some VMs but not for any special reason

- Possibility of accessing the files from "outside" LAN aka Internet www

- Option to expand... Now i can fit 4x XX TB drives and later on +2 more

 

I come from a 8Tb Synology 412+ (two bays, 1Gb Lan) and it's getting tight... What i like most of the Synology is the OS and the easy to access it from "outside": theyr quickconnect.to/what-ever is magic and saved me a tons of times being out home and needing some file i had there. I hope unRaid have some sort of pliguin or easy app to configure this, but this is secondary.

 

My surprise came when i threw a 8TB disc to test it, my plan was to put in there 4 or 6 like those, and its NOT even booting.

Gets stuck at "Press DEL F2 for setup. Press F8 for Bootloader..." but don't gets any further past there (gets freezed as if i click either F2, DEL or F8 Caps/lock don't change any more...).

 

Actually the motherboard has 6x SATA connector but they only populate 4 of them because there are only 4 HDD shelves to put in there (i'd have to invent some way to put the other 2, but that is also scondary, 4 HDD drives would be nice.

 

The info on Bios update for that MB is so vague. The server came from bargain hardware uk in a quite good condition and with 1 year warranty.

 

I'm a bit confused on how to get on:

 

- Should I random "try" 7, 6, 5, 4, 3... TB HDDs to see with ones does boot? (actually don't have that sizes available...)

- Should i forget the idea to make any NAS there and get a new mobo, etc, sata cards and do a thing with expansion in mind with a shelf of 24x Netapp for example?

- Should I keep on tryiying hard because that is the way we learn?

 

Any suggestion or/desist idea is very welcome since i cannot find any useful info around.

Also, if some one finds help in this or other forums is greatly appreciated, but i've been necroind post everywhere or they are so away from my intentions or they are so lost as i am.

 

Thanks in advance again.

 

 

Carles

 

Edited August 28, 20196 yr by crv74

Unraid only boots from a USB drive.  Here are directions to the manual section for installing the the OS on its bootable USB flash drive:

 

     https://wiki.unraid.net/UnRAID_6/Getting_Started

 

By the way, Unraid should not be interfaced directly to the Internet.  It is not harden for that type of exposure and will be 'owned' by somebody in a few hours after doing do.  If you want to get access to it from the Internet, you had best be using a secure VPN connection.  I do believe that are some Dockers which will also help out in this regard. But your first issue will be to figure out how to get it to boot from a USB drive. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

Unraid only boots from a USB drive.  Here are directions to the manual section for installing the the OS on its bootable USB flash drive:

 

     https://wiki.unraid.net/UnRAID_6/Getting_Started

 

By the way, Unraid should not be interfaced directly to the Internet.  It is not harden for that type of exposure and will be 'owned' by somebody in a few hours after doing do.  If you want to get access to it from the Internet, you had best be using a secure VPN connection.  I do believe that are some Dockers which will also help out in this regard. But your first issue will be to figure out how to get it to boot from a USB drive. 

 

 

I must be explaining me too long and very badly: I ALREADY booted (from USB, tested and liked a lot unRaid in this server. (with the 300GB HDD that i have whne i got it)

 

What i cannot archieve is to get a 8TB HDD recognised and pass from the first boot screen if i plug it in.

 

For the internet access and those Dockers (i don't know anything from them) i'll get it a look.

 

Thanks a lot!

This sounds like a problem that is nothing to do with Unraid but is intrinsic to the hardware you are trying to use!  I think you are going to need more information on the disk controller.    If it is an old one it might be limited to a maximum disk size of 2TB.

This is what i'm trying to figure out

 

Im looking for some 2, 3 and 4 TB "spare" drives just to test if they boot with this machine.

 

Thanks!

1 hour ago, crv74 said:

 

Im looking for some 2, 3 and 4 TB "spare" drives just to test if they boot with this machine.

You can also use an SSD to test to see if it will recognize drives smaller than 2.2GB 2.2TB(which what I remember as being the magic number).   You only need one drive larger than that for the final determination.  I can't remember where the next break point is.   I don't think we will ever see a HD that large  in the next ten years or more.  

 

By the way, a better term for you to use is 'recognize' rather than 'boot'. 

 

One thing to be aware of is that there are SATA drives and SAS drives.  As I recall, the two differ by how they handle the arrangement of the 'send' and 'receive' ports on the drive.  SAS drives are usually used in servers while the SATA drives are generally in other applications.  (This was probably more true back in the days when SATA-I was the norm.)  The whole issue is rather confusing and the server manuals (hopefully) will discuss which type(s) can be supported by your server. 

 

By sure to try it without using the backplane by laying a drive on a piece of cardboard and attaching a power connector and a SATA data between the MB and the drive. 

Edited August 24, 20196 yr by Frank1940

Sorry, I missed that you have already found out that it apparently does not support HD larger than 2.2TB.   Assuming that drive (the one larger than 2GB) was good, that is all the testing that you need do.  This issue was addressed back about 2010 and I can't quite remember exactly what was required.  It could be that using a LSI controller card (flashed to the IT Mode) might do the trick.  

If the picture I found is accurate, I think you are out of luck. I didn't see a provision for a PCIe slot, so no possibility of adding a controller.

Hey there, thanks for the responses.

 

Yes there are NO possibility of PCI slot... (they are not onboard)

 

Yes it "seems", as far as i can remember because i read a lot of things, that there is a 2 TB, or near there, limitation for HDDs... (i have to test that, i don't have any 2 TB disk, can you imagine this?? only smaller or the 8 TB one that i bought to test it)...

 

So i'm in a dead end, seems.

 

Because i want to upgrade to more that 8 TB that i already have in the Synology, but 4 or 6 x2TB would be a so low improvement...

 

I'll continue searching anyway, but i think i'm fowarded to build a PC to accomodate the HDDs and so...

 

Quote

By the way, a better term for you to use is 'recognize' rather than 'boot'.

That is true, end excuse my english, but the thing is that it cannot recognize it because it doesn't boot at all. I don't know if it makes sense what i mean.

 

Thanks everyone for dropping ideas!

 

 

Edited August 24, 20196 yr by crv74

This is what is meant to computer illiterate folks whose native language is English:  "The term boot is used to describe the process taken by the computer when turned on that loads the operating system and prepares the system for use."   'Recognize' is the process where (in this case) the computer's BIOS detects or finds or locates a device and realizes that it is a hard drive and adds it to its inventory of hard drive devices.  After the BIOS has completed going through this process of cataloging all devices (These could be USB drives, mouse, keyboard, CD/DVD drives, display, etc.), it determines which one of these it should use to actually boot the operating system.

 

With that out of the way, you should check and see if you have the latest BIOS for this MB.  Check both with Foxconn and the MB manufacturer.  You might want to use a flashlight to see if you can find any more detailed information on the MB itself as to its identity.  Unfortunately, Foxconn is one of the world's largest corporations and they might have made the MB as well as the server. 

Thanks for the great explanation.

 

So now, i am in the middle of not booting and not recognzing since it boots a "bit" until i see a dialog where it tells me to press DEL or F2 to bios menu, or F7 to boot options, but it gets  frozen/stuck after pressing a key, as i explained before.

 

The issue with no HDDs "bigger than" 2,something TBs seems the most plausible.

 

The BIOS update seems an issue since the servers are already second hand and from "long" time ago, i can't find any useful info on that.

I'm searching an alternative just to keep with the CPUs and RAMs and so.

 

Again thanks for taking time to look on it.

 

Carles