Raid Controllers

[sigmanp226]

Hi, I'm new to unraid and never heard of it until today while shopping for a server. Reading through the documents I have yet to find an answer. Since the server I am looking at purchasing has 32 drive capacity:

 

1) will I need to buy a set of matching raid controllers

2) will I need to JBOD my array on these cards

3) suggestions for cards I should use

 

Thank you all your help is greatly appreciated

[prostuff1]

Hi, I'm new to unraid and never heard of it until today while shopping for a server. Reading through the documents I have yet to find an answer. Since the server I am looking at purchasing has 32 drive capacity:

unRAID does no, as of yet, support 32 drives in one machine.  That number will probably not be supported for some time either.

 

1) will I need to buy a set of matching raid controllers

RAID controllers are mostly useless in unRAID.  The best card for the money right now is the Supermicro SASLP SATA card

 

2) will I need to JBOD my array on these cards

unRAID creates a file system on each disk and then uses the parity disk to protect all of them.  It is essentially a JBOD with parity.

 

3) suggestions for cards I should use

The Supermicro SASLP SATA card is the best for the money right now.  It allows 8 SATA drives in an x4 PCIe slot.

[Rajahal]

unRAID does not use Hardware RAID controllers at all.  In fact, it is recommended that you avoid them not only to save money but to ensure compatibility.  The most commonly used SATA expansion card at the moment is the 8 port Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8.  This card also requires appropriate SAS-SATA breakout cables (the cables you choose will vary depending on what type of server you want to build).  Note that this card has no Hardware RAID capabilities, it simply offers more SATA ports.

 

The current max on an unRAID server is 22 drives (1 parity, 20 data, 1 cache).  If all 2 TB drives are used, this will net you 40 TBs of usable space.

[Chuck]

For smaller setups than require the SuperMicro card, would this work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115050

[Kaygee]

Uses MVSAS driver - 2.6.25/2.6.31 so it should be OK providing Highpoint didnt deviate too far from reference build. Chipset is Marvell 88SE6445.

[sigmanp226]

Sorry all this is over my head  Are you saying sas will allow more than 20 drives? Is this a hardware or software restriction? I would like to use a server I found on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/CHENBRO-32-SATA-BAY-RACK-MOUNT-NAS-FILE-SERVER-CASE-/270683318666?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f05fba98a Will this work or not?

[prostuff1]

Sorry all this is over my head  Are you saying sas will allow more than 20 drives? Is this a hardware or software restriction? I would like to use a server I found on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/CHENBRO-32-SATA-BAY-RACK-MOUNT-NAS-FILE-SERVER-CASE-/270683318666?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f05fba98a Will this work or not?

 

That is ONLY a case.  unRAID the software has a limitation of 20 DATA drives right now.

 

If you would like a server built for you (and are in the US), Rajahal or myself can do as such.  Contact us both via private message for any extra information.

 

A couple of the Supermicro SASLP card will allow you to "max out" an unRAID server, though with that case you will not be able to fill it; at least not with the current version of unRAID.

[sigmanp226]

I was looking forward to a 50TB or higher box for our company. We are all on macs so the time machine feature was attractive from what I have read.

[sigmanp226]

What if in the meantime max out what I can on the same box. Is there a future implementation of expansion greater than 20 drives?

[prostuff1]

I was looking forward to a 50TB or higher box for our company. We are all on macs so the time machine feature was attractive from what I have read.

 

Native Time machine does not work with unRAID.  There are threads that talk about how to get it working, but there is no native support for it.

[prostuff1]

What if in the meantime max out what I can on the same box. Is there a future implementation of expansion greater than 20 drives?

 

There may be, only Lime-Tech knows the answer to that question.  There was some talk a while back to upping it to 24 drives.

[BRiT]

What if in the meantime max out what I can on the same box. Is there a future implementation of expansion greater than 20 drives?

 

I would not want to run more than 24 drives on a single parity disk. Way too much data with way too little protection. Before unRAID moves beyond the 20-ish drive limitation I'd want it to feature dual-parity (1 XOR and 1 diagnol parity or the like) and feature multiple array pools. Only then would I run unRAID with a setup of 2 array pools in groups of 23 drives with 2 of them being for parity.

[jamerson9]

I was looking forward to a 50TB or higher box for our company. We are all on macs so the time machine feature was attractive from what I have read.

I would strongly suggest outlining exactly what you are looking for, as with all systems UnRaid has its pros and cons. Knowing more about what your storage requirements are would help in giving you better advice.