Home Server/NAS build

ED E · 22-09-2014 7:53pm

Funny you should post today, this arrived this morning

Serephucus · 22-09-2014 7:55pm

Nice!!

Actually, could you do me a favour at some point throughout the build? Have a look and see if the rear bays in the DS380 can take 15mm drives. Something I'm curious about.

ED E · 22-09-2014 10:00pm

Top slot has about 10mm, rest are probably about 13-14mm, 15 might work but I suspect itd be very tight.

She wasnt POSTing (but did have IPMI), turns out Id populated the wrong DIMM as the markings are quite misleading. Up and running now, but I made another moronic mistake and used the wrong disk image, 08 not 08R2 *DOH*. Fans seem nice and quiet, hopefully I can dial em back all the way to 700/800rpm.

My god IPMI is sexy though.

VenomIreland · 22-09-2014 10:08pm

ED E wrote: »

My god IPMI is sexy though.

What can it be used for?

Also, NZBDrone > Sickbeard :cool:

Serephucus · 22-09-2014 10:12pm

IPMI is used to access the machine remotely, through an ethernet port, but you can use it even when the machine is off.

Very jelly.

VenomIreland · 22-09-2014 10:13pm

Serephucus wrote: »

IPMI is used to access the machine remotely, through an ethernet port, but you can use it even when the machine is off.

Very jelly.

That sounds damn nice, kinda makes me want to rebuild my budget media server, but my wallet says no.

ED E · 22-09-2014 10:22pm

Thats me installing the OS from another room, with only two cables connected to the actual machine itself. Rather convenient. My other server that I have for educational purposes requires me to grab a 19" monitor, power for said monitor, kb and mouse and fiddle at the back of it to get them all connected just to change a bios setting. IPMI allows me to sit back and sip coffee and perform any action I could need

Serephucus · 22-09-2014 10:25pm

*ahem*

You bastard.

How is it to log in to the machine in the first place? Can you have a single-click type thing, or do you have to junk about with passwords or anything like that?

ED E · 22-09-2014 10:34pm

Probably 5 seconds to open a tab, open the login page and login. Then you wait 3 seconds, hit on launch, it prompts a session file download, chrome blocks it, you go to all downloads, confirm you want the harmful file twice, open it and then wait about another 4 seconds to connect. All in about 30 seconds Id say. Probably less.

Wossack · 22-09-2014 11:21pm

yea, once you go IPMI, you never go back

it has a separate ethernet port and IP address, which you just pop in a browser, and the IPMI board serves up the required plugin etc. Means it can be 100% headless, no need to worry about hooking a monitor up to it, if it drops off the network etc

Serephucus · 22-09-2014 11:24pm

Can't wait to get me one of those.

ED E · 23-09-2014 2:11pm

Testing out the flexraid setup and becoming familiar. Pretty happy with that IO.

Serephucus · 23-09-2014 2:29pm

That must be writing to all disks in the pool, which isn't going to be happening under ordinary circumstances, but it's nice to know the theoretical maximum at least.

Edit: ****, apparently this is what mine gets. 4x4TB drives at the moment. Frankly I haven't a clue what this is measuring. My drives are only rated for around 140MB/s as far as I remember.

ED E · 24-09-2014 12:23am

First off, if anyone spots a 24port desktop GigE switch going cheap please let me know. Current cabling is turning into a kip.

Issues I've had:

Fan control: There is none. Stock fans are DC and the headers are PWM. 1100-1200rpm. Might try slow them to 800 with resistors.
Building: She's very tight, managing the cables in front of the fan is tricky
IPMI: Can be slightly finicky the odd time. #Java

Box is up and running for now, its a little louder than it needs to be but I dont anticipate us using that room for a month or two at least. Even running Prime95 it only hits 39*C!! Could probably disconnect the fans and it'd be fine.

The mobo came with 6x Black sata cables, some L end some straight. I'd ordered 8x 30cm ones with the SSD and opted to use them as they left less spare cable getting in the way(enough of that from the PSU, USB3 and front audio).

Their labels look like the front of a school copy book, so I just printed some rough labels. Software will manage what drive is what and I can just pull them to check my own indexes on the drives themselves.

Flexraid is pretty cool. Got my email notifs set up and I played with pulling a drive. Didnt rebuild as I didnt have a spare 3TB to use but I know where to look now, may do it with an extra 1TB drive to test it but it seems pretty robust. I'm gonna script bootup so that flex is given a chance to get going before all the other services boot and try and hammer the storage pool.

Pretty happy overall. Now to resist the urge to by more disk and another 3x8GB DIMMs :P

EDIT: Forgot. PSU fan doesnt spin up. Ever. Not even boot. Theres low draw and then theres Avoton.

vibe666 · 24-09-2014 12:32am

ED E wrote: »

First off, if anyone spots a 24port desktop GigE switch going cheap please let me know. Current cabling is turning into a kip.

I got the 18 port version of the TP-Link gigabit switch recently, doing very well so far and pretty cheap compared to the competition.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003UWRYBI/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TheDoc · 24-09-2014 7:12pm

Keeping a close eye here, pulled the trigger on my HTPC today :O

ED E · 25-09-2014 10:18am

ED E · 26-09-2014 3:40pm

Got ghost free with my last SSD and the crucial this time came with True Image. Great, can use that for imaging off drives with the hot swap bays, really handy. Nope. Cant install it on Server08.

@Serephucus have you seen an update fail before? I want to know the formatting the email gets if theres a problem so I can filter it that I dont miss it.

Serephucus · 26-09-2014 3:45pm

It says something along the lines of [UPDATE] FAILURE, as far as I remember.

ED E · 29-09-2014 6:54pm

I formatted a drive and then got it to verify, then restored it successfully in a few mins (for 54GB used). Flexraid, does exactly what it says on the tin, and now Ill update my filters to make sure I see any failures. Gonna buy it now, well worth it.

PS: You did see the pics btw? Not "like whoring" but the fact that only vibe thanked it an nobody commented(probably as it was just before a new page) caught my eye.

Serephucus · 30-09-2014 11:15am

Nicely done.

I did yes, just didn't really have anything to add. How were all the SATA cables to route? I've been debating getting a batch of Silverstone's slim SATA cables, but bloody hell they're expensive.

Serephucus · 07-10-2014 9:18pm

Finally got my server to the point where most things are up and running satisfactorily. Only things I have left are BitTorrent Sync, and a Space Engineers server or two via Windows VM (here's hoping a Linux version of that damn game shows up soon.)

Anyway, pics! (Figured I'd post in here rather than OT as it's basically the same build as ED)

ASRock C2750D4I in all its glory:

Silverstone's DS380 next:

The server it has replaced (i3 3220, ASRock H61, Fractal Arc Mini, and a few bits. For sale now too.

)

Cable management with motherboard in. Actually quite happy with this:

With drives... Not so much.

In its final resting place:

Only thing I really have to do is at some point pull the drive cage back out so I can stick 7V resistors on the fans, as the motherboard's fan settings seem to do nothing.

ED E · 08-10-2014 10:22am

Short SATA cables ftw

The headers can only do PWM but the case comes with voltage only fans so theres no control. I'm gonna order some fan speed reducers too to bring mine down to 600-700rpm or so, 1100-1200 is excessive for the TDP.

I havent fully migrated yet, I've been resorting my data and clearing out old stuff I dont need anymore before I start the big move. Also running a couple testing VMs on it, think I'll be getting more ram soon :rolleyes:

Serephucus · 08-10-2014 10:44am

Are you having any network problems? 'Cause my connection keep dropping out every now and then, can't figure out why. Usually only for a few minutes, about twice an hour, but it's pretty annoying. I have both NICs in use, one bridged to a vNIC for the VMs.

Also, something that makes life easier if you ever have to migrate you array: Name your drives (in Windows) according to FlexRAID. DRU1, PPU1, etc. Makes things much easier, rather than having a bunch of New Volumes everywhere. :P

ED E · 08-10-2014 10:48am

Im using both NICS unteamed and the BMC port too. All seem to stay up. Having issues with the box its replacing not being able to connect to it(windowze being dumb I suspect) but other than that it stays up fine.

When I move the VPN over I'll know pretty quickly as any drops will kill my connectivity.

will56 · 09-10-2014 9:01am

Would a Rasberry Pi B+ be sufficient for someone looking to set up their first NAS ?
NAS is going to be for Photo's, Docs and movies. I have a .5tb drive at the moment and I'm picking up a 1tb shortly.

Not looking to spend a load on this as its my first NAS and I want to see how much I use it and play around before investing heavily

Johnboy1951 · 09-10-2014 9:39am

will56 wrote: »

Would a Rasberry Pi B+ be sufficient for someone looking to set up their first NAS ?
NAS is going to be for Photo's, Docs and movies. I have a .5tb drive at the moment and I'm picking up a 1tb shortly.

Not looking to spend a load on this as its my first NAS and I want to see how much I use it and play around before investing heavily

I would be more inclined to use something like this
http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-brix-gb-bxbt-2807-ultra-compact-mini-pc-celeron-n2807-9MH0.html?q=barebones&src=16

Yes it works out about twice the price of a Pi ..... but you have many more options with OS and use as well as being more powerful.

But in answer to your question ..... yes the Pi should be well capable of doing what you describe, but you might find it limiting in the long run.

will56 · 09-10-2014 9:44am

Thanks for the reply.
I already have an Android Mini PC set up for playback and viewing photos etc. Would a mini PC be a bit overkill then ? Or would it be better for consolidating it all into one unit ?

ED E · 09-10-2014 11:29am

My router currently hosts a network share if thats all you need. Its very low intensity but IO can be a little low. A dedicated Pi should get decent throughput and be very eco friendly.

will56 · 09-10-2014 11:32am

NEtwork shae will be the primary use, but considering Couchpotato etc for torrent

Home Server/NAS build

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