server hard drives

ScumLord

I have my eye on an out of use server at work, it's a dell poweredge 1600sc.

It's got one 32gb scsi drive in it which is no good for storage and I see scsi are in the same price range as SSDs so I'm wondering if I can just buy some sort of adapter to get my current sata drives working in the server, there are no sata ports. I'm not sure what I should be looking for though.

Would this machine make a good home server? I'm planning on putting some form of Linux on it, I've downloaded the MCE version but haven't tried it yet. I'm only going to go ahead if it can be done super cheaply.

BigEejit

Purpose built servers (dell poweredge etc) are primarily designed for processing power and so have OTT cooling that makes them far too noisy to use at home.

If it only had a 36GB scsi disk it probably had a hba or two in it and processed data on a NAS or SAN.

SCA to sata converters are usually for connecting cables etc and look like http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SATA-Drive-SCSI-SCA-80-Server-Bridge-Adapter-LowCost-/180501639406?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item2a06bc70ee

BigEejit

Oh, just thought .... the server will likely have a IDE header or two (for DVD-rom etc) so that could possibly be a better route to go down if you dont want to pay for SCSI disks plus the carriers needed to slot them in....

ScumLord

It does have an IDE header, I turned it on and it is incredibly loud too. Even having it in a separate room I'd say I'd hear it at night.

Something like this looks like what I need but will the raid controller on the card interfere with the servers raid controller which it undoubtedly has.

TheDoc

I just set mine up yesterday.

Its a HP proliant ml330. Its loud starting off but runs dead silent after initial boot.

Most all servers come with a 32-36GB scsi drive.

What your server should have is a raid controller. This pci card, allows you to connect up to 4 Sata hard drives to the card. The raid then sets an array and controls your server.

Mine for example has a 32gb scsi. But I am getting 4 x1TB HD's sata. I'm removing the disc drives and floppy drive and putting the HD's in this space. The server can take up to 8 HD's, but its just about finding space.

I'll then pout the drives into the raid controller. However you wont get 4TB, you get about maybe 3TB or a little more.

The raid operates data transfer alot faster. Instead of a file being stored on one HD, written, edited and retrieved, it splits it across all HD's making it faster.

Should you get a HD fail, you can simply pull the **** HD, pop in a new one and it reprints the new HD with the data lost from the other, so saving data is easy.

This is probably your best option. Or you can lump a secondary 1TB drive along with your operating system one and work like that.

But I'd imagine it comes with a raid controller, if not, you can buy them for 10 bucks of ebay.

Does yours have a lilo card ( think thats the name keep forgetting).

Basically it allows you to access the machine when its not turned on by assigning it an ip address and having its own unique connection, controlling the pc hardware.

So from remote location, you can boot up your pc and perform functionality.


Teamviewer is an essential programme to get btw. This lets you remote desktop from a phone, ipod, laptop or pc. You can put it onto a usb stick and run it from there.

Tested it in work today and was an absolute treat.

Windows 7 and some other distros come with remote desktop logins, as does linux, but team viewer makes it all so handy and is cross platform.

But a final note on the hard drives, I'd advise picking up Sata ones and conencting via raid controller.

ScumLord

TheDoc wrote: »

What your server should have is a raid controller. This pci card, allows you to connect up to 4 Sata hard drives to the card.

Nope, There's no pci cards installed. It looks like it's got a fairly basic setup but loads of room for expansion, it's got room for two cpus (one installed) there's only 512mb of ram installed (haven't seen that little ram in a PC in a while). There is an inbuilt raid controller according to the specs on Dell but I don't see any sata ports at all so I will need a card I came across this on ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/product/48670 it looks like it has issues with linux and ebuyer are on my boycott list now so I won't be buying off them.

But a final note on the hard drives, I'd advise picking up Sata ones and conencting via raid controller.

I do want to go sata simply because I have a few lying around already.

BigEejit

Hehe, just looked up what the machine looked like, thought it was a rackmount machine

So does it have a lot of 5.25 slots in the front behind the front panel? Or are there dedicated U320 scsi ports it it. It has loads of various flavour pci slots so I'd just go for a ebay sata raid controller as mentioned .... IF you can mount the drives securely, in our box it was 5 x dedicated scsi U320 SCA slots.....

We had one of these (or similar, same kind of chassis) some years ago and it was flipping loud... from new as soon as we turned it on. Maybe cleaning all the fans and heatsinks might quieten it a bit. RAM should be cheap though, registered ECC PC-2100 DDR DIMM. Dunno about filling that second xeon socket....

Solitaire

If you can just swap out, slow down or pad out all the offending fans to help cut down the noise a bit. SCSI drives need a bit of silicone/rubber padding as well if possible as they probably vibrate like hell

ScumLord

Do servers really run all that hot for the type of thing I'll be using it for?

BigEejit wrote: »

Hehe, just looked up what the machine looked like, thought it was a rackmount machine

So does it have a lot of 5.25 slots in the front behind the front panel?

She does.

Will this card do the trick? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123967
I'm just worried there'll be a conflict with the raid controller as there's on in the server already so this would be adding another.

BigEejit

ScumLord wrote: »

Do servers really run all that hot for the type of thing I'll be using it for?

She does.

Will this card do the trick? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123967
I'm just worried there'll be a conflict with the raid controller as there's on in the server already so this would be adding another.

Well to be honest our one was driven hard, but I never heard it get quieter when it wasnt under load, dont think the fans slowed at all, always going full blast. We moved it to the store room because it was annoying, like having a hoover going constantly.


Never heard of startech tbh, but yes running another controller should not affect the built in one (likely to be adaptec). Do some research on that startech part, reliability & performance may not be up to expectations .... also check that you can boot off it.




/edit
I'd maximise your available storage space by using raid5 (the one you found is mirrored only).
Something like this if you could find it in stock: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-000-LL&groupid=701&catid=49&subcat=424

/edit2
D'oh, that one is pci express ..... bound to be pci ones out there though

ScumLord

BigEejit wrote: »

Well to be honest our one was driven hard, but I never heard it get quieter when it wasnt under load, dont think the fans slowed at all, always going full blast. We moved it to the store room because it was annoying, like having a hoover going constantly.

Doh, what I meant to add to that, if I could slow the fans way down would the server burst into flames after a while due to overheating or are they built to way over compensate for heat?

/edit
I'd maximise your available storage space by using raid5 (the one you found is mirrored only).
Something like this if you could find it in stock: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-000-LL&groupid=701&catid=49&subcat=424

/edit2
D'oh, that one is pci express ..... bound to be pci ones out there though

Pricey too.:o

BigEejit

Had a look here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cheap-reliable-raid-5-storage-compared,832-10.html

and it says that the Promise FastTrak S150 SX4 is the best cheap one to get. You can add some old DDR memory into it.....

They might be a bit hard to find though ....

TheDoc

Pack as many hard drives as you can into it, remove what you dont need.

Floppy drives and excess cd drives are a waste, and potential storage space for hard drives.

Try pick up a raid controller, they are pretty cheap and well worth it.

The last thing you want is a server full to the brim of stuff, for a hard drive to fail and you lose all the data, as said before, a Raid setup prevents you ever loosing data to hard drive fail, and also speeds up the process of transfering, opening and manouvering around your servers hard drives.

Ideally make sure also its hard wired, wireless is fine if your using it to do some web based stuff, but if your going to use it for media and file storage and retrieval, wireless is a nightmare.

Run it wired if possible, and when you run the wiring, always run a spare one.

My setup at the moment is coming nicely together.

I run a my main pc from my bedroom, my dad runs his from his pc room.

We run wireless as the router is downstairs. The new server is going into my dads pc room.

However, I got handed a fairly expensive switch, and a ****laod of Cat5( capable of 1gig transfer speeds).

So after showing the old fella of what a server can do, and how the whole shabang will improve our itnernet speeds, our whole house is going to be running wired internet, which is a big plus

Servers are loud, theres nothing you can really do. The hard drive that comes with it is what makes the noise. The initially boot up period sounds like a 747 airplane on my HP server, but after initial bootup it all slows down. When there is work being processed yes it makes noise, but for me it isnt an issue, maybe it is for you, but cant see alot of ways around it.

Just remember your server wont be processig 24/7

Hard drive noise will come when you are pulling items to stream to pushing the hard drive. Your doing this to watch it, so your not keeping anyone awake.

Make sure also to look into download scheduling. I dont download anymore to my main pc or my dads, we both download to the server. We have a schedule setup that our downloads dont do a thing whilst we are in the house on our pcs, but the whole network bandwidth is assigned to downloads during times where we are asleep or at work/college, so things are ready togo when we get home.

Its a wonderful world your getting yourself into pal, truley is.

Before writting this, I just remotely logged into my server, started downloading something, assigned the whole network badnwidth to it, so its ready for when I get home

Even awesomer ( new word) was that the server wasnt switched on when i left the house, but when I ported in to the server, I was able to turn it on remotely, and get going.

I'm planning on putting a linux distro in on a virtual machine on the server, to help host my web sites and some web services I run

And on a final note, servers arnt built for home use, they are built for the office. And one of the main requirements is that machines run efficently and low cost.

My server like yours only runs 512mb ran, theres no need for anymore.
My server has the option for two dual cores, but I have only one in it at the moment, I'm being given another.
I'm looking to hook in about 5 1TB hard drives for storage.

All this runs of a 300w psu and runs flawlessly.

ScumLord

TheDoc wrote: »

Ideally make sure also its hard wired, wireless is fine if your using it to do some web based stuff, but if your going to use it for media and file storage and retrieval, wireless is a nightmare.

Oh don't I know it. I was forced into wireless in my last apartment and it was a nightmare. I had it set up at work too and had to get rid of it. I dispise wireless now. I'm using homeplugs at the moment and they seem to be fine for what I want.

Servers are loud, theres nothing you can really do. The hard drive that comes with it is what makes the noise. The initially boot up period sounds like a 747 airplane on my HP server, but after initial bootup it all slows down. When there is work being processed yes it makes noise, but for me it isnt an issue, maybe it is for you, but cant see alot of ways around it.

THis one doesn't seem to have that feature (it's a few years old at this stage) it runs at full whack the whole time all I can hear is the fan though so if I could reduce the power going to it that should be enough.

I'll have to put it on the back burner for now though, cash ran out with all the moving apartment craic so I'm short of funds for controllers and hard drives.

TheDoc

same as myself.

The only expense i have to fork out is for the ahrd drives.

An additional cpu is being brought over tonight along with the cabling and switch to make the house wired.

Just need to go about doing it over the weekend which is easy enough ,luckily theres already a linepath hitting every room with sky, so i dont need to drill new holes.

But with the components im buying for my own pc, hard drives are o nthe backburner until i see some seriously good deals.

ED E

CAT5 is a bitch to crimp/I'm sh1t. I always have to re-do 'em.

Remember, the longer the slower with them, for the sake of a couple of €10 switches you can get better speeds(more apparent with bungalows:p)

Doc, how much space are you loosing to RAID overhead?

BaconZombie

I can crimp CAT5 in my sleep and even hungover as feck....

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

CAT5 is a bitch to crimp/I'm sh1t. I always have to re-do 'em.

Remember, the longer the slower with them, for the sake of a couple of €10 switches you can get better speeds(more apparent with bungalows:p)

Doc, how much space are you loosing to RAID overhead?