Goliath: My Norco RPC-4224 build.

[Johnm]

Goliath,

Formerly My WHSv1 Media server named Leviathan.
The WHS server was a test of WHS's Drive Extender. Previously I was hosting my media off of a windows 2008r2 box with 16 2TB Samsung F4's in raid 6.
I wanted a greener alternative to having to spin 16 drives 24x7 just to watch a movie or access a single file. in my house there is almost always someone on the media server.
Besides greener, I wanted simple, set and forget. I work in an enterprise high stress server environment. The last thing I want to do when I come home is work on my own network.

WHS was my first step to testing that. It was not a total failure, it did what it was supposed to do. It served up my files and was a no brainer, anyone in the house could use it.
I just did not like the way it handled file duplication and god awful network performance. Copying files to and from it made me want to pull my hair out it was so slow.

My next step was to be WHS2011 and Flexraid. I thought I'd get the performance boost of 2K8 and the pooling of Flexraid. Well the flexraid site was down for over a week at time of building. forget that.

I went to step 3 bypassing step 2. unRAID.
after weeks of trolling the forums and playing with the free version, I feel am ready to buy my key and go into pre-production. I recycled most of my WHSv1 box. Moving it to a norco RPC-4224 The downside to this is I am limited in the number of Hard Drives I can use on this motherboard.
I know it will be short term before the next upgrade. This gives me time to decide if unraid is truly my savior and I buy a motherboard  for unraid specs or i need to look down another road with a different hardware option.

Right now, I feel pretty positive about this step, enough so that ill be putting my data on it. I really wish there was some option, say a 30day trail of one of the Purchase versions of unraid so I can get a full hands on experience of it can offer.
But, I understand the route they took. I'm just used to the enterprise. you don't buy it unless you're satisfied.

My network consists of several 2008r2 boxes, several with raid 5 arrays. An ESXi box, 2 WHSv1 boxes for PC backups and office type files and photo backups, a WHS2011 box for additional PC Backups and remote access.


Goliath

OS at time of building:
5.0-beta6a Pro License (I live on the edge.)
5B14 now.

CPU:
Intel Atom D510. Built into motherboard.
Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core  $100 at microcenter

Motherboard:
SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SPA-HF-O Mini ITX Intel Atom D510 processor Server Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard $108 open box from New egg (motherboard was still factory sealed, only the manual missing, go figure)

RAM:
4 Gigs of used DDR2 Samsung memory from trash at work (pulled from Thinkpad or Mac?). 2x2Gig sticks, motherboard Max
Kingston 2x 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G
8Gig Board max is 32Gig
16Gib (Added 8 more that i pulled out of Atlas when it was upgraded. This is overkill)

Case:
Norco RPC-4224

Drive Cage(s):
24 built in.

Power Supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2
SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply Sale: $119.99 W/ Free shipping.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS):
APC 1300VA Power Saving Green Back-UPS XS - with LCD Display $109.99 w/ free shipping


SATA Expansion Card(s):
2 X SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8
1 x IBM M1015 (LSI 9220-8i) Flashed with IT firmware $75 off EbayRemoved from server but is a good replacement for the SASLP-MV8
Cables:
4 x NORCO C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable Im only using 2 for now.
2 x NORCO C-SFF8087-4S Discrete to SFF-8087 (Reverse breakout) Cable
2 x NORCO C-P1T7 4Pin Molex 1 Male to 7 Female Power Extension Splitter
2 x Monoprice SFF-8087 1M cable (the norco one was to short for the M1015)

Fans:
6 x ENERMAX UC-8EB 80mm Case Fan
(These are not fully tested for adequate cooling.) (these proved a failure in the long run. drives got a bit toasty)
Running stock fans in mid fan plate. (new 120's on order.)

Server is almost totally Silent, I can't tell if it is on or off

3x120mm Fan bracket ($20ish shipped)
3x "pressure optimized" Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm fans I picked up for $15 each plus $5 shipping for all 3.
2x ARCTIC COOLING ACF8 Pro Pro PWM 80mm Case Fans back on the rear.



Parity Drive:
Still testing, 2TB Samsung F4 for now.
It is the coolest and second fastest green drive I have.
My Seagate 5900's are faster but run a lot hotter.
since the Parity drive is almost always running,
I wanted to try cooler over heater.
Hitachi 3TB green Drive 3TB moved to ESXi
Seagate LP 2TB

Data Drives:
7 Hitachi 3TB green Drives moved to ESXi box

11x 2TB drives Mix of WD EARS, Seagate 5900's, Hitachi's and Samsung F4's (All LP drives)
5x 1.5TB Samsung F2's (LP


upgrading those to 2TB (or 3TB if possible at that time) when I need more space.


Cache Drive:
WD 500GB 7200 RPM.

Preclear Bays:
Two (unless they up the drive limit)
 
Total Drive Capacity:
29.5TB Usable
(it went down in size. I do have more drives i can put into this box sitting in storage)

Primary Use:
Media Hosting for 4 XBMC boxes.
Xbox 360 ISO storage.
Backup of my PC Backups (copy my WHS back ups here)
Backups of Ghost images from ghostcast server
Long term storage of older seldom used files.
Possible Back up of raid arrays.
(I might build a second unraid for the last 3 plus backup of media from this server)

Likes:
Low Power!
Lots of storage!
Parity!
Single drive pool
Server is almost totally Silent, I can't tell if it is on or off.


Dislikes:
Expensive!
Big
burn in takes forever
I need 2

Not sure yet. I'll keep you posted.

Add Ons Used:
unMenu
Install Screen
Mail and SSMTP
SSH
apcupsd
Clean Powerdown
unRAID Status Alert
Monthly Parity Check
unRAID Power-Down on disk overtemp
Screen

 
Future Plans:
Upgrading to a SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O Sandybridge with I3 Sandybridge or Xeon (if i run VM's) CPU
If that board will not support unRAID, then the X8 with a I3
I am not in a rush so I'll shop the sales.
Possibly An SSD for Cache drive.
Depends on sales and 7200 RPM drive performance.

Boot (peak):
Idle (avg):
Active (avg):
Light use (avg):





New Configuration:




I should have taken the pictures AFTER I blew the case out with compressed air.. not Before... i definitely am pulling gunk into the server through the drive bays.

The fan just sitting on my MV8's.
It has not moved yet. it has dropped the temps way down.
If yours vibrates or moves, you could zip tie it to the cards.


My foam insulation and new fans








Old Configuration:






Copy Speeds with Current setup:




This will be a work in progress. I am sure I'll be updating this post as I change things about.

[onthecake]

Nice. I love that case.


Big upgrade from WHS. I probably would have never even found Unraid if M$ had decided to keep drive extender in WHS 2011.

[Johnm]

Ditto.

I am mid preclears with new drives and the new fans. I am doing 5 2TB EARS and the seagate 1.5TB 7200RPM drive at once. I was weary of running more then 6 at a time.

The WD are all at 38C-41C, the Seagate is at 44C. I know that drive runs hot and is rated up to 60C operational.

I am not sure if i want to put the loud factory fans back in or stick with totally silent. Those are not dangerous temps, just higher then I want. I guess a full system parity check will tell.

I think I'll start looking at silent 120's just in case. I'm now spoiled by a server so quiet i can put it in the living room and forget it is there, until I trip over it.

LoL that motherboard looks so small in there.

[grandprix]

The WD EARS are at 38-41 Celsius?  What is your room temperature?

I'm unsure what the CFM on the stock fan wall fans are, but, 24 CFM may very well been a reduction in airflow.  I believe I read someone stating that the stock ones run 36 CFM..  12 CFM * 4, 48 CFM loss.  Combine that with the severe reduction in airflow replacing the dual stock rear exhaust.  Yes, I know they're loud as all get up.. but..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226005

Just as quiet, but 8 CFM more per fan than those Enermax's. 

[Johnm]

Thats one reason why I think I'll go with the 120's. get more CFM for similar DBa.

That room is 23C. it is in the livingroom for testing. It will end up in the basement later.so I might put the factory mid coolers back in.

If I do buy more 80's, I'll try and get 4 pin connectors so I can use the quick change mounts.

Edit.
 I just went downstairs to look at that physical server and removed the napping cat from in front of the server and the temps all dropped a degree or two in the first 10 min.  The server is on the spare couch. I'm not going to move it now.

the downside of IPMI. you cant see the server, and the cat.

[bcbgboy13]

The WD are all at 38C-41C, the Seagate is at 44C. I know that drive runs hot and is rated up to 60C operational.

I believe that Seagate will trigger the SMART temperature attribute if the temperature is above 55C. When the preclear is done you can post your SMART status and we will see if they are rated at 60C.

[aaronwt]

Nice. I love that case.


Big upgrade from WHS. I probably would have never even found Unraid if M$ had decided to keep drive extender in WHS 2011.

my WHS is stll my primary storage for my media. At least my BD ISOs. Since it can still do a lot of things I can't with unRAID. But I am using my unRAID Storage for a lot of my other file storage now.

Sent from my HTC Incredible using Tapatalk

[Johnm]

To me the OS that you use is like a tool in the toolbox, you use the tool that works best for the job.

I still have WHS boxes, I wont get rid of them. So far unRAID fills a gap i need.

I'm just a geek with OCD in general...

[Johnm]

The temps dropped down overnight durring the rest of the writing of zeros and the second read.

the Seagate dropped down to 41 and the EARS to 34-38 range.

I didnt change a thing, I'll just assume the room temp and sun effected the temps for now.
I'll move the server to its home and run the next batch of preclears tonight or tomorrow.

[Johnm]

Well, I found a bargan on the SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 and ordered it for just over $100.

I don't see any indications that anyone has tested the Intel C204 chipset or the Sata3 connectors that come with the chipset. I guess I'll Guinea pig it. If it fails for unraid, my 2008r2 or ESXi servers would love it.

I also picked up 2 x 4Gig of Kingston Value Ram EEC Memory sticks. overkill for Unraid, but it was cheap.

I have an I3 2100 that i can put on it, if I repourpose the mobo, I'll toss a Xeon on it.

A Sata3 SSD for a cache drive on the Sata3 port sounds like over kill, but sounds like a fun test. even a mid range one should exceed the Gig network.


EDIT:
I see the Intel 82579LM  might be an issue. the second NIC should work fine.

[Johnm]

Well, I found a bargan on the SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 and ordered it for just over $100.

Ok, Board and ram both came today. I ripped out the Atom motherboard. put the new X9SCM. Pulled the I3 I had in my trunk that I was going to return to microcenter (I wanted the Xeon for the ECC).  and fired it up.

As expected, Unraid didnt like the first NIC, the second one worked fine. it worked better then fine.
I am now getting 90MB/s transfer rates from my 2008 servers to my unraid. slightly better from my desktops SSD.

I also added an APC BX1300G UPS.

I updated my build list to reflect the changes.

I also have my factory mid fans back in. i was not sure about the  enermax's

I'll post some pictures when I find my iPhone.


Edit:
I already noticed this  setup sucks more power then the ATOM.

Using the UPS  as a kill-o-watt (I know not efficient)

Idol, drives spun down:
Old board: 36watts
new board: 48watts

Parity check:
old board: mid 80's i never wrote it down.
new board: 98watts

Changing my fans might have added a watt or two also.

[Johnm]

My 2 "SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply" That was on sale at Newegg for $119 W/ free shipping showed up today.

OMG! overkill on the packaging. I got this HUGE Box from newegg?!?! I don't remember ordering a new Case/Chassis..
I open it up and it was the 2 SeaSonic's I ordered. Nice packaging!
Unlike my Corsair's I get Two Velvet bags and a Two pouch nylon Bag with Velcro closures full of  Cables.
I think half of the cost went to the packaging.

I really didn't have a clue what i was going to do with this Power Supply. I just knew I would need one soon for my second Norco.  at that price, I'll get two.

I pulled the  Corsair TX750 out and tossed one of the SeaSonic's in. I decided that while the Corsair was rated the same, the SeaSonic is "Gold Certified" and the Corsair was only "Plus Certified".

For how much this beast draws and being on 24x7. This should give me cleaner, more efficient power and save a few bucks on my electric bill.

It is almost a shame to use a modular Power Supply in a 4224 when there is plenty of room for the extra cable mess.

PS, the velvet bag comment was sarcasm, seriously? do we need these things? I'd like to pay less money on a Power Supply, not more for packaging!

[Johnm]

OK,

I tested an SSD today for a cache drive.. SEE HERE.

It was not as I planned. My 7200RPM 1.5TB seagate POS spinner out performed it. something is seriously wrong here. and thats is a quick SSD for its age.
Edit 10/20:[After further testing... I Can Saturate the SSD by copying from a SATA3 SSD on my desktop to unraid Cache SSD. In addition, the SSD could saturate the gigabit NIC at 99%+ when copying from 2 sources at once (SSD or Mechanical). The 7200RPM mechanical cache drive would have a heart attack doing that. I could also copy at full speed to the cache drive while the mover is running. the SSD will stay in the system!]

Also my temps are way down now.. the stock fans are good for something besides noise..

I am not sure I can tweak this any better?
Maybe jumbo packets?Old photo with Mechanical Drive.

[Johnm]

Posting my syslog for the last 24 hours.

I rebooted yesterday, ran a parity check.
I came home today and rebooted.
I don't see any alarms going off in here but maybe the trained eye can catch somthing i missed?
I am pretty sure this board has not been marked as Level 1 yet.


Edit: if someone can tell me what the non-existant user errors are?

[Rajahal]

Here's what I saw in your syslog:

Drive ST31500341AS (1.5 TB Seagate)
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100       100       099      Old_age   Always       -                        0

I don't know if the above is an issue or not.  None of your other drives even list that SMART parameter.  I'm guess it is fine, but I still think someone with more experience should look at it, since the value is so close to the threshold.

Drive ST32000542AS (2 TB Seagae LP) is running firmware CC34.  This is a bad idea, it will cause the drive to fail prematurely (I had one that failed after just a few months of regular use).  I recommend you upgrade the drive to firmware CC35.  The process is non-destructive, it won't erase your data.  Details here.

All your other drives look healthy.

That's all I could recognize.  There's a lot of stuff in your syslog that is over my head.  Hopefully someone more experience can take a look at it.