Fileserver and Network Worklog

Well, it's about time that I get myself a file server and finally make the move to gigabit. So why not do it in style?


Server parts on order

Supermicro SuperChassis 743T-645B
Areca ARC-1220
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 x2
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2
ASUS M3A78-EMH


Network parts on order

Netgear Prosafe GS724T 24 Port Gigabit Smart Switch
24-port Cat6 Patch Panel
TrippLite PDU1215 1U PDU
6U Wallmount Bracket for 19" Rack Equipment
D-Link DIR-625 N Router

All said and done, I'm looking at about a $2100 credit card bill


Stuff I already have

APC Back-UPS 1200VA
Cat 5e and wall jacks in every room of the house
A bunch of computers with gigabit NICs, but not much hard drive space


The plan

The idea is that I'll start out with a two drive array and expand, as needed, up to 8 drives. I'll be using RAID5. Although with two drives I'm not sure exactly what I'll start with. Hopefully by the time I need more than 8 drives I'll be wanting another upgrade.

I'll be running Windows Server 2008 w/ Hyper-V. Although Hyper-V not being complete yet may change that decision in a hurry. Virtually, I'll be running Debian (hope that works on hyper-v) and perhaps Server 2003 R2 if the need presents itself (a friend of mine is running 2k8 on his server and often runs into apps that don't like it). I'll be running uTorrent w/ Web GUI as a service, I'll be using the HTTP and FTP services for basic personal use. and if I have any power & bandwidth left I'd like to set up a small COD4 server.

On the network side, nothing too fancy. Possibly three VLANs; internal LAN, direct internet (I've got 4 IPs), and IPTV. I say possibly because the IPTV might give me troubles - more on this later.

As far as the DIR-625 goes, I know it's not the best router out there but my WRT54G w/ DD-WRT was just killed by a brownout and I needed something quick.....I know, I shoulda had it behind a UPS.....anyway, I needed something cheap. The DIR-625 seemed to fit the bill. SmallNetBuilder gives it a good review; as a router it's supposed to preform pretty well.

That's it for now. Updates as stuff arrives. I know it's not much in the face of many of the amazing setups some people have here, but I'm absolutely stoked.

You need atleast 3 drives to start a Raid5 D=

Blazestorm said:

You need atleast 3 drives to start a Raid5 D=

Click to expand...

I don't think that's true. I think you can do it with 2 drives. Obviously it would be more like a RAID1 (although different), but I think you can do it. Well, I guess it depends on the card.

You need atleast 2 drives for the striping, and 1 drive for parity...

Atleast that's what I remember...

Raid 5 requires atleast three hdds.

http://www.ahinc.com/raid.htm

Subscribed...

Damn, I just looked in the manual for the ARC-1220, and it does in fact require 3 drives. However, Wikipedia will back be up when I say that it is sometimes possible to create a degraded RAID 5 array with only 2 disks.

Either way, looks like I'll be migrating when I add the third drive

mindstormsguy said:

Damn, I just looked in the manual for the ARC-1220, and it does in fact require 3 drives. However, Wikipedia will back be up when I say that it is sometimes possible to create a degraded RAID 5 array with only 2 disks.

Either way, looks like I'll be migrating when I add the third drive

Click to expand...

It can run on two out of three if one fails but the controller won't let you just make a degraded RAID 5 from two disks.

subscribed

Yeah, with only two disks, all you'll be able to do is RAID 1 or 0, not RAID 5. I've never seen someone create what you refer to as a "degraded RAID 5 array" as the idea behind RAID 5 is that it has an absolute minimum of 3 disks (as above - two for striping, one for parity\redundancy\as a 'hot spare').

To translate: When you say "somtimes possible to create a degraded RAID 5 array with only 2 disks", what you are in fact saying is, simply put, the definition of a RAID 0 array.

Hope this helps .

Icidic said:

Yeah, with only two disks, all you'll be able to do is RAID 1 or 0, not RAID 5. I've never seen someone create what you refer to as a "degraded RAID 5 array" as the idea behind RAID 5 is that it has an absolute minimum of 3 disks (as above - two for striping, one for parity\redundancy\as a 'hot spare').

To translate: When you say "somtimes possible to create a degraded RAID 5 array with only 2 disks", what you are in fact saying is, simply put, the definition of a RAID 0 array.

Hope this helps .

Click to expand...

That's not entirely true, a three drive RAID 5 array where one drive is taken away isn't exactly the same as a two drive RAID0. Either way, I'm not completely crazy (not completely ), I know that the ARC-1220 does not support creating a degraded array. All I'm saying is that I'm almost certain I've seen a device that supported it; it really caught me off guard, that's why I remember.

Can we let it go now? I really don't need to be taught my RAID levels over and over again. I understand that a complete RAID5 array is three or more drives.

kind of weird to get a server case and server grade raid card, then just use a consumer motherboard and chip =/

get a real server mobo and real cpu, xeon that bitch up.

marley1 said:

kind of weird to get a server case and server grade raid card, then just use a consumer motherboard and chip =/

get a real server mobo and real cpu, xeon that bitch up.

Click to expand...

Heh... if it's a file-server I doubt it will really matter...

I got a $20 MATX refurb Gigabyte board and a $20 P4 3.2ghz running my 8 x 750 Raid5 w/ Perc5...

dunno server 2008 with hyper visor isn't what i would consider a file server. especially when you spend all that money on a raid card and server chassis and then skimp on the motherboard. rather do sometime like a supermicro board and either intel or amd.

Despite the detractors, good luck on this worklog! Can't wait to see what comes of it.

errrr, you did check the compatibility of the Areca with that particular motherboard?
not all motherboards take kindly to PCI-e cards other then graphics cards in their main 16x slots.
other than that, nice setup, I like the managed switch.

Subscribed to see what happens with this.

Just to throw this out, ask yourself if you really have to go RAID5. If you lose your controller you have to replace it with the exact same controller to get back up and running, or restore from backup, either of which can be a pain. In these days of cheap hard drives, I'd almost recommend a RAID10 instead. I'll be watching as well because I'm interested in setting up hyper-v at home as well for a lot simulator work I have to do in VM's. Double-check that AMD proc and motherboard to make sure they support hyper-v.

Have you thought of trying to throw Windows Home Server into the mix? I said screw RAID personally, I love how I can just only duplicate what I want and I also save a ton of space with de-duplication.

mindstormsguy said:

Damn, I just looked in the manual for the ARC-1220, and it does in fact require 3 drives. However, Wikipedia will back be up when I say that it is sometimes possible to create a degraded RAID 5 array with only 2 disks.

Either way, looks like I'll be migrating when I add the third drive

Click to expand...

Wikipedia is not a legit source. Besides you still need 3 drives, one can be non-active.

OldPueblo said:

Just to throw this out, ask yourself if you really have to go RAID5. If you lose your controller you have to replace it with the exact same controller to get back up and running, or restore from backup, either of which can be a pain. In these days of cheap hard drives, I'd almost recommend a RAID10 instead. I'll be watching as well because I'm interested in setting up hyper-v at home as well for a lot simulator work I have to do in VM's. Double-check that AMD proc and motherboard to make sure they support hyper-v.

Have you thought of trying to throw Windows Home Server into the mix? I said screw RAID personally, I love how I can just only duplicate what I want and I also save a ton of space with de-duplication.

Click to expand...

RAID10 is more expensive and requires a minimum of four drives and must be pairs. So you have to add two at a time to expand. R10 is the best IMO, but is not supported by every controller.