Help with WHS and Remote Access Issue?

T

tkemple

n00b
Joined
Apr 5, 2010
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3
I've been lurking on the forums here for a bit and just completed my first build and I'm having a couple issues... here's what I'm working with:

Norco 4220 case
20 - 2TB Hitachi Drives
WHS installed on a Laptop Drive
HP Expander Card
Areca 1680i

I have a RAID 6 built and I've added it to the WHS Console... I'm a total newb when it comes to this stuff.. (and yes I've done my best to wade through the 30+ pages on the WHS Sticky) and I have a couple questions if anyone can spare a moment.

1) WHS Server Console only shows 2TB available on my Areca RAID (It shows the rest of the 30+ TB as used) - What do I need to do to show all the space as available?

2) I'm trying to set up the Remote Access on a new Apple Airport extreme and I've followed the step-by-step instructions for Port Forwarding (setting up UPnP) for the router but I'm still unable to connect through the web. If I'm on the network I can see the WHS and log in, its just when I try Remotely that I have issues... Any suggestions on where I could look for help?

I know this is basic stuff for most of you guys. Thanks for your help, I've started pulling out my hair over the past couple days.

tk
 
I had the same problem the first time I installed WHS: http://www.servethehome.com/four-4-volume-per-physical-disk-limitation-in-whs/

So what you need to do is make 8TB arrays (if you want raid 6, use 6x 2TB drives in seperate raid arrays). Then split them to 2TB max chunks. Then pass the 3x 2TB and one 1.3TB (or whatever it is the last one will be under 2TB) "disks" into WHS seperately. You'll be able to access all of the space, minus parity disks. This is a limitation of WHS only being able to use MBR partitions for its storage pool, meaning each "disk" can only be 2TB max.

The plus side is that 20x 2TB drives in a single raid 6 configuration is not an optimal solution. Your rebuild times will take a long time increasing your chances of entire array failures. Further, losing the entire 40TB array means you lose all data, versus if you lose one of the smaller arrays, your odds of losing all data are very small.

The negative side is that WHS and raid 6 eats a lot of space for parity since it is only exposing 2/3 of a 6-drive 2TB raid 6 array to the OS. 1.5TB drives are actually "better" from this standpoint since you lose 2 drives to parity exposing 3/4 of raw capacity.
 
So 6 (2TB) Drives in one Array then break each Array into multiple 2TB Volumes... Would I be better off with RAID 5... what would I 'Net' with that solution? And if I opted for RAID 5 (I have an offsite backup of all of the media going on the WHS) would I then do 5 (2TB) drives and then break each array into multiple 2TB volumes?

Many Thanks -tk
 
With the Areca, you should still be able to create a single RAID set (if you want), and then just create 2199GB volume sets for WHS.
 
Ah you might be able to. I had this issue with the Adaptecs and have just kept the practice since then. On the other hand, I really don't like the idea of having huge raid arrays just from the risk of downtime perspective.
 
pjkenned said:
Ah you might be able to. I had this issue with the Adaptecs and have just kept the practice since then. On the other hand, I really don't like the idea of having huge raid arrays just from the risk of downtime perspective.
Click to expand...

Yea i dont like too much RAID overhead :)
 
I can't imagine running a single 40TB raid 6 array, having a drive fail, pulling the wrong drive and waiting for a huge rebuild. Arecas rebuild fast, but... I think I'd go crazy over those few days.
 
pjkenned said:
I can't imagine running a single 40TB raid 6 array, having a drive fail, pulling the wrong drive and waiting for a huge rebuild. Arecas rebuild fast, but... I think I'd go crazy over those few days.
Click to expand...

I use a 10 drive setup

7+2P+1HS
 
Yeah, the Raid 6 build on the 20 2TB drives was an overnighter (14hrs I think)... but I like your solution of adding smaller Raid Sets to solve the problem I was having. Creating those volumes right now.

Anybody have any ideas with what's going on with my Airport Extreme Router and the inability to connect through Remote Access (see above)? Shouldn't I have issues connecting locally (while on the local network) and remotely if it was a Router issue?

tk
 
Most likely, you just don't have port forwarding configured correctly on the airport. Do some seaching on how to do that (there should be lots of examples out there) and check your settings.
 
Are you forwarding your public IP's port 80? Double check to make sure your ISP doesn't block inbound port 80 by default.
 
xnoodle said:
Are you forwarding your public IP's port 80? Double check to make sure your ISP doesn't block inbound port 80 by default.
Click to expand...

The first part of this comment isn't very clear. The second part brings up a good point. You need to know if your ISP is blocking port 80. It isn't a deal breaker if that is the case, but you need to know.

First, are you using a static ip address on the WHS? If not, you should. If you don't know how to do that, let us know. Second, go through all of the steps on the following page:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=784

On the Router Configuration Details page in the WHS Console, do you have all green check marks? If not, which test(s) failed?

If the WHS Remote Access settings are configured correctly, then move on to the Airport. Configure the Airport to forward ports 80 and 443 to the WHS ip address. After that is done, you should be able to access your WHS at https://XXXXX.homeserver.com (XXXXX being the name you set up in the WHS Console). If that doesn't work, use a port scanner to find out if 80 and 443 are open on your internet facing router (the Airport, I assume). http://www.whatsmyip.org/ports/ is a good one. If the port scanner says that those ports timed out, then the airport still isn't configured correctly and we'll need a little more info to help you solve the problem.
 
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