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NAS Advice

L

Lipe

n00b
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
29
Hi mates,

I have a brand new Dell Poweredge T420 (Tower) that was took out form a cluster, and i need to use it as an small Network Attached Storage. It will serve small files, mostly office documents and jpeg pictures, to around 20 people, and some bigger files to a creation department.

The server has a RAID5 running over a Perc H710 with 3x2Tb drivers and i need some advice.

Ive implemented some Nexenta boxes in the past over unexpensive supermicro hardware and it did just great, im a big fan of ZFS. Unfortunately the H710 controller wont support JBOD mode, so im worried about what can be done with this server.

I know its not recommended but works for some - creating 3 RAID0 arrays would make nexenta believe they are individual disks and allow me to create the ZFS pools.

If ZFS its not an option and im left with RAID5, which would be the best option to share this free space with the users(CIFS/SMB), implementing snapshots and maybe a nice frontend gui? Any suggestions? Even FreeNAS went to ZFS!

Best regards
 
Open up the tower and see if you have SATA/SAS ports on the MB itself. If you do relocate the HDDs to the MB. Then you can do ZFS as needed, or you can buy any one of the inexpensive HBA's and have more than enough ports.
 
I think there may be plain HBA firmware for that card. I think I read in another thread it's available from Dell's site but isn't obvious what it is.....
 
You might consider buying a card that supports IT mode. I have tried what you're suggesting, and it feels not... optimal. You can pick up a number of LSI based cards for around $100 on ebay that would properly do what you're trying to do.
 
Hi mates, thanks for the fast feedback! :)

I called Dell about my problem and the prosupport guy didnt found anything in the docs about connecting the hotswap backplate direcly to the SATA MB connectors.

Theres indeed a connector (SATA_0 on the pic below) that seems to fit the current controller power/data cable, but he said its used for connecting an Backup MX200 Appliance.

20121106161947.jpg


About using a 3rd party HBA, he said its ok buts not guaranteed to work. As im Outside-US, and LSI boards are pretty expensive here, i cannot buy a few to test. Any advices about a specific model? Some options here: http://informatica.mercadolivre.com.br/outros-componentes/lsi

A good notice is that our idrac7 came with a SD port in the back, so i can install the ZFS SO in a SD without any trouble.

Thanks for the help one more time.
 
The M1015 is a favorite around here. It's well supported and A LOT of people have it. You should be able to install the third party card without issue (unless Dell has gone the way of Apple and made unofficial upgrades impossible). There's a thread around here about different versions. Read that first.
 
Hey kac77, thanks! I found two used M1015 on a store near the branch office where the server is installed. Both of them are tagged as LSI SAS9220-8i, and i couldnt find this reference on the whole LSI topic - all the M1015 mentioned there are either 9240-8i or 'rebranded' with another firmware. Is 9220-81 a problem?

Im also worried about the Cabling. The current H710 uses a mini-sas SFF-8080 while the LSI uses a SFF-8087. Do i need to purchase new cables or these connectores are compatible? I guess any of them will be compatible with the backplate, but not with the board itself. Sorry about the n00b question but im not used to internal HBAs.

Best regards
 
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It looks like it's possible. Supposedly it's identical to the 9240-8i. This person had problems though.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1669634

Hmm 8080 is weird for internal use. But yeah you'll need 8087 to whatever. In terms of purchasing it from a store. Check the price. If it goes to like $250+ then just buy it straight from LSI. Either the 9207-8i or the 9211-8i would work for you.
 
Last edited:
kac77 said:
It looks like it's possible. Supposedly it's identical to the 9240-8i. This person had problems though.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1669634

Hmm 8080 is weird for internal use. But yeah you'll need 8087 to whatever. In terms of purchasing it from a store. Check the price. If it goes to like $250+ then just buy it straight from LSI. Either the 9207-8i or the 9211-8i would work for you.
Click to expand...
Thanks one more time :) Im going to try the 9220 then.

The 8080 was a typo, the internal connector is SFF-8088, but i guess i will need new cables anyway. :(

I saw a few brand new M1015 for $600, lol, but the used are around $125 - sounds fair for our market.

Lets see if i can get this raidz to work, still need to pick a distro since Nexenta wont have the drivers for t420 broadcom network adapters.
 
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