NAS / Home server [HW + OS]

[wibwabwob]

Hi storage enthusiasts
I'm a new member here but read the forums a lot without registering
I would like - for home use - to make a Storage that provides enough space, can provide some services and some kind of data security.

That's the reason I would like to build a small home server.
Even a lot of research I am unsure about Mainboard, CPU and the OS.
My plans right now are below.
Please give me some advice

As services I would like to run:
- subsonic (music streaming)
- samba
- ftp (perhaps)
- serviio (media server with encoding)
- vpn

My plans are to get maximum performance while being low budget
Hardware:
- normal good PC Mainboard
- 5x 3 or 4TB drives (desktop drives)
- SATA non-raid controller e.g. adaptec 7805H
- network card (depends on budget) : Intel X540-T1

Reasons:
- I would like an SATA controller because I read, that onboard SATA connectors are often a speed bottleneck

Questions:
- Which CPU would you chose in order to be performant when nessercary (e.g. encoding) but save much power in idle.
My Laptop i7 M model only consumes very low power when using only office. Does the same hold for the desktop models?
Or would you recommend something totally different. I also would like to know how you rate the E3-1225V3

- Which OS. My focus is on RAIDZ at the moment because through that I don't need a HW RAID controller and I should get a nice data security
As I am not familiar at all with FreeBSD - is Debian implementation good?

- What is a good SATA non-raid controller?

- Is it possible to realize the following:
To save power, the server shut down the drives at 2am if there's no activity.
It starts the drives again at let's say 5 pm.
If there's a request (any file request through a service or user) prior to 5pm the HDDs will start and continue running till 2 am again.

- How could I reach maximum performance during a LAN Party?
If a lot of files are moved is only the RAM important then? Or would a ssd log cache be useful.

- Would you go for desktop CPU + MB or not? If not, why?

- How can I make sure I don't run into compatibility issues e.g. with the sata card and debian.

- What housing would you recommend. I would like something "isolated" so that the vibrations dont spread so much
What about the Chieftec Bravo BA-01


Thank you so much for your efforts!
Regards,
wibwabwob

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Even a lot of research I am unsure about Mainboard, CPU and the OS.

The motherboard will depend on the OS. For example, if you want to go with Solaris and Solaris derivatives, you'll find that hardware compatibility is extremely important. For example, at work right now, I'm working with a system which uses some very expensive, very quality components. Unfortunately, the RAID controller doesn't have drivers built in to Solaris 11.1, so I spent several hours trying to get that working, and in the end, had to give up and go with a different OS.

As services I would like to run:
- subsonic (music streaming)
- samba
- ftp (perhaps)
- serviio (media server with encoding)
- vpn

VPN, FTP, and Samba are available with just about any OS. Serviio and Subsonic appear to be Linux services. That removes OmniOS/Illuminos/Solaris from the equation. Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS/OEL and Debian/Ubuntu appear to be the most supported for Subsonic, so I'd probably go with one of those. They both have their benefits, and it really comes down to which you are more comfortable with. ZFS on Linux works for both.

My plans are to get maximum performance while being low budget
Hardware:
- normal good PC Mainboard
- 5x 3 or 4TB drives (desktop drives)
- SATA non-raid controller e.g. adaptec 7805H
- network card (depends on budget) : Intel X540-T1

Reasons:
- I would like an SATA controller because I read, that onboard SATA connectors are often a speed bottleneck

My personal experience is that SATA controllers on workstation-quality motherboards are just fine, but you may encounter issues on standard desktop motherboards. You'll pay a bit more for the CPU, RAM, and motherboard, but it will include the network card and a good SATA controller, so it evens out in the end. What I have done in the past, and will probably continue to do, is to purchase Supermicro motherboards and Xeon processors. If you're interested in 10GbE NICs, Supermicro makes motherboards with those built-in. (Granted, not with the E3!)

Questions:
- Which CPU would you chose in order to be performant when nessercary (e.g. encoding) but save much power in idle.

Any current-generation Intel processor is very nice for that. Actually, come to think of it, as far back as Sandy Bridge, Intel's chips have been spectactular.

My Laptop i7 M model only consumes very low power when using only office. Does the same hold for the desktop models?
Or would you recommend something totally different. I also would like to know how you rate the E3-1225V3

Laptop processors will always use less power than their desktop counterparts, but the gap is getting smaller with each generation. My personal opinion is that the E3-12x5 processors are a little silly. The E3-1220v3 is a fantastic processor for a NAS (I'm using two of them now), and the E3-1230v3 adds hyperthreading for not a lot of money. Note that these processors should only be used in the appropriate motherboards, with ECC RAM.

- Which OS. My focus is on RAIDZ at the moment because through that I don't need a HW RAID controller and I should get a nice data security
As I am not familiar at all with FreeBSD - is Debian implementation good?

Data security is not really a feature of RAID. RAID protects your uptime. Backups protect your data. RAIDZ is amazing, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone, but do not count on it to protect your data. Every ZFS on Linux distribution I've tested is pretty stable. Since your streaming services appear to be Linux-heavy, and you know Debian, I'd go with that for an OS.

- What is a good SATA non-raid controller?

There's a lot to choose from, from a used Dell PERC series to a new Supermicro to... I don't even know... There's a lot! Try to stick with something LSI based, preferably their 2008, 2208, or 2308 series. You'll generally avoid a lot of issues with those. For an HBA, get one without cache or battery backup or any of those other expensive features.

- Is it possible to realize the following:
To save power, the server shut down the drives at 2am if there's no activity.
It starts the drives again at let's say 5 pm.
If there's a request (any file request through a service or user) prior to 5pm the HDDs will start and continue running till 2 am again.

It is possible to set up something like this via the witchcraft associated with Wake-On-LAN, but it would not be a trivial matter. A modern E3-based NAS can pull under 20W at idle. Depending on your electricity usage, you're looking at less than a dollar a year to keep it on full-time.

- How could I reach maximum performance during a LAN Party?
If a lot of files are moved is only the RAM important then? Or would a ssd log cache be useful.

Are you planning on using your NAS as a gaming computer? Or do you just want to have it accessible by multiple people? If the former, I'm afraid I'll be of no use. If the later, there's nothing special really needed. The more people that hit your system, the slower it will be.

- Would you go for desktop CPU + MB or not? If not, why?

I would go with a workstation CPU and MB. Data integrity is enhanced through the use of ECC RAM, which is not available with a desktop CPU. Additionally, workstation or server-grade motherboards typically use components which are well supported through multiple OS. For example, the RealTek NIC on a desktop motherboard may not be supported by your Debian version for months, but the Intel NIC used in workstation/server motherboards almost always is.

- How can I make sure I don't run into compatibility issues e.g. with the sata card and debian.

Find your OS' HCL (Hardware Compatibility List). If it's on there, it's good. Also look at the SATA card vendor's site. They will likely have a driver section. If there's a driver for your OS, it'll work.

- What housing would you recommend. I would like something "isolated" so that the vibrations dont spread so much
What about the Chieftec Bravo BA-01

I'm not familiar with that particular case. I'm partial to Fractal Design's cases. Their Define series is nice and quiet, and with a fanless power supply, I literally can't hear it from more than 2 feet away.

 

[TeeJayHoward]

What I'd buy:

E3-1220v3 - $205
2x8GB ECC UDIMM DDR3 - $185
3TB HDD x5 - $500 (or 4TB HDD x5 - $825)
SuperMicro mATX w/ IPMI motherboard - $170
Case - $110 (Chieftec, or Fractal Design - They're both about the same price)
Power Supply - $140 (Fanless modular, or $35 for one with a fan)
X540-T1 - $335

Total: $1540-1970 plus tax, shipping

It's actually very, very similar to what I currently own, except I have 7x3TB, a rackmounted case, and no 10GbE.

 

[wibwabwob]

Hi,
thank you so much TeeJayHoward for your detailed answers! They helped me a lot.
I now checked again the components and your recommendations and found a board from my previous research that goes in the direction:
It's the "overkill" Supermicro Mainboard X9DRH-7TF Single. But the problem is that this is only for E5 and much more than I need (2x 10GbE)

Is there a single socket E3 board with also 10GbE onboard? [on supermicro I didn't find one]. Which of the E3 boards exactly, would you recommend?
If the board provides fast SATA + 10GbE I can save both PCIe cards and therefore 450€. So this board could be that amount more expensive.

Is it sure that SATA ports are very fast on such a board? How can I check it - or are there any key data facts I can stick to.
Sorry I'm that sceptical. Here's the link that made me thinking about SATA ports:
It's the section "All SATA controllers are NOT created equal" at nearly the bottom of the page
https://calomel.org/zfs_raid_speed_capacity.html

As you can see, also the Supermicro didn't perform very well :/ But perhaps there might be other reasons for it?!

Regarding the LAN Party:
No I don't want to play on the server. I just want to include it as a space provider in the LAN Network. And if several people connect, I would still like to get nice speeds


Greetings
wibwabwob

 

[kurabii]

what happened to a media vault setup? they are truly amazing! its under my bed and i can never hear it. 4tb and counting

 

[TeeJayHoward]

Is there a single socket E3 board with also 10GbE onboard? [on supermicro I didn't find one]. Which of the E3 boards exactly, would you recommend?

Sadly, I don't know of a manufacturer who produces a board like that. I wish I did! I use a X10SL7-F on my NAS and backup machines. It's a $250 motherboard, which you can get in a combo with an E3-1220v3 for $410, which makes it a $205 motherboard. Compare that to a $105 motherboard and a $100 controller, and it evens out. It includes an 8-port LSI 2308 SAS controller, which is (in my opinion) a very nice, and well-supported chip. The $170 motherboard I suggested was the cheapest Supermicro 1150 motherboard I could find with IPMI. It includes 5x SATA ports, so you wouldn't technically "need" a controller. However, as noted on your link below, they are just average SATA ports, and nothing special. If you're dead set on 10GbE, the Supermicro motherboard is actually a spectacular deal, as shown below.

Example:
$205 X10SL7-F
$205 E3-1220v3
$185 RAM
$335 X540-T1
==============
$930

vs.

$480 X9SRH-7TF
$225 E5-2603 v2
$185 RAM
==============
$840

Is it sure that SATA ports are very fast on such a board?

Unfortunately, there's not really a way to tell how fast the SATA ports are on different motherboards. For the onboard ports, they're generally within 5-10% of what's offered by other manufacturers. The link you posted shows "free" SATA ports compared to a $650 controller. If you're willing to spend 475€ on a RAID controller, you'd expect to get a speed boost with it! That being said, there's probably a negligible difference between the $650 controller and the controller built in to the more expensive Supermicro motherboards. Even with the lower-powered E5 processor, you'd be idling the machine 99% of the time. It might be worth considering something like an Avotron system, too.

 

[redbird722]

Hi wibwabwob,

If you're not 100% set on building one yourself and are open to purchasing a ready made server, I would highly recommend an Advatronix Cirrus 1200 Home Server

I've had one at my home for about six months now and I'm very happy with it. It consumes a very small amount of power and (importantly) is very quiet! My wife made me sell my old server because it was so loud it started to really get on her nerves, so the quietness is important to please the misses haha.

I use it for two things - movies and music (storage and streaming), backing up my computers, things like that. Additionally I have a small business I run from home and use my Cirrus as a file server. You can also set up a remote web access (I think that's what it's called) url to access the files from outside the local network.

Because of my business I do end up needing all twelve drives the server comes with, but since you stated you only needed four or five I'm sure Advatronix would make you a unit with that amount of drives. Might want to email them to make sure, though, if you're interested!

Here is the server that I have http://www.advatronix.com/store/servers/06-28-cirrus-1200-windows-home-server-64-bit.html

 

[wibwabwob]

Hi,
thank you for your replies! I called a computer service and they told me that normally the controllers on the mainboard and an external SATA card should be kind of similar. However this doesn*t explain the performance difference :/
I would not like to buy a ready made servers because they are normally more expensive. I believe that if I buy quality components, then I can't do it wrong
For example I checked some ready made NAS and the powerfull ones cost like 80% (wihthout HDD) of a selfmade server (with HDD).

Regards
wibwabwob

 

[uOpt]

You won't outperform the on-chipset (as opposed to onboard) SATA parts with 3 TB 7200 rpm drives. And even with onboard crap, it has been a long time since PCI 32bit/33 MHz chips were mounted. As long as it does AHCI you will be fine.

You won't need any CPU power at all unless you use ZFS and even with ZFS it will be fairly minimal.

What you do think are "quality components"?

 

[PointandClick]

I highly doubt that you're going to notice a difference between the chipset SATA ports and a HBA, especially with spinny drives.

Why do you think you need 10GbE? I'm guessing for your LAN parties? You're still going to need a switch to support it to be able to use it. Most Supermicro/server/workstation boards come with 2x1Gb ports. If you find you need more you can always throw in a 4 port card and pick up a cheap managed switch that can do LACP.

I would tend to agree with TeeJay's recommendation on the Supermicro + E3. Heck, even an i3 if you're not doing virtualization. I upgraded my ZFS server a few months ago with a Supermicro X10SLL-F and E3 1220. The board was on sale for $135. With 2Gb lan, 3 pcie, 6 sata, and IPMI for that price it wasn't worth messing with consumer boards that may or may not have done what I wanted.

 

[wibwabwob]

Hello,
thank you so much for your help!
Yes 10GbE for LAN Parties. Regarding the switch I saw a "cheap" 200€ HP 48 Ports (1GbE) Switch. And it has exactly 1x 10GbE Uplink. Could I plugin my server there - couldn't I?

What main benefit can I draw from IPMI?

Could you give some SATA speedtests for the X10SLL-F?
Otherwise I might stick to the X10SAE .

On the 10GbE i'm still deciding. In case I need a SATA card I might drop the NW card and vice versa.

Regards

 

[wibwabwob]

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