New NAS Build...Recommendations

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fusion5000

n00b
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Mar 11, 2009
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4
Hello all-

I am in the process of building a 20 bay hot swap NAS storage unit, and came across this awesome forum. I looked at all the 10TB and greater builds and they are exactly what Im looking to do. I would like to build one of these with the following hardware. I would like any suggestions on what I may need or may not need. I would like it to be as fast as a Raid 5 or 6 can be. I know when i say fast there are some trade offs in size.

NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case (Is this the best case for the money?)

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W Power Supply (enough power for 20 drives?)

areca ARC-1231ML-2G PCI Express SATA II Controller Card (Everywhere i've read states this is one of the fastest raid cards, is that correct, or are there faster ones)

areca ARC-6120 Full Height Battery Backup Unit (Gotta have this)

9x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (to start with, and building to 20 drives) Raid 5 or 6, you tell me. Raid 5 is faster, but raid 6 has the dual redundancy.

2x Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (boot drive, 1 cloned backup, since the case only has 1 bay for this)

MSI X58 Pro LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard (Is this overkill, or should i be using a server motherboard)

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Openfiler or Windows server 2008 x64 (Which is better(faster)?)


I really appreciate any help that is given.

Thanks

joe
 
1) Why exactly do you need a quad-core CPU for this NAS? In other words, what exactly will you be using this NAS for?
2) This question is gonna come up sooner or later so I'll ask now: Why not WHS?
3) You do know that you're missing a video card right?

To answer some of your questions:
- Yes the Norco 4020 is the best server case of the money. I guarantee you that you won't find a better deal for 20 hot-swap bays + 1 drive bay + case for less than $300 like the Norco unless you luck out.
- The 750TX is more enough power for 20 drives. But if you keep that quad-core CPU, I recommend getting the 850TX to err on the side of caution.
 
1) Why exactly do you need a quad-core CPU for this NAS? In other words, what exactly will you be using this NAS for?

Why Quad...I dont know...I thought being more powerful would be better. Basically it will serve documents, archive large video files, nightly backup of large video projects. 40-50 users, but not more than 5-10 users accessing it at one time.


2) This question is gonna come up sooner or later so I'll ask now: Why not WHS?

WHS...Didnt really think about that. Does it compare to the power/speed of server 2008? If so, thats probably what we'll do. However Openfiler is Free, any thoughts on it.


3) You do know that you're missing a video card right?

Yeah, I'll just throw an old pci card in it.


I appreciate the comments.

Thanks

Joe
 
Quad would be used well if you run a lot of stuff like rsync or checksumming in zfs.

I'd propose zfs. You can even get cheaper sata/sas controllers.

Opensolaris/FreeBSD are your options.
 
I'm a big fan of unRAID. Simple USB drive plugs in and goes. No OS, no hassles, just works with RAID6 performance.

I run 6 disks on an old P4 with 2GB of ram and it barely hiccups even after i lost the northbridge fan. It's all about RAM and IO (network and sata).

Couldn't be happier.
 
I recommend: http://www.freenas.org/

But i don't know Openfiler. Downloading it to try it to see which i prefer. For an office they seem both support the same stuff but for a home it seem like Freenas has more features.
 
Thanks for all the advice. More is definitely welcome. I looked at freenas, but heard/read openfiler performance was better. Please let me know what you think, since i dont currently options to test. Any other hardware/os suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

Joe
 
I am looking to build the same type NAS system. I've been planning for a few weeks now and here is what I came up with....

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (2 for RAID 1)
$83.98 (total)

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
$119.99

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$134.99 (before MIR)

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
$35.00 Instant
$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
$104.99 (before MIR)

NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case
$289.99

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5
$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
$44.99

SAPPHIRE 100236L Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
$49.99

plus I still need an Areca 1280ML and my 1.5TB HDD's. Hope this helps....

EDIT:

I'll be running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise for the operating system.
 
fusion5000 said:
Thanks for all the advice. More is definitely welcome. I looked at freenas, but heard/read openfiler performance was better. Please let me know what you think, since i dont currently options to test. Any other hardware/os suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

Joe
Click to expand...

Not sure what all you plan on doing with this server but you could look at a server OS called unRAID. You can find there forums here, along with the wiki.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. One last question. If I were to need to expand on this setup, what is the easiest way to do so. Meaning, I run out of space on this chassis, and need to build another unit for more space. What hardware is needed to link the chassis/storage? Is that what I would want to do, or should i just build another chassis and keep it separate? Looking for the best performance, with a medium sized budget. Again, I appreciate your input.

Thanks

Joe
 
I'd look at a server motherboard if I were you... if nothing else but for the ECC memory support if you are planning on using this system to store 50+ peoples files as you've stated you are asking for silent data corruption from bad memory. I'm a fan of the Asus M2N-LR for the price (and because it also works with Solaris... but I digress). That and do you have a backup strategy (RAID is not a backup strategy by the way)?
 
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