Post Your Home File Server Specs

My current fileserver is in my pc, so barely counts.

8x250 raid 5 configuration running on a rocketraid 2320 controller.

(soon enough I'll take it out)
 
Without_pics.gif
 
I had a file server..

Lian-Li 68-USB Case
Asus P4S533-MX mobo
2.6ghz 400bus Celeron
256mb Sdram
2 160gig hard drives (storage + backup)
1 20gig hard drive (OS)

I ended up selling it all, besides the case.


fileserver.txt

(edit: found picture)
 
I run a C2D e6400, 4gbs of ram, 4x320 seagate perp in raid 5, 2x320gb seagate perp in raid 1, 1x320gb seagate perp temp drive for cutting tv shows, and a 36gb 15,000 scsi boot. I am currently running Windows XP Pro 32bit, but going to 64bit very soon, so my 4gbs of ram will be better used and hopefully uptime will be as good as my current setup.....
 
Plain looking media sever matches freezer on the right, in storage room. That’s 65 degrees F or 18c…Brrrrr.

It contains: an AMD Sempron 3000+
Two - Hitachi 250 gig SATA
One - Seagate 400 gig PATA

Click thumnail:
 
Athlon XP 3200+ (2.20 GHz)
512MB of RAM
160 GB EIDE Hard Drive

It's just a Compaq Presario Desktop.
 
P4 2.0GHz 400FSB
Gigabyte 8IK1100
512MB Ram (used to be 1.5gb)
9600XT 128MB
HP 9500+ Burner (12x baby)

80GB IDE for OS/Apps
250GB IDE My Doc Backup/Personal Word Docs etc
120GB IDE TV Shows
120GB IDE External Files/Game Patches/Pictures etc
400GB Sata Umm....Movies...Yeah...

Hopefully after I get tax check(s) Ill expand this bad boy with more matching ram, either dual 400gb drives a sata card and 2x 250gb satas.
 
Currently: Dell SC420, Celery 5xxj (2.5GHz), 1GB DDR2 533, WD360GD boot, WD5000YS data, Win2K3 SP1.
Soon to come (xmas):
Gigabyte DS4, E6300, 2GB DDR2 800, some boot drive, 3xWD5000YS, either VMWare Server with Linux + Win2K3 or just Win2K3
 
Infrant ReadyNas NV
4x ST3320620AS Xraid.
1 gig ddr

Processors 2
Model AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 240
CPU Speed 1.4 GHz Cache Size 1024 KB
4x ST3320620AS Raid 5.
2 gig registered ecc 3200.


i should sell them and get a dual/quad core dell server.
 
I've actually got a couple of file servers at the moment, one runs Linux, the other runs Windows. I'm considering moving the drives to the Windows machine for now, but in the process I'd have to mount them in the case without the external 3 drive tray setup (rack case only has (3) 5.25" Bays, 1 short. Dang! This system also does other things, WWW, FTP, RDP, etc.

Windows 2003 Server
CodeGen 4U Rackmount Case - 350w Antec PSU (yes, its small I know.)
Athlon XP 1700
MSI MoBo (Don't remember the model, no SATA, VIA chipset)
1GB RAM
1x36GB WD Raptor (OS Drive)
1x300GB EIDE (Misc Storage)
3x160GB SATA Hard Drives (DVD Media Storage)
3x10/100 3Com 3C905B NICs, multiple networks. Don't ask, this thing does a lot of stuff.


Not the exact server spec'd above, but it looks exactly the same! NewEgg specials :p The second black case down is the one with the specs below. The top one is my firewall (IPCop)
DSC01305.jpg


Slackware 11.0 Server
CodeGen 4U RackMount Case. 400watt Generic PSU
Athlon XP 1800
MSI MoBo with SDRAM SLOTS! Yay for SDRAM! (heh, cheap 'greenbox' from 2004)
512MB RAM
1x60GB EIDE (OS Drive)
3x160GB SATA (Unused storage mentioned in the beginning)
10/100 3Com 3C905B NIC
10/100 OnBoard Realtek NIC (serves my separate 'upstairs' network until I get off my lazy butt and setup my router to take care of the, well, uh, routing.)

All of this fun stuff is connected with a Cisco 5505. I am considering GigE cards, but for now the 100mbps stuff is holding its own with the DVD Streaming.
 
this is an old picture, i'll have to get a new one when i feel like getting out my camera :p

Mine sucks compared to Dew's kickass setup

img0151jy3.jpg
 
im working on plans for my file server right now, i plan to use an old nforce2 motherboard and some kind of PCI raid controller card and get 2 500gb SATA drives or something similar.

now im not sure what software to use i was going to go with freeNAS but i noticed that lots of people here use windows server 2003, i have a server 2003 box up and running as a DC and Exchange server but how exactly do you run a file server im thinking you just install windows server 2003 and just set it up as a file server with no domain controller or anything else and set it to a workgroup?

im building a file server for my friends on my workgroup can get porn and whatever they want i would also like to use passwords and all that but i dont know how to do that without a domain controller and active directory?
 
I don't think I have pics anymore, I think they went away when my webhost decided to sell the server my page was on, then the people they sold it to basically dropped it... anyways.

Current specs:
8x 320gb 7200.10's
3x 300gb Maxtor somethings
1x 320gb 3200KS (boot disk)

Tyan dual P3 board, pair of supermicro SAT-MV8's. I wish I had another PCI-X slot for the gigE card I have lying here...

Looking at dropping the 3x 300's for 4x something, probably 500's. It's all housed in a supermicro chassis with 8 hotswap bays and a 5-in-3 cage in the 5 1/4 bays. Running debian. Still gotta try the newer kernels to see if I can get more than 50mb/s out of it... stupid bad libata implementation for the controllers. :/

the black knight always triumphs!
 
This computer was originally a PowerSpec.
Celeron 700
256MB RAM
80GB HD
CD-ROM/Floppy
10/100 generic NIC
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise (Trial came with my textbook at school)
Running AD, DNS, and File services. Mostly just to mess with while I am home on break :)
I have a 2000 pro and an XP pro box connected to my domain.
 
does that Athena Power hdd backbone mount like that? cause on Newegg it looks like it would mount with the drives horizontal, not vertical.... :confused:
 
codegrinder said:
yea. 5 in 3 mounts like that. same as Ockie's. the 4 in 3 i think mounts horizontal
ok..thanks for letting me know about that. I like how that mounts better :D

anyone running like 4tb? :confused: :p
 
i wish my nv would take those.

Note: Various SATA II models of Maxtor disks have been shown to hang on SMART commands causing intermittent failures. If you are using Maxtor SATA II disks, we advise that you update the disk firmware to the latest. In the meantime, we cannot recommend Maxtor disks at this time.
 
AMD RULES said:
ok..thanks for letting me know about that. I like how that mounts better :D

anyone running like 4tb? :confused: :p


WAY past that ;)
 
oppps...i forgot...late in the morning...half awake :D

so it seems that Windows Server 2003 is the popular server operating system
 
pII 333, 256 rdram, 40g, centos 4.... I've got a terabyte upgrade on the way but I've been sitting on the drives for a year now... someday..
 
Figure I'll drop my two cents in here..

CPU: Athlon64 3200+
MB: Asus A8N-E
RAM: Kingston 512M HyperX
HDC: HighPoint RocketRAID 2320 PCIe 4x
OS: Gentoo Linux
HD1: 1x 6.4G Western Digital (Boot, will be moving back to a mirrored setup shortly)
HD2: 8x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATAII
Cage1: Athena Power 3-in-2
Cage2: Supermicro 5-in-3

The array is currently setup as a software RAID6 using mdadm. Bought the RR2320 primarily because it has 8 SATA ports and was a PCIe 4X card. Had terrible performance issues trying to run a SW RAID6 thru two PCI controllers (not enough bandwidth) on my last configuration, this has solved all issues related to that.

As a question to you guys using these Athena Power (or clones) cages, what made you go with them over the Supermicro ones? From what I've seen so far, the AP ones have horrible thermal abilities vs the Supermicro one. Only reason I went with one is because Supermicro don't make a 3-in-2 :p.

 
Sinclair said:
As a question to you guys using these Athena Power (or clones) cages, what made you go with them over the Supermicro ones? From what I've seen so far, the AP ones have horrible thermal abilities vs the Supermicro one. Only reason I went with one is because Supermicro don't make a 3-in-2 :p.

I'm using the AP mainly because they're cheap, and I know they work. I've got uh, 5 of them in total right now. 2 in my main workstation, 2 in my other fileserver, and one in a test fileserver that currently has nothing plugged into it. I have never noticed any thermal issues, my workstation drives stay pretty cool considering how tightly the equipment is packed in there, I havn't really tested temps on the new fileserver. What kind of temps are you getting on the Supermicro?
 
File and CSS server:
CPU: Celeron 2.4 GHz
RAM: 256 MB (will be fixing that soon)
HDD: 2x 250 GB hdd for storage and 1x 10 GB for OS
GPU: Intel intergrated graphics (no PCI-E or AGP)
OS: Fedora Core 6
PSU: 500 watt ultra V series

other server:
CPU: 550 MHz intel something or other
RAM: 384 MB RAM
HDD: 20 GB hdd
GPU: Maxtor dual head AGP 32 MB
OS: Fedora Core 6
PSU: FS 235 Watt

the other server has the following duties:
HTTP
FTP
SSH
VNC
VPN (still in the works)
playing my "piped in" music
 
I've discovered I cant really even *sell* most of this stuff for what new s754 stuff would cost, so it just keeps running. Would like to grab another 300GB drive, or even jump to 3-4 500GBs...Going to do a wipe of the OS drive and switch to linux based OS...someday...

A64 3200+ s939
2x512 DDR (single channel, mobo is kind've screwy)
A8N-E
original 36GB raptor for boot
MX Duo for input
X1600XT (also functioning as my gaming box until new laptop gets in)
Dell 2000FP for video
HP all-in-one printer/scanner for output
Gb LAN
---------
RR2320 controller PCI-E x4 / 8x SATA
4x300GiB R5

Primary content is a mix of music (~20GB), TV shows (~500GB), and movies (~300GB)

And AMD- you have more posts than the next 5 people combined. Please, PLEASE, stop spamming.
 
hokatichenci said:
I'm using the AP mainly because they're cheap, and I know they work. I've got uh, 5 of them in total right now. 2 in my main workstation, 2 in my other fileserver, and one in a test fileserver that currently has nothing plugged into it. I have never noticed any thermal issues, my workstation drives stay pretty cool considering how tightly the equipment is packed in there, I havn't really tested temps on the new fileserver. What kind of temps are you getting on the Supermicro?

For example, right now my room is pretty cool. Drives in the supermicro are reading about 27C. Drives in the AP are running 35C. Generally my drives in the SM run around 30-35, you can figure out how hot the ones in the AP are by then :p. Still very acceptable, I just wonder why they didn't make the bays like SM's, with vents in the front to draw fresh air over it. Didn't really see what they were thinking when they designed the cooling on it. Seems to draw air from nowhere almost.

On a side note, I wish these had failure lights.. would be nice to have all 8 drives using them (SM & controller support it). Maybe there's some way to rig it up.. :p.
 
Sinclair said:
For example, right now my room is pretty cool. Drives in the supermicro are reading about 27C. Drives in the AP are running 35C. Generally my drives in the SM run around 30-35, you can figure out how hot the ones in the AP are by then :p. Still very acceptable, I just wonder why they didn't make the bays like SM's, with vents in the front to draw fresh air over it. Didn't really see what they were thinking when they designed the cooling on it. Seems to draw air from nowhere almost.

On a side note, I wish these had failure lights.. would be nice to have all 8 drives using them (SM & controller support it). Maybe there's some way to rig it up.. :p.

I just pulled one of the drives from my AP enclosure. It was definitely warm, but not too hot to handle. This was the middle drive too, so it should be the hottest drive in the enclosure.

As for the failure lights, if you have your drives ordered properly, there is no need for them. I know exactly which drive is numbered 1 through 8 on both of my fileservers.
 
Thats what I did for my setup, I just properly ordered everything. Since Linux is kind of weird and doesn't list things by port number really, I wrote a udev rule to correlate which sd* block belongs to which port. You can end up with situations if you are doing weird hot swapping where the sda is not the first port and whatnot, so it's helpful for the long run.

Code:
llama raid # ls -l /dev/raid/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 1d -> ../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 1d1 -> ../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 2d -> ../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 2d1 -> ../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 3d -> ../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 3d1 -> ../sdc1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 4d -> ../sdd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 4d1 -> ../sdd1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 5d -> ../sde
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 5d1 -> ../sde1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:25 6d -> ../sdf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:25 6d1 -> ../sdf1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:31 7d -> ../sdg
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:31 7d1 -> ../sdg1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Dec 24 02:32 8d -> ../sdh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Dec 24 02:32 8d1 -> ../sdh1

How did you guys grab the temps for the drives? I can't figure out with smartmontools how to do it for these sata disks.
 
Dew said:
As for the failure lights, if you have your drives ordered properly, there is no need for them. I know exactly which drive is numbered 1 through 8 on both of my fileservers.

Yeah, mine are all ordered correctly, just kind of annoying having the ability on one cage and not the other. Thankfully my 2320 numbers by port number correctly, unlike the Promise SATA300 TX4's I was running before.


How did you guys grab the temps for the drives? I can't figure out with smartmontools how to do it for these sata disks.

"smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sdX" should give you the SMART stats for drive X. You'll definitely need libata compiled into the kernel if its not already. You'll need a recent kernel apparently, 2.6.15 or newerish.
 
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