Project: No Name File Server. 56K beware

brokenarrow03 said:
But after dropping that kinda cash and it not working. You'd think they would do more for ya considering these are $1200+ cards...or Seagate considering 20 drives at ~$160 each $3k+ and no ETA for a fix?
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LittleMe said:
You've got to consider that even so, how many people does Seagate really have running a setup like this? The people that will care the most are Areca and there is probably only so much they can do if it's the drives.
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Looks like seagate doesn't want to play ball basically they said that if I want it to work i should buy the NS series drives. Areca are working on new sas transport firmware to try to fix the issue but no idea how long that will take.

brokenarrow03 said:
I agree. I would just expect a little more support from Seagate. Thats all...

Did they refund your first card?
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No I had the card for over 30 days so I can't return it to the store, I will prob end up selling it on the forum or ebay, or I might keep it for another project.

vict0r said:
what about the second xeon cpu? when are you putting it in ?
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I won't be adding the 2nd cpu, there simply is no point. A single 2GHz quad core is already way too much then its needed to run a file server.
I might eventually turn this into an ESXi Vmware server, if I do that I will add more ram and 2nd cpu.
 
axan said:
ya it sux, basically wasted a week trying to get it to work. But the new raid card is on order and should be here Monday/Tuesday. Areca Tech assures me that since ARC1280ML is a sata card I won't have any issues.
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the 1280ml is a SAS/SATA card. Not just sata. But at least it works with seagates. I'm starting to question Areca and these compatibility issues.


Btw, if you want a 1280ML, i'm ditching mine for $600.
 
actually its sata only, it doesn't have sas processor on it, check the specs

I will buy the card from ya, you got a pm.
 
Areca controllers don't like WD (well, before the TLER fix); they don't like Samsung; and now they don't like Seagate...what's left? Hitachi and that's it if you go SATA (if those even work).
 
it's only the new 1680ix series raid controllers, the sas processor they have causes the incompatibility. Areca assures me the older model works fine, and there are few ppl running older raid controllers with the seagate 1tb drives.
But I agree the whole compatibility issue is bs, seagate should work with areca and come up with new firmware for 7200.11 drives.
 
I know the 1280ML works with Seagate drives. I have one myself. Just wondering about the SAS controller since I was considering buying one at one point.
 
I have a bunch of 1TB Seagate drives and they work fine on the 1280ML......
 
Blue Fox said:
I know the 1280ML works with Seagate drives. I have one myself. Just wondering about the SAS controller since I was considering buying one at one point.
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For now I would hold out on the sas controller until Areca releases new transport firmware, unless you planning on buying enterprise series hdds in which case there are no issues.
 
axan said:
For now I would hold out on the sas controller until Areca releases new transport firmware, unless you planning on buying enterprise series hdds in which case there are no issues.
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I was going to buy it instead of the 1280ML a few months ago, but didn't in the end. Don't really need it right now as I haven't run out of room yet with my current setup (though I was considering buying that 1280ML off Ockie...you need it more though). I'm using the regular desktop Seagate drives as well. I like cost effectiveness to some extent...
 
Ya I picked up the 1680 because of the dual core cpu and the expandability you could just daisy chain 20 drive norcos :D

I alredy had the 1280ML on order from ewiz but they didn't process my ordered yet so I canceled it and bought the one from Ockie. He saved me $400 :D

thanx Ockie
 
Hate to crosspost, but since you're still building and I'm not having any luck in the galaxy thread (damn WHS :p)

Could you please check the make and model of the fans that came with your RPC4020?
 
Faldaani said:
Hate to crosspost, but since you're still building and I'm not having any luck in the galaxy thread (damn WHS :p)

Could you please check the make and model of the fans that came with your RPC4020?
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Here you go
PICT0640.jpg


Spec Sheet

3000 RPM
35CFM
31 DB
 
Thanks, exactly the same ones that I've got in mine.
Do you agree that they are far from "quiet"? ;)

I guess they switched fan suppliers some time ago.. now if I could get Ockie or gjvrieze to do the same ;)

Btw, if you get any "Read Errors" from the controller, please let me know, I'm a bit concerned that 24 SATA cables all bunched up together might result in interference, but I've yet to notice it on mine.

EDIT: Clarification; Some people say the norco case is dead quiet - I'm trying to figure out why.
 
Just pop'd my case open and pulled one out. I have the exact same fan's. I've never called mine dead quite, but it's more quite than my main workstation. Maybe it's the loss of hearing from the servers at work, but it's not loud at all.
 
Well, maybe I'm overly sensitive.

But if I put it in the kitchen and close the door, I can still hear it in the bedroom next to the kitchen, through double insulated drywall and a few closets.

I'll be replacing the fans I guess.
 
Faldaani said:
Thanks, exactly the same ones that I've got in mine.
Do you agree that they are far from "quiet"? ;)

I guess they switched fan suppliers some time ago.. now if I could get Ockie or gjvrieze to do the same ;)

Btw, if you get any "Read Errors" from the controller, please let me know, I'm a bit concerned that 24 SATA cables all bunched up together might result in interference, but I've yet to notice it on mine.

EDIT: Clarification; Some people say the norco case is dead quiet - I'm trying to figure out why.
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I wouldn't call it dead quiet but I do call it quiet, I just might be used to it, I use 30-35db fans on my systems and for my water cooling setup. The fans produce low noise hum, nothing like the 7000 RPM screamers in my new Dell poweredge 2950 III servers at work

As for bunched up sata cables producing read errors I don't think thats the case. Eventhough I had drives timing out on me (only during OCE or migration) I was able to do some testing, I copied over 2tb of data in multiple sessions from my old file server, I ran md5 checksums before and after and there was never any discrepancy.
 
axan said:
actually its sata only, it doesn't have sas processor on it, check the specs

I will buy the card from ya, you got a pm.
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Hmm, I read wrong then. Oh well, no big deal I guess.

Blue Fox said:
Areca controllers don't like WD (well, before the TLER fix); they don't like Samsung; and now they don't like Seagate...what's left? Hitachi and that's it if you go SATA (if those even work).
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Umm, they don't like hitachi, same boat as wd.

Basically, with this new one, it's not liking any consumer drives.

brokenarrow03 said:
Hey Ockie, you don''t happen to have any 1220's that youre lookin to part with?
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nopers.

axan said:
Ya I picked up the 1680 because of the dual core cpu and the expandability you could just daisy chain 20 drive norcos :D

I alredy had the 1280ML on order from ewiz but they didn't process my ordered yet so I canceled it and bought the one from Ockie. He saved me $400 :D

thanx Ockie
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ur welcome :)

Faldaani said:
Thanks, exactly the same ones that I've got in mine.
Do you agree that they are far from "quiet"? ;)

I guess they switched fan suppliers some time ago.. now if I could get Ockie or gjvrieze to do the same ;)

Btw, if you get any "Read Errors" from the controller, please let me know, I'm a bit concerned that 24 SATA cables all bunched up together might result in interference, but I've yet to notice it on mine.

EDIT: Clarification; Some people say the norco case is dead quiet - I'm trying to figure out why.
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Mine is quiet. I mean I can hear it 12' behind me... but I can't hear it up stairs or anything. The supermicro I could hear from the second floor...

This thing is by no means loud. I was guessing 31-32db and it looks like I'm right.

Faldaani said:
Well, maybe I'm overly sensitive.

But if I put it in the kitchen and close the door, I can still hear it in the bedroom next to the kitchen, through double insulated drywall and a few closets.

I'll be replacing the fans I guess.
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Yeah, that sounds like my supermicro, not the norcos. Both my norcos are quiet... so quiet that the supermicro was blaring in compairison... which is why I ditched the supermicro.
 
Does anyone know of a UK supplier for the Norco's I can't find a supplier anywhere.

The next closest thing to the Norco costs over £300 here, just seems way too much of those Norco's are in the $300 range.

I may even end up making my own case....
 
Glad I saved you $400 :)

You know what you could do with that savings? Buy my two quad xeon 5410's ;)
 
if i had a use for them, i have 3 brand new 5405 sitting on my desk unused. I need to make my own fs thread I've got a lot of stuff lying around and I might be moving soon so it would be good time to clean it up.
 
You and Ockie must have some nice paying jobs (or no bills LOL) to be able to afford projects like these. Very nice! Can we get some shots of the front and how the drives are in the trays and how they are held in place in the chasis.
 
How are those 7200.11's working out now? I'm thinking more and more I should have gone with the 7200.11's over the ES.2's. I could have had 20 7200.11's for what I paid for the 12 ES.2's.
 
Cyberrad said:
You and Ockie must have some nice paying jobs (or no bills LOL) to be able to afford projects like these. Very nice! Can we get some shots of the front and how the drives are in the trays and how they are held in place in the chasis.
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I have bills just like everyone else, but I do have pretty decent IT job. Right now the system is busy doing OCE but as soon as it's done I'll pop out few drives and take some shots of the trays and mounting.

LittleMe said:
How are those 7200.11's working out now? I'm thinking more and more I should have gone with the 7200.11's over the ES.2's. I could have had 20 7200.11's for what I paid for the 12 ES.2's.
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so far so good, this card is a lot slower then the 1680 so it takes longer to do oce/migration, but so far no timeouts. Right now it's doing oce from 6 to 7 drives it's 43% done and no timeouts or other issues. I'll do some more oce and rlm tests and post results
 
axan said:
so far so good, this card is a lot slower then the 1680 so it takes longer to do oce/migration, but so far no timeouts. Right now it's doing oce from 6 to 7 drives it's 43% done and no timeouts or other issues. I'll do some more oce and rlm tests and post results
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I know it's all relative, but can you elaborate on "a lot slower than the 1680"? I was looking at getting a 1280ml (actually thought about getting Ockies until you snatched it), but the 1680 on Newegg is rather close to the price of the 1280ml. I hear the 1680 is slower on sata drives due to the SATA translation it does, but it does have dual core, so I'm guessing OCE should be a bit faster.

Any comments?
 
Gambit said:
I know it's all relative, but can you elaborate on "a lot slower than the 1680"? I was looking at getting a 1280ml (actually thought about getting Ockies until you snatched it), but the 1680 on Newegg is rather close to the price of the 1280ml. I hear the 1680 is slower on sata drives due to the SATA translation it does, but it does have dual core, so I'm guessing OCE should be a bit faster.

Any comments?
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The 1680ix-24 has a 50% faster clock speed, but it is not dual core. The main issue with the card is that it is very picky as to which drives work with it. Your regular Seagate 'AS' series drives will not work with it for example. You will need to invest in the more expensive
NS' drives. This is why axan replaced his 1680ix-24 with a 1280ML. You will also need to buy cables for the 1680ix-24 unless you have multilane backplanes.
 
Sorry if you've already discussed this but i'm interested to know why you went for such an elaborate server motherboard when you're not using the other processor socket, most of the memory capacity or any of the other onboard expansion/features?
 
Cyberrad here are the pics you wanted. If you want to see something specific let me know. The server is not in use yet so I can still take stuff apart and shoot some pics :p

PICT0719.JPG


PICT0721.JPG


PICT0722.JPG


PICT0723.JPG


PICT0724.JPG


PICT0725.JPG


PICT0726.JPG
 
Concentric said:
Sorry if you've already discussed this but i'm interested to know why you went for such an elaborate server motherboard when you're not using the other processor socket, most of the memory capacity or any of the other onboard expansion/features?
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I like asus boards, 90% of my home systems use them. I went with high quality server board because I wanted reliable system, this box will last me for few years. Also the motherboard has very good expansion possibilities, 4 pcie 8x slots means I can add more raid controllers or high speed nics and either daisy chain norcos for more storage or maybe turn this thing into ESXi server. I don't like cutting corners on the heart of the server so that's why I chose this board. I could have went with some desktop board and cpu for 1/3 the cost but I wanted something reliable and something that wouldn't have issues with areca raid cards.
 
axan said:
it is dual core or more precisely it's 2 xscale cpus
here's the datasheet http://download.intel.com/design/iio/datashts/31503803.pdf

compared to the 1280ML the 1680ix was about twice as fast at oce and initialization.
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Well, I'm not terribly worried about initialization, as that will (hopefully), only happen once. Rebuilding is something I'm more concerned with, since I plan on dropping in 4 drives for raid-6 and adding more as I go. Depending on how long OCE takes, I could be saving myself a bit of time, not that I *have* to have the drive space available ASAHFP, but the sooner the better of course.

I do recall reading that there were issues between the Seagate drives and the 1680ix controller, though that may have just been an incompatibility between the AS drives (which I was looking at) and the ES.2's.

*edit*
Doh, just realized *this* was the thread where I read about the AS drive issues with the 1680ix... Unfortunately, my options appear to be either spend more and go with the ES.2's or go back to a 1280. Guess I'll be looking at a 1280 again...
 
axan said:
Cyberrad here are the pics you wanted. If you want to see something specific let me know. The server is not in use yet so I can still take stuff apart and shoot some pics :p
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Thanks! That is exactly what I was looking for.
 
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