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Server Critique

T

thrillir

n00b
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
12
Hi, this will be my first post here. I usually visit every day to read up on things and have learned alot about storage systems from you guys. I plan on building this server for work and would like some feedback on it. Also, would be nice to check to make sure i didnt mess up by getting incompatible parts. Thanks.


cpu Intel Xeon L5506 QC LGA1366 2.13G $455.55
cooling 2U Active CPU HS for Intel LGA1366 X8 Up MB $23.23
motherboard Supermicro X8DT3-LN4F Server Board $508.32
ram 4x2GB CT25672BB1067S $56.44
optical drive Samsung SN-S082H $39.99
sata/raid 3ware 9650SE-16ML-Kit $869.66
hba 3ware 9650SE BBU-MODULE-04 $104.11
hba LSI SAS3801E $300.37
hdd Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 32x$79.99
nic - 0 0
case Chenbro RM31616ML-760R-Z $837.2
psu included

UltraStor RS16 SS $3844.99
 
Last edited:
What are you planning on using this for and how much storage do you need?
 
I need as much storage as i can get, storing videos TB's worth. Then network users(not to many at same time) connect to playback, copy, or add.
edit- I chose most all parts to be compatible with esxi because i thought i might be able to use that, but that plan is out the window for now.
 
Spending $4000 on hardware and crippling it with only 2GB of RAM?

What OS will you run? Max out the RAM to whatever either the MB or OS can handle (whichever is less)..

The more RAM your system has (either server or desktop) the more it can cache into RAM and run quickly rather than being FORCED to wait on your drives.. Even SSDs are slower than RAM, so even with SSDs more RAM improves performance.
 
1. What OS are you looking at running?
2. I'd seriously consider going with Seagate ES.2 class or WD WE3 class drive if this is for business. Yes, it raises the price by 2,500 but are more likely to be supported by the raid controller vendor.
3. I'd jump the ram to at minimum 4GB-8GB depending on the OS.
 
Ya they are hd videos, im guessing more bandwidth to stream too since they arent avchd.

Ohh sorry, copy and pasted out of an excel sheet, left out unit quantities and totals. It will be 8GB of ram total. I chose windows server 2008 x64.

I called up 3ware about 20min ago to ask about the compatibility since they arent listed on their PDF's. He said although they arent on the list, other customers have no problems with them. The UltraStor unit says it supports 1tb Deskstar too, though i guess i should call to to double check they support the new 7200.b?

I would of went with seagates but i dont trust them at the moment. RE3 dont seem to be validated for the Ultrastor.

http://www.enhance-tech.com/products/desktop/hddvalidation.html
 
I think you need to look around more at what other people are doing. Start in the 10TB + thread. Maybe its just me but if you are open to using non mainline (dell, hp, ibm, supermicro, etc.) vendors... there are a few options on the boards that could save you bucket loads and give you comparable setups.
 
Im going to take geigers advice and go with the WD RE3's for the main server. More io, same speed, and longer warranty but bit more pricey. The UltraStor unit is going to be dropped for now, i will let capacity fill up before getting that unit.

@hmchk
I dont see anything different i can get to save lots of money. Every category is at about same price no matter the vendor. Only thing i see is maybe go with the xeon E5504 instead of the L5506? That extra 20watts is costing me $200 extra.
 
1. IDE optical drive on a board without IDE. Switch to a SATA optical drive or try Supermicro part number CDM-PSATA (mini-ATAPI to SATA adapter, instead of the normal IDE adapter). By "try", I mean it may not be compatible with every slim optical drive out there and I can't vouch for the drive you chose. I'd recommend the Panasonic UJ875A + this cable.
2. I'd recommend using RE3/ES.2/other RAID edition drives rather than normal desktop drives.
3. Are you planning to use on the onboard SAS controller in some way? If not, then why not go with the X8DTi-LN4F which may be a little cheaper than the X8DT3-LN4F (3 = SAS, i = SATA)? I assume you chose a LN4 board for the quad NICs, correct?
 
Lazn_Work said:
Spending $4000 on hardware and crippling it with only 2GB of RAM?

What OS will you run? Max out the RAM to whatever either the MB or OS can handle (whichever is less)..

The more RAM your system has (either server or desktop) the more it can cache into RAM and run quickly rather than being FORCED to wait on your drives.. Even SSDs are slower than RAM, so even with SSDs more RAM improves performance.
Click to expand...

if you read what it is for, you dont need ram for a file server :rolleyes: files arent stored in ram when being copied to and from computers.

you can 64G of ram into a file server and it wont run any faster then a server with 1G unless you plan to make ram drives.
 
Am I missing something with using a Chenbro case instead of a Norco for starters? Thats a savings of a few hundred... + an extra 4 drives.

Also... if this is a simple file server what do you need such a serious processor for? You have hardware raid so a much cheaper processor should do fine shouldn't it? that will also bring the mb cost down too?

i am in no way an expert but seeing your totals and seeing others put together similar servers, it seems there are definitely cheaper builds our there.
 
MrGuvernment said:
if you read what it is for, you dont need ram for a file server :rolleyes: files arent stored in ram when being copied to and from computers.

you can 64G of ram into a file server and it wont run any faster then a server with 1G unless you plan to make ram drives.
Click to expand...

This is not true on a modern network operating system like server 2008 or vista. The Os does not feed the data directly to the disk system anymore with modern os and will cache the results. Also on a 1gb and 8gb ram server try this experement. Place a 4gb file on your server. Then copy the file off the server and monitor the speed. Do this a few times and notice how impossibly fast it copies (espically if you are using a modern client os like vista wtih 8gb ram) With 1gb ram it will not be ast fast I promise. This is just an obvious example that is optimized but file server based on server 2008 or vista will benefit from ram espically for writes and reading the same file multiple times.
 
brandinb said:
This is not true on a modern network operating system like server 2008 or vista. The Os does not feed the data directly to the disk system anymore with modern os and will cache the results. Also on a 1gb and 8gb ram server try this experement. Place a 4gb file on your server. Then copy the file off the server and monitor the speed. Do this a few times and notice how impossibly fast it copies (espically if you are using a modern client os like vista wtih 8gb ram) With 1gb ram it will not be ast fast I promise. This is just an obvious example that is optimized but file server based on server 2008 or vista will benefit from ram espically for writes and reading the same file multiple times.
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure who uses Vista for a server?


2GB of ram is more than enough for file serving.
 
Volkum said:
1. IDE optical drive on a board without IDE. Switch to a SATA optical drive or try Supermicro part number CDM-PSATA (mini-ATAPI to SATA adapter, instead of the normal IDE adapter). By "try", I mean it may not be compatible with every slim optical drive out there and I can't vouch for the drive you chose. I'd recommend the Panasonic UJ875A + this cable.
2. I'd recommend using RE3/ES.2/other RAID edition drives rather than normal desktop drives.
3. Are you planning to use on the onboard SAS controller in some way? If not, then why not go with the X8DTi-LN4F which may be a little cheaper than the X8DT3-LN4F (3 = SAS, i = SATA)? I assume you chose a LN4 board for the quad NICs, correct?
Click to expand...

Thanks, i didnt even notice that, i will go with a $40 Lite-On sata drive. I like the slot-loaded one you listed but its not sold at many places.

I guess i have no use for the onboard controller yet, maybe in the future or with some other plan i might want to add another 2 drives internally and raid them, who knows. The boards only a few dollars more.

Yes the quad nics keep me from populating those pci slots :)


hmchk said:
Am I missing something with using a Chenbro case instead of a Norco for starters? Thats a savings of a few hundred... + an extra 4 drives.

Also... if this is a simple file server what do you need such a serious processor for? You have hardware raid so a much cheaper processor should do fine shouldn't it? that will also bring the mb cost down too?

i am in no way an expert but seeing your totals and seeing others put together similar servers, it seems there are definitely cheaper builds our there.
Click to expand...

Well that chenbro case is $70 more than the norco(RPC-3216) case without a power supply. The psu is $400 by itself too, so both together look about right.

I dont think i have a serious processor; its pretty weak compared to all the others. I just refuse to get anything lower then 2ghz even for this. As for getting a nehalem xeon, i wanted a native 4 core processor. This server has to last a long time, it might get other jobs.
 
brandinb said:
This is not true on a modern network operating system like server 2008 or vista. The Os does not feed the data directly to the disk system anymore with modern os and will cache the results. Also on a 1gb and 8gb ram server try this experement. Place a 4gb file on your server. Then copy the file off the server and monitor the speed. Do this a few times and notice how impossibly fast it copies (espically if you are using a modern client os like vista wtih 8gb ram) With 1gb ram it will not be ast fast I promise. This is just an obvious example that is optimized but file server based on server 2008 or vista will benefit from ram espically for writes and reading the same file multiple times.
Click to expand...

Have any benchmarks to show this? or is it personal experience, i dont have time myself to test this, but would be interesting if it is true..

and people could be running server 2008 (basically = vista sp2)
 
Thanks guys, I ordered the following:

Intel Xeon L5520 QC LGA1366 2.13G 565.55
2U Active CPU HS for Intel LGA1366 X8 Up MB 23.23
Supermicro X8DT3-LN4F Server Board 508.32
(4)2GB CT25672BB1067S 56.44
Lite-On SATA Slim DVD Burner 39.99
3ware 9650SE-16ML-Kit 869.66
3ware 9650SE BBU-MODULE-04 104.11
(17)WD RE3 WD1002FBYS 145.99
Chenbro RM31616ML-760R-Z 832.89

To elaborate more on why i chose the chenbro case, I think the build quality of the chenbro case is higher quality. I have a norco ds-1220 and it sucks, so no more norco. Norco's customer service is awesome though :) The chenbro case, like i said before, isnt much more then a norco w/o a psu. I switched out the L5506 for L5520 because i found out it had no hyperthreading. Ya, i didnt want to regret it in the future. This server is primarily a storage server but will eventually do more: dhcp, web applications, database... Hoping i can just throw on virtual machines for each function.
 
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