Specs and questions about TB+ file server

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nols

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Oct 6, 2002
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I am building a terabyte server in the near future and have some questions about the system.

The specs...

OS - Microsoft Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition - Own already

Motherboard - Asus P5MT
Processor - Intel P4 506
Memory - 2 x 512MB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR2 533
Raid Controller - 3ware 9550SX-12
DVD Burner - Aopen Black IDE Slim DVD Burner
Floppy Drive- Generic floppy drive
Hard Drives - 2 x Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 80GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s
Hard Drives - 12 x Maxtor MaXLine III 300GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Case choices

Rack mount
Case - Chenbro RM312 3U Rackmount SATA hot-swap chassis
Power Supply - I-STAR TC-500R8A Dual AC REDUNDANT Power Supply 500W+500W

Or

Full tower
Case - Lian Li V SERIES PC-V2100B Black Computer Case
Power Supply - I-STAR TC-600PF 600W Power Supply


The server will be located in my AV Rack or right next to it depending upon the case. Both cases are too large to be located in my wiring closet. For the near future the server will just be a file server. The OS will be on a raid 1 array which will be software based using the 80GB hard drives. The Storage will be on a raid 5 array with 3 TB of space using the Maxtor drive, which will use the 3ware card with eleven drives and one drive as a hot spare. No more than five devices will connect to it concurrently. The server must be able to stream data to two devices at 30 Mb/s with peaks of 40 Mb/s, while three other devices are accessing files. File size will range from a few KB to no more than 20 GB. The server will have dual uplinks to my gigabit network using the onboard nics. The server is not mission critical so 99.9% uptime is not critical but I would prefer to try keep it up 99.9% of the time. The server will also behind a large UPS.

Questions
1) Is a rack mount case with drive trays worth the premium over a full tower case?
2) Would it be wise to use entry-level server motherboard and p4 from Intel or move up to a mid level hardware?
3) Would it be wise to scrap the Intel hardware all together and use AMD hardware instead?
4) Could someone help me find an inexpensive server motherboard with 2 x 64 bit (133mhz) PCI-X slots and dual gigabit LAN? It can be AMD or Intel hardware.
5) How important would a redundant power supply be?
6) Is it wise to have the OS software raided in Windows?
7) Once all the spaced is used up what would be the best option?

I am open to any advice about the system good or bad so have at it. You can even build your own dream storage system and recommend it to me.

Nols
 
Step 1) Ditch the 3ware. Their older cards were fine, but this generation has made no improvements. See this thread or this badly done review (the only one out yet, or I'd link a better one). The feature set just doesn't justify the cost. Froogle tells me the 12-port card is $725. The Areca, with raid 6 support (look into this, it's worth the extra money!), is $770 in pci-X or $820 in pci-E.

Step 2) Go for an Opteron board. Xeons just don't cut it any more as far as I'm concerned. Survey of Froogle says that board is about $300. I'd suggest this board instead; 2 full-bandwidth pci-express x16 slots for about $200. Another option would be this; one x16 slot and one pci-X, two onboard LANs. $320 refurb or $410 new, or step up to the 2895 for $430. Here's an auction for Opteron 240s on ebay for $80 each; those'd be more than enough. There were a bunch for $50 up earlier, but apparently those are gone now. You could also buy one slower one, and upgrade to another later.

Step 3) Linux! Free operating system, reliability like no other.

These are the 3 steps to a good file server in my book. Areca, low-end Opteron, Linux. Discuss.

 
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nols said:
The server will be located in my AV Rack or right next to it depending upon the case. Both cases are too large to be located in my wiring closet. For the near future the server will just be a file server. The OS will be on a raid 1 array which will be software based using the 80GB hard drives. The Storage will be on a raid 5 array with 3 TB of space using the Maxtor drive, which will use the 3ware card with eleven drives and one drive as a hot spare. No more than five devices will connect to it concurrently. The server must be able to stream data to two devices at 30 Mb/s with peaks of 40 Mb/s, while three other devices are accessing files. File size will range from a few KB to no more than 20 GB. The server will have dual uplinks to my gigabit network using the onboard nics. The server is not mission critical so 99.9% uptime is not critical but I would prefer to try keep it up 99.9% of the time. The server will also behind a large UPS.
Click to expand...
Just so we are on the same page, 30-40 megabit (not megabyte) for each of the streams, correct? How big are the files that are being accessed by the three other devices, and what are their throughput requirements? A second array to service them may be desirable, but out of your price range :(

I agree with Mage. If you want performance, you want Areca. If you don't require top flight performance, get a HighPoint or run software and save the bucks. 3Ware products are a compromise that try to please everyone and end up pleasing noone.

PCI-X is a good idea here, but you don't need 133MHz PCI-X. Even 66MHz PCI-X is more than enough bandwidth to max out two GigE connections.

As for the power supply, you will want an EPS 12V from Seasonic, Enermax, PCP&C or Zippy. You will want around 16A on +12V1 for a dual CPU system (a single CPU system can get by with around 10A), and around 1A for each hard drive you plan to install on the peripheral +12 rail(s). I don't think redundant PSUs are a worthwhile expenditure here, especially if you invest in a quality UPS.

Having the OS in software RAID will allow you to move the 80GB drives to a different system without too much trouble, but that's not a tremendous advantage for you, as the reinstalling Windows will be a piece of cake compared to rebuilding your data array and restoring from a backup (you will have backups, right?)
 
unhappy_mage

1) I knew about the Areca controller and was turn away from it because of the high cost, but raid 6 might be worth it.
2) The price for the Opterons and mobo is about equal with the p4 and mobo, so I just may go with AMD this round.
3) Already own Win2k3 server so I am going to stick with it.

Douglite

1) Yup 30 - 40 megabit for two streams. The files for the other three devices may be up to 1 gigabyte but mostly under 50 megabytes. I'll say throughput will be about 150 megabits per second. A second array is out of my price range.
2) If 150 megabit reads are possible with software raid it might be the way to go. If it is not possible than I could go with a HighPoint card or something similar. If I go with software in Windows depending apon the controllers I use, hot swapping might not be possible but chances are it will be possible.
3) Power supply suggestions are good. Getting a non-redundant PSU will save me a nice chunk of change.
4) Backups of a terabyte array... ouch, time to buy dvd+r's in bulk. Yeah I will backup the important portion of the array each month and than the less important yearly.
 
1) The Areca's only $100 away from the 3ware, and the performance difference is leagues.
2) I think you'll enjoy the performance difference ;)
3) Ok, missed that part of the post.

2) If you can't get 150 megabit (~20 MB/s) out of a software array, something is SERIOUSLY wrong. I'll be getting a software array with 3 disks together later this week, I'll be posting benchmarks ad nauseam.
3) Definitely a non-redundant PSU for this; unless this was a 99.9% kind of thing, it's overkill.
4) Yep, DVD+RW wouldn't be a bad idea either. And maybe a media loader. Even 1 TB of data means 200 DVD-Rs, that's about a day and a half at 8x.

 
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