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Where to start? NAS/Server build

K

Kelvarr

Supreme [H]ardness
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So I will have to update this with specific info a little later on things like exact motherboard model. Here is what I have (built so far, no OS).

Case: Rocketfish Lian-Li clone
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Mobo: ASRock AM3 (I'll get exact model later)
RAM: 4x4GB Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
PSU: Corsair HX620
Cooler: Corsair H50
Other hardware: PCI 4-port Sata controller, DVDRW
Hard Drives:

I want to build a home NAS/server. Here are my plans for it: A) Media Server (I have 3 HTPC's in the house and want them to be able to access the DVD/Bluray rips I have stored). B) Linux server. C)Virtual Machine Host.

I'll tackle each separately now:
A) Media Server: First and foremost, this will be a Media server to my HTPC's. Currently, I am running 2x1.5TB USB drives as storage for my DVD rips. I am running out of space for this, hence this build. I eventually plan on having not only my DVD rips, but adding Blu-ray rips and MP3's. I currently have 6x1.5TB Seagate LP drives for the proposed storage. I am unsure as to how I am going to utilize my storage. Current Plan: Utilize mdadm Linux software RAID to create a RAID6 array for nothing but media storage. I am open to suggestions on this, as I am not 100% sold on that. I have been considering FreeNAS, SnapRAID as alternates. Ideally, I want to keep as much of the 9TB of potential space I have. If RAID6 is the best option, so be it. I will be keeping the 2x1.5TB USB drives and a 1TB USB drive and a 3TB USB drive as backup for the media.

I also picked up an external eSATA 4-bay cage (the kind that just pools the drives together and (I assume) presents them as one drive to the OS) containing an additional 3x1.5TB hard drives. I will probably also designate this as backup.

B) Linux Server: This will probably actually be the Host OS (Fedora 17), but I will get into that in a bit. I am considering this because of a couple reasons: 1) I am leaning towards mdraid and, 2) I want to run a few VM's on it (Linux sandbox, possibly another server, etc), which leads me to...Given that I have 2x32GB SSD's that I will be using for the HostOS, alongside my current plan of using mdadm software RAID, I am leaning towards Fedora 17 as the Operating System. Again, open to suggestions. Really, I think the only other consideration at this point is to run VMware vSphere Hypervisor on it, and then run a Linux VM on that.

C) Virtual Machine Host: I was planning on using a VM manager (KVM) from Linux to host a couple of other VM's, such as possibly Windows Server, a Windows 7 VM, and a Linux Desktop VM sandbox. Barring this, I will be running VMware vSphere Hypervisor, and creating a few VM's that way. Open to suggestions here.


Another primary goal of this server is to utilize stuff I already have, and don't (necessarily) need to purchase. Would I like to run with one of the LSI or Areca SAS/SATA cards? Sure. Can I? Nope. I can't afford to put any money into this right now. So I must stick with the free/open source options. PLEASE do not recommend ZFS. I DO NOT have ECC RAM, and cannot afford to get it right now.

Now, one thing this all depends on is my Linux apptitude. Right now, I am a beginner. At the beginning of beginner. One of my good buddies is very advanced though, and he can help me with situations that arise. In fact, that is one of the reasons why I want to run Linux, is so that I can make myself more accustomed to it. That's also the reason for a Linux sandbox.

Here are a few things I'm looking for opinions on:
  • RAID6 (linux software RAID) vs something like FlexRAID, SnapRAID, FreeNAS, unRAID....something with a pooling feature.
  • Opinions on the above softwares: FlexRAID, SnapRAID, FreeNAS, unRAID, Something else you recommend.
  • Linux HostOS vs VMWare vSphere Hypervisor - If I go with the VMWare, I will still be installing a Linux server somewhere, but it would take the Virtual Machine managing away from the Host Linux OS, and dump it on the VMWare.
 
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I have tried, FreeNAS, Nexenta and Flex raid in the end I went with running an ESX host with a ubuntu VM. I basically passed 2 controllers right into the VM and created a Raid 6 using 10x2tb WD black drives, this holds all my media and I created a NFS share and mounted it back to VMware to host about 4 or 5 vms and its super fast.

Its caused me zero problems and its been up for over a year, a few of my buddys have similar setups and they have had no issues as well.
 
brutalizer said:
Have you considered using ZFS? Then you dont need a separate hardware raid card.

You can run ZFS on Linux, or on Unix (i.e. Solaris). If you want to use a VM and VMware ESXI, here is a guide for Solaris. The Linux setup should be similar
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573272
Click to expand...

I thought about it, but I know nothing about it. The biggest thing that I read (or thought I read somewhere) is that you really should have ECC RAM for ZFS. If I can get by without ECC, I may look into it more.
 
Atomicslave said:
I have tried, FreeNAS, Nexenta and Flex raid in the end I went with running an ESX host with a ubuntu VM. I basically passed 2 controllers right into the VM and created a Raid 6 using 10x2tb WD black drives, this holds all my media and I created a NFS share and mounted it back to VMware to host about 4 or 5 vms and its super fast.

Its caused me zero problems and its been up for over a year, a few of my buddys have similar setups and they have had no issues as well.
Click to expand...

So you have: ESXi > Ubuntu > NFS Share > ESXi

So all of the NFS sharing (which is available to all VM's you create on that machine) is served up by the Ubuntu VM, if I am reading you right.
 
Kelvarr said:
I thought about it, but I know nothing about it. The biggest thing that I read (or thought I read somewhere) is that you really should have ECC RAM for ZFS. If I can get by without ECC, I may look into it more.
Click to expand...

No solution needs ECC but you want ECC.
ECC is the same for RAM what Raid is for disks - it detects errors.

Even secure ZFS Raid storage with checksums may be useless when you allow undetected Ram errors. ZFS + ECC is used to get the best possible data security.

ZFS does not need Raid or ECC. But I need both for my data..
 
AMD chips support unbuffered ECC, as long as the motherboard does. ASUS is pretty good about it, which is why I went with them for my ZFS build. You might check out the spec sheet for your board. ECC ram is barely more expensive than non.
 
I think doing ZFSonLinux could be a very interesting proposition in this regard. Many distros have ppa's for it so you can have all of the packages of a full distro along with ZFS. This is what I moved to. I had OI for a while but I really really missed having all of the programs (and drivers) that just made things easier. So I moved over and I couldn't be happier.

I'm using it as a Media Server for my HTPC's as well and it works great.

That being said mdadm is no slouch either. I don't think you could go wrong either way.
 
I'm not sure I would go with ZFS for Linux. I don't think it's mature enough for production. Either go with FreeBSD(FreeNAS) or Solaris/OpenIndiana(napp-it).

As far as ESX goes, check if you have VT-d support, so you can passthrough the hard drive controllers to the OS, otherwise there is no profit from the ZFS since it's not in control of the hard drives.
 
levak said:
I'm not sure I would go with ZFS for Linux. I don't think it's mature enough for production. Either go with FreeBSD(FreeNAS) or Solaris/OpenIndiana(napp-it).

As far as ESX goes, check if you have VT-d support, so you can passthrough the hard drive controllers to the OS, otherwise there is no profit from the ZFS since it's not in control of the hard drives.
Click to expand...

It's no worse than FreeBSD or OI. I've run all three of them. All of them have different issues and I wouldn't call any of them enterprise grade that's for sure. Although for home use any of them will suffice.
 
Kelvarr said:
So you have: ESXi > Ubuntu > NFS Share > ESXi

So all of the NFS sharing (which is available to all VM's you create on that machine) is served up by the Ubuntu VM, if I am reading you right.
Click to expand...

Yea thats correct, works pretty well and all my stuff is protected against 2 disk fails, data and VMs.
 
So I would like to bump this up. I started it, but RealLife has gotten in the way again *shakes fist furiously at the sky*, and this project has sat in stasis since.

I assume there have been some updates to things, and am looking for opinions again, since I will be working on this again shortly.
 
The AMD option is still good and probably the cheapest if you're going to use ECC. I'm using it as below and very happy with it.
 
hotcrandel said:
The AMD option is still good and probably the cheapest if you're going to use ECC. I'm using it as below and very happy with it.
Click to expand...

Being the holiday season, I don't really have the extra money for ECC. I have 16GB of non-ECC RAM that I can use, but that's what I'm limited to for the foreseeable future.
 
What about getting an ibm m1015 SAS sata controller from ebay and flashing it to an LSI 9210?
 
Rune75 said:
What about getting an ibm m1015 SAS sata controller from ebay and flashing it to an LSI 9210?
Click to expand...

Maybe an option in the future, but see my previous statement. Hence, why I am considering a software solution.
 
So I'll bump this. I haven't had a chance to implement anything. I need to do something soon as I am under 100GB free.

I will strike out one thing. The solution has to cost me $0. I have no money to put into a solution, so currently, I am leaning towards straight up Linux. Either mdadm RAID6, or snapraid.
 
As i said before linux mdraid has been very solid for me and its super easy to setup. I use command line but there are GUI front ends for most distros.

Send me a PM if you go that route and need any help
 
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