Building a file server for home

[Dan Langille]

This is a continuation of a post I started in -stable.
http://marc.info/?t=126560537900002&r=1&w=2

I'm going to be running FreeBSD 8.x with RAIDZ. Most of what I've
decided upon / has been suggested is at
http://dan.langille.org/2010/02/10/the-file-server/

In short, I'm pretty much decided upon this case:

* Athena Power CA-SWH01BH8 Pedestal case
* http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192058
* contains 2 SATAx4 Hot-Swap HDD bays
* sounds like good value for a case with hot swap
* got a better case?

Various suggestions have been made for the motherboard and HDD. I'm
asking you folks for suggestions based on what you know.

Here's the list of items to be selected, but feel free to suggest stuff
not listed:

* mother board
* power supply
* hard drives
* RAM
* perhaps a caching SSD

If the motherboard lacks the SATA connections, I'm probably going to use
the Syba PCI Express SATA II 4 x Ports RAID Controller Card SY-PEX40008:

http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Express-Ports-Controller-SY-PEX40008/dp/B002R0DZWQ/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258452902&sr=1-22

Thanks.

[Dan Langille]

KAYVEN RIESE wrote:
>
> What about the wire?

I have no idea what you refer to.

[KAYVEN RIESE]

What about the wire?

On Wed, 10 Feb 2010, Dan Langille wrote:

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*----------------------------------------------------------*
Kayven Riese, BSCS, MS (Physiology and Biophysics)
(415) 902 5513 cellular
http://kayve.net
Webmaster http://ChessYoga.org
*----------------------------------------------------------*

[KAYVEN RIESE]

What about the wire?

On Wed, 10 Feb 2010, Dan Langille wrote:

[KAYVEN RIESE]

On Wed, 10 Feb 2010, Dan Langille wrote:

> KAYVEN RIESE wrote:
>>
>> What about the wire?
>
> I have no idea what you refer to.

A server has to talk to clients, right?

[Patrick Proniewski]

On 11 févr. 10, at 04:05, Dan Langille wrote:

> In short, I'm pretty much decided upon this case:
>
> * Athena Power CA-SWH01BH8 Pedestal case
> * http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192058
> * contains 2 SATAx4 Hot-Swap HDD bays
> * sounds like good value for a case with hot swap
> * got a better case?

I would probably go for a SuperWorkstation (www.supermicro.com), like
this one for example: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/4U/7046/SYS-7046A-6.cfm

It's more expensive, for sure, than a combo of Athena case / MSI
board, but it surely rocks.
As a cheaper alternative, you might want to consider buying a
SuperMicro (or Tyan) motherboard to put into your Athena case.

patpro

[Dan Langille]

Patrick Proniewski wrote:

> On 11 f�vr. 10, at 04:05, Dan Langille wrote:
>
>> In short, I'm pretty much decided upon this case:
>>
>> * Athena Power CA-SWH01BH8 Pedestal case
>> * http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192058
>> * contains 2 SATAx4 Hot-Swap HDD bays
>> * sounds like good value for a case with hot swap
>> * got a better case?
>
>
> I would probably go for a SuperWorkstation (www.supermicro.com), like
> this one for example:
> http://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/4U/7046/SYS-7046A-6.cfm
>
> It's more expensive, for sure, than a combo of Athena case / MSI board,
> but it surely rocks.

From Newegg, it's $900 :
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101241

Considering the case I wanted is $270.

Going with rough guesses:

* add PSU - $140
* add M/B - $200

And we're at $610

But the M/B I'm getting with the Supermicro is actually a $500 m/b.

> As a cheaper alternative, you might want to consider buying a SuperMicro
> (or Tyan) motherboard to put into your Athena case.

That may be an option, but if I did that, I don't think I'd be buying
the above board.

I take it you are using the above server? If so what RAM and CPU did
you put into it?

[patpro]

by the way, more things to say:

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:30:41 -0500, Dan Langille <d...@langille.org> wrote:

>> I would probably go for a SuperWorkstation (www.supermicro.com), like
>> this one for example:
>> http://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/4U/7046/SYS-7046A-6.cfm
>>
>> It's more expensive, for sure, than a combo of Athena case / MSI board,

>> but it surely rocks.
>
> From Newegg, it's $900 :
> http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101241

that's not the same. NewEgg's one is the 7046A-T
http://www.supermicro.nl/products/system/4U/7046/SYS-7046A-T.cfm

>> As a cheaper alternative, you might want to consider buying a
SuperMicro
>> (or Tyan) motherboard to put into your Athena case.
>
> That may be an option, but if I did that, I don't think I'd be buying
> the above board.

and going for the athena case allows you to chose a quiet PSU... I've no
idea about the real noise produced by SuperMicro workstation. I just know
you surely don't want one of their 1U superserver in your house.

[patpro]

> I take it you are using the above server? If so what RAM and CPU did
> you put into it?

I don't use this particular hardware, but I use other SuperMicro (1U
SuperServers), or Tyan (Motherboard) hardware, at home and at work for
years. And I'm really happy with both.

patpro

[Dan Langille]

Thank you.

After discussions on IRC, it seems these may be a good choice as well:

SUPERMICRO SYS-5046A-XB 4U Server Intel X58 LGA 1366 Intel Core i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101236
At $750 it's roughly $150 cheaper

Plus it uses a cheaper CPU:
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA
1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $290

Then add the RAM and the HDD.

--
Dan Langille -- http://langille.org/

[Dan Langille]

Definitely not! Even though it'll be in the basement, it would still be
heard on the ground floor.

FWIW, Supermicro markets this the SYS-5046A-XB as "Whisper Quiet
Workstation (27dB) with nVidia� SLI� and ATI� CrossfireX � Technology
Support"

[Olivier Gautherot]

> Workstation (27dB) with nVidia� SLI� and ATI� CrossfireX � Technology
> Support"

As a cheap alternative, I have an Atom 330 motherboard which works great -
and would certainly be sufficient for a home server. FreeBSD sees is as a
4-processor motherboard. Its low power consumption is a good candidate for a
quiet case. You can get them for less than USD 100,- with processor in the
USA (tax included). You just need to add memory and a disk for a complete
system.

For my benchmark: it compiles Openoffice in 6 to 7 hours :-) Not bad for a
20W motherboard...

Cheers
--
Olivier Gautherot
oli...@gautherot.net
Cel:+56 98 730 9361
www.gautherot.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ogautherot

[Dan Langille]

The list is now:
http://dan.langille.org/2010/02/11/the-file-server-more-detail/

1. Samsung SATA CD/DVD Burner $20 (+ $8 shipping)
2. SuperMicro 5046A $750 (+$43 shipping)
3. RocketRAID 2300 PCIe 4x SATA $20 (+$2 shipping)
4. Crucial 3�2G ECC DDR3-1333 $191 (+ $6 shipping)
5. Xeon W3520 $310

Total price in cart: $1389.95 + $52.95 shipping = $1441.90

Not included: HDD, which will be my next task.

It's not looking like a simple home server any more. What happened? ;)

[Dan Langille]

I recently posted the following to the thread in -stable:

I was recently told about Lian Lia cases, which I think are great. As a
result, I've gone with a tower case without hot-swap. The parts are
listed at and reproduced below:

http://dan.langille.org/2010/02/15/a-full-tower-case/

1. LIAN LI PC-A71F Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case $240
(from mwave)
2. Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W PSU $80
3. Samsung SATA CD/DVD Burner $20 (+ $8 shipping)
4. Intel S3200SHV LGA 775 Intel 3200 m/b $200
5. Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 CPU $190
6. SATA cables $22
7. Supermicro LSI MegaRAID 8 Port SAS RAID Controller $118
8. Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM ECC $97

Total cost is about $1020 with shipping. Plus HDD.

No purchases yet, but the above is what appeals to me now.

[Matthew D. Fuller]

Just for a few other random ideas...

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 12:16:40PM -0500 I heard the voice of
Dan Langille, and lo! it spake thus:

>
> I was recently told about Lian Lia cases, which I think are great.

Lian Li are nice cases. I had one around my previous workstation and
had no real complaints. However, my current (and preferred) is an
older version of CalPC's full tower case:
<http://www.calpc.com/catalog/full_tower.html>. It's big, it's heavy,
it's steel, it's spacious, it's not excessively pretty... but it's
solid. My drives aren't in hot-swap racks, I use some of the (again
CalPC) 2-bay/3-drive bay coolers with 80mm fans on the front. They
also have 3-bay/5-drive coolers that will take 120mm fans that aren't
listed on their website; I'd prefer that for more air and lower noise,
I just had these 2-bay on hand (I've been using gobs of them for more
than 10 years; cool drives are happy drives!). Tell 'em I sent you;
it won't do any good, but maybe it'll get me a few bucks off next time
I order stuff 8-}

> 2. Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W PSU $80

I always just reflexively buy PC Power & Cooling power supplies. The
Silencer 610
<http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-610-eps12v.html> would
be the equivalent to your choice there. Probably costs a few bucks
more. They put out lots of very well-regulated power, age well,
they're quiet sound-wise, and (important to those of us who play with
MHz that aren't in a computer) quiet RF-wise too. I don't actually
know how the Antec compares in output cleanliness; maybe it's as good.

--
Matthew Fuller (MF4839) | full...@over-yonder.net
Systems/Network Administrator | http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/
On the Internet, nobody can hear you scream.