Openfiler Spec

[plexer]

I'm looking to put together a big disk system next year for backups with room to grow.

I'm currently looking at some kit such as:

6 X BARRACUDA 7200.11 750GB 32MB SATA/300 8.5MS 7200RPM
1 X BARRACUDA 120GB system drive
1 x Supermicro PDSME+ Motherboard - Intel 3010 Server Chipset
1 x 4gb Kingston ECC Server RAM
1 x Intel Quad Core CPU - $299.00
2 x Supermicro SAT2-MV8 8 port SATA Controller (not raid)
1 x Case with 2 x Redundant PSU's and preferably hot swap enclosures for
16

This gives me 3TB of space with RAID6 with the option of putting 2 more drives into the first 8 drive array for 4.5TB then creating a second 8 drive array for another 4.5TB.

The main use will be backing up the servers but several gigs of space for storage, iscsi targets for video or music possibly.

I wasn't looking at hardware raid as I read that openfiler can't tell you if a drive has failed whereas if it's doing software raid it can.

Cheers,

Ben

[webman]

Software RAID (with parity especially) usually has adverse effects on performance.

[plexer]

Yes it does but then when you're using a whacking great cpu with lots of ram it may not be so bad.

I need to know when a drive has failed so other hardware recommendations welcome.

Ben

[ChrisH]

Another plus if you are using a big cpu is that you dont have to worry about your raid controller dying and not being able to replace it with something the same/similar so you can access your data.

[plexer]

Ah yes that was the other reason

I've just requested some details from Xinit on a prebuilt 16 drive capable jobby

Ben

[sahmeepee]

I'd very much appreciate it if you share your findings with the group I've been looking at a very similar project recently, but wasn't really planning on using it for user storage though - just backups - so manageability was slightly less of an issue.

I'd looked at these Linksys NAS chassis:

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=1346537

which seemed like a good idea - the OS is stored in flash memory, so you don't have to waste any disk space on it. There were some pretty discouraging forum posts though, so I'm a bit wary of them now.

Obviously your solution will come in a bit more pricey, but is much more scalable and has the benefit of iSCSI which the Linksys server lacks.

[rush_tech]

We are also looking at openfiler at the moment, not to far down the road yet planning on getting it up and running on an old PC first. Then look at the hardware.

Will keep a close eye on this thread.

[rush_tech]

Has anybody built a box for openfiler yet? Found Openfiler very useful with iscsi targets. Just looking at the Hardware now

[Elky]

We are currently looking in to a couple of solutions for an EduGeeker with regards to this. If anyone would like further information once we have this then please let me know

Regards

[plexer]

It's me they're looking at a system for and I thought it would be good to be able to provide as a solution.

Just to give idea of prices from Xinit:

* SharqStor NS3160 - 3U Quad Core Xeon NAS Appliance

* 3U Rackmount Chassis - 550W Redundant PSU / 16x SATA Disk Drive Bays
- -
* S5372-LC Dual Quad Xeon Motherboard - -
* 1 x Xeon Low Voltage L5335 (2.0 Ghz) 1333Mhz FSB Quad Core 8MB L2
Cache - -
* 2 x 2Gb (4GB) (633MHz) DDR2 ECC Registered Memory- -
* AMCC/3Ware 9650SE-16LP PCI-e SATA II 16-port RAID Controller - -
* AMCC/3Ware 9XXX Battery Backup Unit - -
* AMCC/3Ware 8006-2 LP PCI-x SATA 2-port RAID Controller - -
* 8 x Seagate 1TB 7200RPM SATA II HDD (enterprise 24x7 drives)- -
* Slimline 8x DVD / 24x CD-ROM Drive - -
* 1.44MB Slim Floppy Drive - -
* 2 x HGST 80GB 5400RPM SATA II HDD - (mirrored O/S boot drives) - -
* M3291 IPMI 2.0 BMC Card (remote management) - -
* Dual Embedded Gigabit Ethernet - -
* 28" Rackmount Slider Rails Kit
* Free Openfiler Installation.
* 3Yr Warranty on all parts.
Price 3915.00 Ex Vat & Delivery.

* SharqStor NS2080 - 2U Quad Core Xeon NAS Appliance
* 2U Rackmount Chassis - 550W Redundant PSU / 8x SATA Disk Drive Bays -
-
* S5372-LC Dual Quad Xeon Motherboard - -
* 1 x Xeon Low Voltage L5335 (2.0 Ghz) 1333Mhz FSB Quad Core 8MB L2
Cache - -
* 2 x 2Gb (4GB) (633MHz) DDR2 ECC Registered Memory- -
* AMCC/3Ware 9650SE-8LP PCI-e SATA II 8-port RAID Controller - -
* AMCC/3Ware 9XXX Battery Backup Unit - -
* AMCC/3Ware 8006-2 LP PCI-x SATA 2-port RAID Controller - -
* 8 x Seagate 1TB 7200RPM SATA II HDD (enterprise 24x7 drives)- -
* Slimline 8x DVD / 24x CD-ROM Drive - -
* 1.44MB Slim Floppy Drive - -
* 2 x HGST 80GB 5400RPM SATA II HDD - (mirrored O/S boot drives) - -
* M3291 IPMI 2.0 BMC Card (remote management) - -
* Dual Embedded Gigabit Ethernet - -
* 28" Rackmount Slider Rails Kit
* Free Openfiler Installation.
* 3Yr Warranty on all parts.

Price £3427.00 Ex Vat & Delivery.

Ben

[plexer]

Ok I've had the pricing back from SCL on this and we are looking at the following:

Software Raid version

Intel SSR212MC2BR storage server chassis

Intel Xeon 5410 Quad CPU

8x 750Gb Seagate SATA II storage drives

1x 100Gb 2.5” boot drive

4Gb ECC FB DIMMS (2x 2Gb)

Dual Gigabit LAN

3 year warranty

£2600



Hardware Raid version – as above but with hardware RAID with the chassis

Intel SSR212MC2RBR storage server chassis

Intel Xeon 5410 Quad CPU

8x 750Gb Seagate SATA II storage drives

1x 100Gb 2.5” boot drive

4Gb ECC FB DIMMS (2x 2Gb)

Dual Gigabit LAN

3 year warranty

£2950

Those prices are ex vat and delivery.

Ben

[Elky]

Sorry guys, please ignore the software RAID version for the mo. We are just in discussions with Intel over how many drives can be supported in what configurations.

Will keep you updated

[plexer]

Ok the final solution that SCL have come up with is:

Software Raid version
Intel SSR212MC2BR storage server chassis
Intel Xeon 5410 Quad CPU
8x 750Gb Enterprise Seagate SATA II storage drives
2x 100Gb 2.5” boot drive
4Gb ECC FB DIMMS (2x 2Gb)
Dual Gigabit LAN
3 year warranty
£2825ex VAT

What do you think?

Ben

[Geoff]

Sounds good.

[Elky]

Looks good - I say go for it! :P