[SERVER] 96 Terabyte Storage/Virtualisation server, My attempt at the 10TB+ thread

[.:MARK:.]

So a friend of mine likes Schnitzel (@looney), but I haven't eaten one before so I feel I must compensate by saying schnitzel.

Haven't done a planning thread so I'll just briefly discuss what I need here.

I need a server for running virtual machines and media storage, also to put me in that thread...

The plan is that I will have a Supermicro board with 2 E5 2640v2 chips and 64GB of ECC RAM, for the storage I will have an LSI RAID card with a HP SAS expander and 24 4TB drives in RAID 6 (Feel free to comment or suggest an alternative RAID setup).

The Parts:

[DELIVERED]      Supermicro X9DRH-iF dual socket motherboard

[DELIVERED]      HP 24 Port SAS Expander 468405-001

[DELIVERED]      LSI MEGARAID 9260-8i RAID card

[DELIVERED]      64GB Samsung DDR3 1333 ECC (8x8GB)

[DELIVERED]      64GB Hynix DDR3 ECC (4x16GB)

[DELIVERED]      Corsair AX860 PSU

[DELIVERED 4/24] 4TB Seagate ST4000DM000

[DELIVERED]      4U Server Case w/ 24x 3.5inch Hot-Swappable (Norco RPC-4224 clone)

[DELIVERED]      Intel Xeon E5-2640v2

[DELIVERED]      Intel Xeon E5-2640v2

[DELIVERED]      Noctua NH-U9DX i4 Xeon CPU Cooler

[DELIVERED]      Noctua NH-U9DX i4 Xeon CPU Cooler

Pictures below \/

Motherboard

SAS Expander

RAID Card

Build So Far

[Sauron]

That looks like one HELL of a build! Hopefully you'll bring us a build log

 

So you're missing the psu, case, and graphics card, right?

 

For the gpu, it all depends on what screen(s) you need to power. For a single, non-UHD screen you can safely pick up one of the cheapest gpu on the market, an hd6450 or gt 610.

 

The case needs to be big. A solid and (relatively) inexpensive option is the CM HAF Stacker 935, which offers plenty of (expandable!) room for your motherboard and especially hard drives.

 

For the power supply you need something beefy, but not too much since you don't have any power hungry gpus. It also needs to be extremely stable and efficient, so this seasonic 660W platinum rated psu should be perfect: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss660xp2

[.:MARK:.]

Are you replying to the right thread?

The server is going to be headless

And the case is already chosen.

You do have a point with the PSU, I need to think about one, if you know one which is suitable for this SERVER then please let me know.

[Sidiox]

That looks like one HELL of a build! Hopefully you'll bring us a build log

 

So you're missing the psu, case, and graphics card, right?

 

For the gpu, it all depends on what screen(s) you need to power. For a single, non-UHD screen you can safely pick up one of the cheapest gpu on the market, an hd6450 or gt 610.

 

The case needs to be big. A solid and (relatively) inexpensive option is the CM HAF Stacker 935, which offers plenty of (expandable!) room for your motherboard and especially hard drives.

 

For the power supply you need something beefy, but not too much since you don't have any power hungry gpus. It also needs to be extremely stable and efficient, so this seasonic 660W platinum rated psu should be perfect: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss660xp2

Sauron pls...

PSU, case and GPU? Are you reading his build? He has 4U case and the board has an integrated GPU.....

Also this is a server, not a gaming build, so a dedicated GPU is not needed at all....

And he should get somthing a bit more server grade (high end) as far as PSU goes

[Sauron]

Are you replying to the right thread?

The server is going to be headless

And the case is already chosen.

You do have a point with the PSU, I need to think about one, if you know one which is suitable for this SERVER then please let me know.

 

Sauron pls...

PSU, case and GPU? Are you reading his build? He has 4U case and the board has an integrated GPU.....

Also this is a server, not a gaming build, so a dedicated GPU is not needed at all....

And he should get somthing a bit more server grade (high end) as far as PSU goes

 

Well it looks like replying to threads right after waking up is a bad idea lol not sure what I was thinking

[.:MARK:.]

UPDATE!

 

RAID card, SAS expander and Motherboard are all here, RAM is still shipping and so is the PSU. Check OP for current status of components. Pics added. Edit, Also had to buy full height bracket for RAID card

[.:MARK:.]

UPDATE!

 

RAM is here, will put pics on soon.

[X_Rated_Box]

hyped

...equals to subbed

[.:MARK:.]

UPDATE!

PSU arrived.

 

So I want to take a minute to discuss how the software is going to go.

I want to have ESXi on this thing, but I also want to run the RAID array with a VM for the NAS operations. This means I'll most likely need to pass-through the RAID controller to a VM like Debian or Windows, then have that share the array via Samba on the LAN. I will also have to get 2 SSDs for a RAID1 array that will run off the board, for the VM datastore as I wont be getting a SAN, yet...

[.:MARK:.]

WooHoo! Got Both CPUs plus another 64GB of RAM for an amazing deal! Only problem is I need a 2011 v1 chip to update my bios, so now I gotta ask around for one to borrow.

[waggythegeek]

Subbed. Not often enough does one see a high grade server build.

[.:MARK:.]

SERVER is ONLINE, Woohoo!

So I upgraded the BIOS thanks to @legopc for sending his CPU.

 

ESXi is installed to test the hardware initially. For now only one CPU is hooked up and 64GB or RAM, I know dissapointing right!?

 

But next month I shall buy a few things to make the server almost fully usable:

 

ESXi boot drive to run off the internal USB port.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ43-032G-G46-Ultra-Flash-Drive/dp/B00LLER2CS/

 

A second Noctua cooler so that I can actually use my other CPU!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/noctua-NH-U9DXi4-Noctua-NH-U9DX-i4/dp/B00E1JGFA0/

 

SSD datastore to hold all the VMs, I want to get the 2TB Samsung 850 pro but the sheer price makes it unlikely, 1TB will do and I'll get a second one later.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/samsung-850-pro-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-read-550mb-s-write-520mb-s-100k-90k-iops-max

 

I also want to get a chassis but the one I want to out of stock all the time so I will see what I can do.

[Mattias Edeslatt]

We want more hardware pr0n...  :wub:

[.:MARK:.]

UPDATE!

Server is more or less done, I have the second cooler, so the second CPU is in and so is the rest of the RAM.

Also I got the Chassis and ESXi boot drive.

All that is left is some SFF 8087 cables which I'll probably get this month, and the 1TB 850 PRO next month.

[Hikaru12]

UPDATE!

Server is more or less done, I have the second cooler, so the second CPU is in and so is the rest of the RAM.

Also I got the Chassis and ESXi boot drive.

All that is left is some SFF 8087 cables which I'll probably get this month, and the 1TB 850 PRO next month.

 

What OS? Why the RAID Card? If you're going with FreeNAS using any RAID Card unless it's in JBOD is not recommended.

[.:MARK:.]

What OS? Why the RAID Card? If you're going with FreeNAS using any RAID Card unless it's in JBOD is not recommended.

I'm gong with ESXi as my host OS (ESXi is a HyperVisor).

I will be using this server for Virtualisation and storage, I will have a Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Machine which will have the RAID card passed through to it. This way I can have resources for other things that I plan on doing with the server. I don't plan on doing FreeNAS despite having all the hardware needed for it.