Questions: Server Build for small VFX vendor.

[timdenby]

Hey guys, looking for some advice on building a server.

 

I have recently joined a small VFX team working out of Wellington New Zealand. I have been living and working with these guys for almost 2 years and have been building PCs for a while with success. However we are now finding that, as a group of six, we are in need of a server as multiple users are dealing with large files.

 

I am pretty competent when it comes to building workstation PC rigs but have found getting my head around what exactly is involved with building a server difficult. Is there anyone who could explain to me what I need to do based on the needs of this group?

 

We are looking for high-speed (10Gigabit) storage of around 32TB including redundancy with an off-site back-up of equal size that we can copy/mirror/sync to at the end of each day. We are also getting VDSL for the flat we are using as an office (100Mb/s) which will allow us to ship the 2K resolution shots we complete on our current project to Australia where it will be cut by the editor and director.

 

The current budget is $5000, but we can be flexible if it gives us the speed and efficiency we need. Also what kind of software would be best for this setup?

 

Thanks in advance for your input!

[scottyseng]

Hey guys, looking for some advice on building a server.

 

I have recently joined a small VFX team working out of Wellington New Zealand. I have been living and working with these guys for almost 2 years and have been building PCs for a while with success. However we are now finding that, as a group of six, we are in need of a server as multiple users are dealing with large files.

 

I am pretty competent when it comes to building workstation PC rigs but have found getting my head around what exactly is involved with building a server difficult. Is there anyone who could explain to me what I need to do based on the needs of this group?

 

We are looking for high-speed (10Gigabit) storage of around 32TB including redundancy with an off-site back-up of equal size that we can copy/mirror/sync to at the end of each day. We are also getting VDSL for the flat we are using as an office (100Mb/s) which will allow us to ship the 2K resolution shots we complete on our current project to Australia where it will be cut by the editor and director.

 

The current budget is $5000, but we can be flexible if it gives us the speed and efficiency we need. Also what kind of software would be best for this setup?

 

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

What OS are the PCs that will connect to the OS running?

 

You have two major choices, Windows or FreeNAS. Windows is easier to set up / probably more familiar, but FreeNAS is free.

 

Keep in mind, if you want 10 Gigabit, you will need to pay up to upgrade the network to 10 gigabit (Usually the wire is recommended to be CAT6, but CAT7 is even better). A 10Gigabit switch is quite expensive though. The 8 port one from Netgear sells at $800. Add in the cost of adding 10 gigabit NICs (Cheapest I've seen is $200) to the PCs, and it gets quite expensive (Unless you go for used NICs). 10Gb/s will help a lot though, as a single 1Gb/s I'm currently only able to get 80-90MB/s at full speed (If I'm not using the internet).

 

What programs will the server be running? If it's just being used as storage, you can get by using a cheaper CPU (Haswell i3) with ECC RAM on a C series chipset motherboard (I would recommend the server grade stuff). If you need more power, look at the E3 Xeons.

 

I would recommend RAID 10 for your use (Delivers a lot of performance), though 32TB / 4TB = 8 drives, 16 drives mirrored, maybe more if you want. A different RAID level like RAID 5 / 6 / 50 / 60 would give you more space, at a slight loss in performance. I would go with WD SE drives or the RE line up for this kind of use. The Red Pros tap out at servers larger than 16 drives. The Reds are limited to 8 drives. It depends on how much redundancy you want (I'm running RAID 10 because I'm paranoid like that). I would buy one extra drive to use as a spare when a drive eventually dies (Make sure all drives are tested before build the array).

 

As for components, if you have space, the Norco 20 bay case is fairly cheap at $280 (You will need to supply the PSU). You will need a SAS HBA card (If you go FreeNAS / software RAID) to connect to the drives. If you go hardware RAID, you will need a good hardware RAID card (They cost $400-700 for a decent one with a battery back up). If you want more quality, SuperMicro makes really nice server cases, but fairly expensive (They also use proprietary SuperMicro PSUs / fans). SuperMicro differs in that they use a LSI expander on the drives so you only need to feed it one SAS cable (Two is preferred). I think the Norco you have to feed like five or four cables.

 

Also, if you do RAID, RAID 0, 1, and 10 can't be expanded (You need all of the drives upfront before building the array). The speed of the array does increase when adding more drives, for me four 4TB Reds get around 350MB/s, six of them get 500MB/s in RAID 10. A battery back up for the system is recommended as well.

 

I think first you need to choose the OS and type of redundancy so you know how many drives you need. If you choose the Norco vs Supermicro, the components you need differ slightly. I would definitely get a hot swap bay type server though.