[Log] My homelab upgrade

[zwierzyn]

Hello LTT community,

long time watcher, first time poster. My last build log fell to deaf ears and I thought perhaps this forum would like to see some fun stuff. I've recently been accumulating a bunch of hardware from eBay/ Kijiji to expand my personal storage/ my home lab a bit as I had run into some issues. There's a lot going on here so I will try to keep this organized. The big things going to be tackled are; increase storage on main NAS, new FreeNas box to learn on, ESXI server upgrade, adding link aggro to entire network as needed and adding UPS units.

 

Firstly, my main NAS storage - Unraid 6 Tower (14.1 TB/ 15 TB)

I had recently upgraded to Unraid 6 from 5 and haven't had much ability to play with it as my hard drives are almost full. I know some of the hardware in this box is a little extra than needed but this box is always on, in my closet in my room and I hate noise. So the extra money put into silencing this thing was worth it and was free since my family didn't know what to get me as gifts a while back lol. The current hardware is as follows:

CPU -  Intel® Pentium® CPU G3420

Cooler - Prolimatech PRO-MGH-C Megahalems

Mobo - Asus H81M-A

RAM - 4 Gb

Controller - LSI 9211 - 8i

PSU - SeaSonic Platinum Series SS-400FL2 - 400 watt

Case - NZXT Source 210 w/ window

 

Hard drive (storage)- 2x WD red 4 TB, 1x Seagate 3 TB, 1x 2 TB WD green

Cache - WD Black 2 TB

 

I picked up 4x 3 TB WD reds that I am going to add to this but I had only 2 extra drive slots open for 3.5 inch drives so I also grabbed an iStarUSA 3x5.25 to 5x3.5 Trayless BPN-DE350SS as well. This will leave me with 3 slots that ill either use for SSDs or more drives in the future. Idk. This is going to be my last upgrade for a while on this thing. The aim is to hold off for 2 more yrs till I can afford a SSD based NAS and will be moving to 10 gbit than as well. Ill be doing a bunch of cable management during this phase as its a mess in there right now to my standards. This one is going to be a bit of a pain because I need to shave down the 5.25 drive bay metal tabs on the inside of the case that are used to hold up optical drives. This means taking out EVERYTHING and than thoroughly cleaning the case. The iStar hard drive tray has completely smooth sides so the metal tabs are going to get in the way and I cant bend the tabs because I am afraid of bending the actual entire 3x5.25 bay. If it gets bent it'll put stains on the iStar tray and that could lead to hard drive damage (unlikely but I rather not risk it). Also getting a small pci fan controller to handle all the fans in the box and 2x intel nics.

 

Secondly, new FreeNAS box

I recently pulled a small unit at work that was running as a pfSense box and I want to use it for FreeNAS to test and learn it with VMware. I got 4x  250 GB WD RE3s off eBay that I will be throwing in and I have one or two 120 GB SSDs laying around that I may put in as well. I should be fine for SATA headers but the mobo is low end which kinda sucks but I know another lsi 9211-4i (8i??) will be getting pulled at work soon and I have dibs on that if needed. This unit will be for lab work and learning so not having ECC isn't going to kill nor will the low end hardware. Will also be throwing in two Intel nics.

CPU -  Intel® Pentium® CPU G3420

Cooler - stock

Mobo - Asus H81M-A

RAM - 8 GB

PSU - stock Thermaltake 500 watt

Case - budget Thermaltake

OS Drive - 160 GB WD blue

 

This should be simple, just need to add a few fans and clean up wires as well. Next year this box will most likely get a bunch of old 120 gb ssds and ill add 10 gbit connection directly between this and the ESXI server, but that will have to wait.

 

Thirdly, ESXI 5.5 Server

This is a random 4u case that has the guts from a 1u supermicro i got for cheap but couldn't stand the jet engine fans on it. Supermicro 6015V-M3/MT X7DVL-3 Server 2x Intel E5430, 24 GB ram and an Intel quad port nic. The issue with this baby is that ive finally started loading the cpus to high enough levels that the stock coolers can't keep up. The coolers from the 1u case are fanless and designed to be in a wind tunnel like set up. With the 4u there's no wind tunnel so its a bit of a problem lol. I have extra fans mounted in it for now but it needs something real to be used for stretches of time. Im going to order 2 socket 771 cpu fan coolers to put in instead. 

 

New(ish) UPS

I wasn't originally planning on getting this but given how much equipment will now be plugged in in my room and the issue with unraid not liking power drops (have to take out the USB and repair it in windows every time its not shut down properly. Given that the usb is attached directly to the usb header, its a pain in the ass). I found an APC BACK-UPS RS 1500 for $25 and can get a new batter for $35. Much cheaper than getting a new one and will be perfect for now. This might get expanded with a rasberry pi as a UPS controller and network shutdown machine. Just a thought, haven't put much time into thinking about the details of that.

 

Well thats the long of it. I will be posting pictures and results as things are getting done starting tomorrow. Everything should be arriving over the next 3 days and the server cpu coolers are the only thing left to order but is also lowest on my priority list. This wont be a wallet breaking marathon but should be fun anyways. Hope you guys enjoy.
 

[zwierzyn]

[update 1]

 

Last night I began by putting together the FreeNAS build as the hard drives had arrived before most of the other things. Everything was done except for 2 hard drives that I couldnt plug into the PSU because I was waiting for a Molex to 2x Sata adapter. It, along with the new UPS battery and iStar HDD cage, arrived today during lunch so I will be continuing tonight. For the time being here are some pictures from the FreeNAS construction.

 

The lovely WD Re3 250 GB drives

The SATA headers on the mobo are definitely not in the most convenient of places so I had to adjust the cables a little before putting in the drives. Here are the zip tied SATA cables and after the drives have been put in.

Here's it all put together

 

Here is the APC BACK-UPS RS 1500 unit (still has the freaking plastic sticker over the front screen) and the old battery taken out. Got the new one today and will be setting this up tonight.

More to come tonight after some more tinkering