1u storage server / nas brainstorming session

[manikyath]

so.. me and my silly topics again..

 

during some cleanup at the office, we bumped into an ancient NAS that gave the ghost in 2012. because it was basicly useless (and LaCie.. a brand we dont really use anymore.. for reasons..) the boss mann let me keep it.

 

the NAS in question i got turned out to be a 1u chassis with LaCie branding on the front, but otherwise basicly entirely standard. The hardware inside works.. but for those who follow me that saw my statusses about the via c7.. yeah.. via c7 isnt quite the beast..

 

comes to the topic at hand: its a standard chassis, i can fill it with whatever i want.

 

below is a shot of what the guts look like, with some reference points laid overtop:

 

short reference sheet:

- uses an uncommon but standard formfactor power supply, i can find modern replacements for this "barely 80+" unit from 2007. it's notably good for being 11 years old, but it really needs to make room for something modern.

- right along the middle is a crossbrace with way too few fans in it for propper cooling, but its removable and not of any structural importance, so i'm most likely gonna rip it out either way.

- technically only mITX board support, but with the crossbrace removed it should squeeze in a full ATX board just BARELY.

- 4x 3.5" HDD, the HDD currently in the picture is one i shoved in for testing the existing hardware.

- 1 expansion slot that can plug into the mobo trough an extension, this one is also of a very common size, so i should be able to find a pcie right angle header just fine.

- outlined in orange, is some wasted space in the front, that i'm pretty set on claiming for RGB goodness (gotta have RGB in a NAS) and would make for a very nice new home for the chassis' cooling fans. all 3 of the sunon maglevs in the crossbrace have seen better days (how does one break a sunon maglev?) so i'm planning on putting 6x 40mm fans behind the front grille.

 

comes to the main meat and potatoes of this thread..

i have no idea of what to put in this box, nor do i have a specific budget in mind.. within reason obviously..

 

i've had some ideas for what to do with this thing:

- put a new low power board in this, and essentially make a modern reincarnation of what this thing was in 2007.

- go with a higher power board, and offload some duties off my main server, potentially having a windows and linux server side by side, each doing what they do best.

- whatever it turns into, i'd prefer to use it either as primary network storage, or to pull backups from my main server.

 

some things to keep in mind, that are notable challenges in this build:

- it's a 1U chassis, most coolers simply dont fit, even the standard rear I/O with 3 audio ports (headphone, microphone, line in) doesnt fit.

- the specific type of power supply used doesnt really exist in very high power output capacities

- it'll be sitting in a house, it needs to be somewhat bearable on the "decibel" scale.

 

does anyone have some ideas or advice on what to do with this thing? i'm pretty much in uncharted terretory with this thing.

my budget is able to "flex" along with the capabilities of whatever ends up going in this thing. if it's only ending up as a NAS it'll be considerably slimmer than if it ends up being a capable server.

i'm mostly looking for advice for things to keep in mind with a 1U build, specific ideas, and what sort of OS to pair with the hardware that ends up going in here.

[FloRolf]

Do I get this right:

The PSU is crap

The Board/CPU works but is pretty much crap

No word on HDD but prolly crap

1U Formfactor. 

 

 

Do you just wanna use this for the case? 

Because I'd say just throw it all in the bin and get some actually purpose build stuff for whatever purpose it comes down to. 

[manikyath]

6 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

Do I get this right:

The PSU is crap

The Board/CPU works but is pretty much crap

No word on HDD but prolly crap

1U Formfactor. 

 

 

Do you just wanna use this for the case? 

Because I'd say just throw it all in the bin and get some actually purpose build stuff for whatever purpose it comes down to. 

i wanna do something in the case, because (once its closed off) it's actually a nice looking chassis.

 

and its not so much that the hardware inside is crap, it's that the hardware inside is 11 years old and has been sitting declared dead for 4 years.

 

it's partially just a "for shits and giggles" thing, but also partially that i really need a new backup solution for my main server.. 

 

in its current state it can serve as a "dumb shell" to access the backup drive over the network, but since this thing can hold 4 drives in its tiny formfactor i wouldnt be opposed to spending some money and doing something nicer with it.

[brob]

In the picture, is the area in the upper right corner of the blue outline and clear of a mini-ITX motherboard unused? If so, its dimensions and are you open to a case mod?

[Windows7ge]

It's a little costly but what I'd do is buy either the ASRock C2550D4I or C2750D4I. They are powerful little Mini-ITX boards with BGA Avoton 4 & 8 core processors respectively. The attached CPU cooler is well under 1U. All the SATA ports you could need, support for 128GB of RAM and an open back PCI_e x8 slot. CPU requires no EPS connector. Everything is supplied over the 24-pin.

 

So long as what you need isn't computationally heavy (on the CPU) it'd suit this greatly.

[manikyath]

8 hours ago, brob said:

In the picture, is the area in the upper right corner of the blue outline and clear of a mini-ITX motherboard unused? If so, its dimensions and are you open to a case mod?

i've plotted this out already, all i need to do is slice off two standoffs for the crossbar, and improvise a few standoffs for the motherboard, and it technically fits ATX. and case mod is just fine for me.

 

as for the space that's unused, originally it was used for a pci expansion card with additional sata slots, and an air duct that made airflow worse... because that's the LaCie way.

[manikyath]

4 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

It's a little costly but what I'd do is buy either the ASRock C2550D4I or C2750D4I. They are powerful little Mini-ITX boards with BGA Avoton 4 & 8 core processors respectively. The attached CPU cooler is well under 1U. All the SATA ports you could need, support for 128GB of RAM and an open back PCI_e x8 slot. CPU requires no EPS connector. Everything is supplied over the 24-pin.

 

So long as what you need isn't computationally heavy (on the CPU) it'd suit this greatly.

asrock has much more than the avoton boards, issue is they are nearly impossible to find.

they even make similar boards with 65 watt xeons and up to 64GB ram support... if you know where the end of the raibow is.

[brob]

16 hours ago, manikyath said:

i've plotted this out already, all i need to do is slice off two standoffs for the crossbar, and improvise a few standoffs for the motherboard, and it technically fits ATX. and case mod is just fine for me.

 

as for the space that's unused, originally it was used for a pci expansion card with additional sata slots, and an air duct that made airflow worse... because that's the LaCie way.

 

I was thinking about a slim radiator for cpu cooling. It would allow more choice of cpu, but I guess gpu would be problematic.

[Windows7ge]

18 hours ago, manikyath said:

asrock has much more than the avoton boards, issue is they are nearly impossible to find.

they even make similar boards with 65 watt xeons and up to 64GB ram support... if you know where the end of the raibow is.

Sorry, I was thinking you were going for something "beefy" but low heat and power efficient. Guess that didn't fit the bill.

 

I like it for my use cases. Setup with 32GB of RAM and 3 HDD the whole thing only draws 60W.

[manikyath]

9 hours ago, brob said:

 

I was thinking about a slim radiator for cpu cooling. It would allow more choice of cpu, but I guess gpu would be problematic.

slim rad... 40mm slim? 1U doesnt allow for much.

7 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

Sorry, I was thinking you were going for something "beefy" but low heat and power efficient. Guess that didn't fit the bill.

 

I like it for my use cases. Setup with 32GB of RAM and 3 HDD the whole thing only draws 60W.

it's more so they're impossible to find.

[Windows7ge]

5 hours ago, manikyath said:

it's more so they're impossible to find.

I see. You're located somewhere where they're not particularly distributed. Where I am they're still widely for sale. I believe there's a socketed version as well I've seen before but you'd need the lowest of low profile coolers.