Newbie help setting up used Supermicro server

[BloodsailAdmiral]

Recently picked up a used Supermicro 20 drive server chassis fully loaded with 4 x 4tb, 1 x 2tb, and 15 x 1tb drives. (got it for 200$ :)). It has a Megaraid card and expander already.

It is currently running Windows server 2016  and Megaraid software but I want to wipe and boot off a 120 gb ssd I already have.

 

Any recommendations for OS and management software that won't break the bank (could always reinstall windows server).

I also can't seem to find a lot of info on hardware raid. I think RAID 5 or 6, but I want to be able to put more drives to replace the 1tbs in the future. My use case would be a Plex/ File server.

 

Any help from you guys would be awesome!

 

 

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

What raid card?

 

With that mismatch of drives, id just get a hba and runstorage spaces. 

 

Id personally run proxmox as I like linux and it runs vms well.

 

You could go unraid here, That would allow easy expansion. Storage spaces in windows lets you do this aswell.

[leadeater]

10 minutes ago, BloodsailAdmiral said:

I also can't seem to find a lot of info on hardware raid. I think RAID 5 or 6

For that many disks and total storage go with RAID 6. You can freely add more disks to the array or replace existing disks with larger ones, just do so following the resiliency capability of a RAID 6 array so you don't nuke it. The other thing you need to be aware of is that for hardware RAID the smallest disk in the array/volume dictates the usable capacity of all disks, so for you with all disks in the same array in the same volume they are all 1TB so 20x 1TB. Until all 15 1TB are replaced with 2TB or larger will you be able to extend the volume size to 20x 2TB etc.

 

You can get around that by creating a 4x 4TB array and a 16x 1TB/2TB array and only add new disks to the 4x 4TB array, in doing so slowly phasing out the 1TB/2TB array by shrinking it. It's not that easy to shrink an array though, basically you have to copy all the data off and destroy it then re-create it.

 

Does the RAID card have a working BBU for write-back cache? If not just use Storage Spaces instead, in a Two-Way Mirror configuration (RAID 10).

 

Other options could be FreeNAS or unRAID, you're requirements aren't complex other than having different capacity disks so most things will work so it'll come down to what you think you can best use and support.

[BloodsailAdmiral]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

What raid card?

 

With that mismatch of drives, id just get a hba and runstorage spaces. 

 

Id personally run proxmox as I like linux and it runs vms well.

 

You could go unraid here, That would allow easy expansion. Storage spaces in windows lets you do this aswell.

I definitely would rather go for the Linux environment. The raid card is a MR 9271-8i.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, BloodsailAdmiral said:

I definitely would rather go for the Linux environment. The raid card is a MR 9271-8i.

How much do you want to play with linux?

 

Id personally probalby go zfs with 5x 4 drives raidz1s or simmilar(that way you can have some mixed drive sizes, and upgrade space somewhat easily.

 

If you want simple, go unraid.

 

You can go mergerfs+ snapraid if you want unraid like in any linux distro.

 

You can use the raid card and run a a big raid6, or a few smaller raid5 or 6's and get more space from the bigger drives.

 

Or use windows with storage spaces and a hba or use the raid card in windows.

[BloodsailAdmiral]

6 minutes ago, leadeater said:

 

Does the RAID card have a working BBU for write-back cache? 

 

The card is a MR SAS 9271-8i. I really don't know what BBU is so I couldn't tell you. In order to use the chassis backplane I am kind of stuck using hardware raid but I didn't think of useing 2 different arrays, I will probably do that in a raid 6. 

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, BloodsailAdmiral said:

The card is a MR SAS 9271-8i. I really don't know what BBU is so I couldn't tell you. In order to use the chassis backplane I am kind of stuck using hardware raid but I didn't think of useing 2 different arrays, I will probably do that in a raid 6. 

BBU is a battery that connects to the cache module on the RAID card that plugs in to the longish white plug/socket. If it doesn't have that and the BBU take the RAID card out or buy the cache + BBU.

 

You don't have to use the RAID card you can put in a SAS HBA that will have the same SFF-8087 connectors you likely need, but you can use cables with different connectors at each end as required. You're not stuck using the 9271 but it will do the job however using it makes other options like ZFS redundant as it won't be able to do what it needs and won't function how it was designed.

[BloodsailAdmiral]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

BBU is a battery that connects to the cache module on the RAID card that plugs in to the longish white plug/socket. If it doesn't have that and the BBU take the RAID card out or buy the cache + BBU.

 

You don't have to use the RAID card you can put in a SAS HBA that will have the same SFF-8087 connectors you likely need, but you can use cables with different connectors at each end as required. You're not stuck using the 9271 but it will do the job however using it makes other options like ZFS redundant as it won't be able to do what it needs and won't function how it was designed.

I also have another card (MR SAS 9260-8i) that has a battery. Although I'm thinking that software raid might be the better option though, I didn't know that ZFS wouldn't work like that. Sorry for my lack of knowledge :(.  

[leadeater]

16 minutes ago, BloodsailAdmiral said:

I also have another card (MR SAS 9260-8i) that has a battery. Although I'm thinking that software raid might be the better option though, I didn't know that ZFS wouldn't work like that. Sorry for my lack of knowledge :(.  

SAS HBA's are pretty cheap on ebay, either an LSI 9207 or 9211 or something OEM based on them like IBM M1015 or Dell H300 in what is called IT mode firmware (you can buy them pre-flashed to IT mode on ebay).

[BloodsailAdmiral]

6 minutes ago, leadeater said:

SAS HBA's are pretty cheap on ebay, either an LSI 9207 or 9211 or something OEM based on them like IBM M1015 or Dell H300 in what is called IT mode firmware (you can buy them pre-flashed to IT mode on ebay).

Awesome, thanks for all the help. Will buy a HBA and run zfs. probably with Unraid. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 hours ago, BloodsailAdmiral said:

Awesome, thanks for all the help. Will buy a HBA and run zfs. probably with Unraid. 

unraid doesn't have zfs, it has ts own system for managing drives. Its great for mixed drive sizes.

 

ZFS is its own beast, and for os you want something like proxmox or freenas

[BloodsailAdmiral]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

unraid doesn't have zfs, it has ts own system for managing drives. Its great for mixed drive sizes.

 

ZFS is its own beast, and for os you want something like proxmox or freenas

Ok, I actually learned a lot from researching what you were saying. I think my use case would be best with Unraid and an HBA card. I appreciate all the help! Cheers